Teaching and Learning

A school district best serves its students and parents by establishing an integrated and dynamic relationship between its curriculum, instruction, and assessment standards.

In Novi, these standards and practices are grounded in the Michigan state standards. Michigan standards have changed over time, and the state, in recent years, has adopted new standards to ensure that all students are career and college ready.

Career & college-ready students possess the skills necessary to earn a self-sustaining wage and participate in postsecondary opportunities without remediation.

This means that they:

use technology and tools strategically in learning and communicating
use argument and reasoning to do research, construct arguments, and critique the reasoning of others
communicate and collaborate effectively with a variety of audiences
solve problems, construct explanations and design solutions

Through the vision statement of the Novi Board of Education and the exit outcomes for high school students, Novi educators have embedded the needs and aspirations of its community into our standards-based aligned curriculum . The end product is an organization of programs that is continuously reviewed and aligned to best practices that provides for continuous professional learning and student continuous progress. Michigan's Academic Standards from the Michigan Department of Education.

Fifth grade
Sixth grade

Fifth grade

Art

ELA

The fifth grade English Language Arts curriculum is designed to build literacy skills by engaging students within rigorous reading, writing, speaking and listening opportunities. Throughout the year, students will deepen their understanding of fiction text by developing a repertoire of comprehension strategies. Students will grow theories about characters, recurring themes, and reflect on literature and their own ideas with text evidence through written, oral and collaborative expression.

Increased exposure and guided practice within informational text across core subjects will support student understanding of how informational text is organized, and also teach them how to determine and make sense out of the important ideas within.

In addition, fifth grade students will compose and reflect on their reading in all content areas while direct instruction will continue within narrative, opinion and informational units. Teachers will foster positive habits for future success in literacy by guiding students with individualized goal setting, building stamina, and progress monitoring to help prepare them for sixth grade and beyond.

Band and Orchestra

Fifth grade band and orchestra are yearlong elective classes that meet 2-3 times a week during Academic 30 time. Students will not miss any other special class or instruction time during band class.

Fifth grade band is a beginning band class that teaches the basic fundamentals of playing wind, brass or percussion instruments. Students can choose flute, clarinet, oboe, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone, french horn, tuba or percussion. Students who desire to play percussion will need to choose a woodwind or brass instrument and will have the opportunity to audition for percussion mid year.

Fifth grade orchestra is a beginning string class that teaches the basic fundamentals of playing a string instrument: violin, viola, cello or bass.

Band and orchestra students are expected to practice 80 minutes a week. Students will learn valuable team building skills, setting and meeting short- and long-term goals, individual responsibility, and many other lifelong lessons. Fifth grade band and orchestra will have one concert in the spring.

Math

5th Grade

Students in 5th grade math learn through the Everyday Mathematics (EDM) curriculum. Everyday Mathematics is designed as a spiraling curriculum, meaning students are exposed to concepts several times throughout the year, but the concepts get increasingly complex with each cycle. This allows for strong foundational learning through repeated reinforcement of ideas and strategies.

The major concepts covered in 5th grade include:

multi-digit multiplication and division
understanding and doing operations with fractions and decimals
geometry concepts including area, volume, shape classification, and coordinate grids.

6th Grade

The Connected Mathematics Program is a problem-centered curriculum that promotes an inquiry based teaching-learning classroom environment. The program has a spiraling curriculum so that students build on topics throughout the years.

In sixth grade, students will complete seven units:

Prime Time reviews factors and multiples and builds on the number theory, prime factorizations, order of operations and the distributive property.
Comparing Bits and Pieces focuses on ratios, rational numbers and equivalence.
Let’s Be Rational reviews the understanding of fraction operations and adds fact families.
Covering and Surrounding is the geometry unit that focuses on two-dimensional measurement.
Decimal Ops has students compute with decimals and percents.
Variables and Patterns introduces students to algebra, which they will later visit in seventh and eighth grade CMP.
Data About Us gives students the opportunity to look at statistics and analyze data.

7th Grade

In Math 7, students study ratios and proportionality in both geometric and algebraic situations. They investigate key concepts in two-dimensional and three-dimensional geometry. After a study of rational numbers, students study linear relationships in graphic, tabular, and symbolic form. Math 7 students also study probability and data analysis with an emphasis on sampling. Students in Math 7 study all seventh-grade learning goals as identified by Novi Community Schools and the Michigan Department of Education.

Physical Education

Physical Education Curriculum

Adventure Education: Team Building
Fitness Testing: Pre-test (PACER and 1-minute sit-up test).
Soccer: Passing, trapping, kicking, dribbling, with modified game play
Lacrosse: Passing and catching, with modified game play
Badminton/Pickleball: Serving and Ground strokes, with modified game play.
Team Handball: Modified game play
Pillo Polo: Stick handling, Passing, Shooting, with game modified game play
Volleyball: Serving, Forearm Pass and Overhead Set, with modified game play
Basketball: Dribbling, Passing and Shooting with station work
Base Games: Whiffleball and Kickball-style games
Fitness Testing: Post-test (PACER and 1-minute sit-up test)
Football: Passing and Catching, with modified game play
Invasion Games: Capture-the-flag style games

Expectations/Assessment:

All students will be able to:

Demonstrate age appropriate motor skills, fitness skills and sport skills
Come to class prepared with appropriate gym shoes
Actively participate in daily activity, demonstrating best effort
Follow rules and directions
Use good sportsmanship
Work cooperatively with others
Stay on task during daily activities

Students are assessed on the above with a 3, 2,1 scale with 3 being the highest.

Science

Fifth grade science begins with the Earth and Sun module, which focuses on Earth and Sun as a system. Students collect and analyze shadow data and observe the changes in the moon's appearance over time to explain why the moon, sun, and stars seem to move across the sky. Then students explore the properties of the atmosphere, energy transfer from the sun to earth, and water cycling the earth's atmosphere.

The Mixtures and Solutions module introduces students to the properties, behaviors, and changes in substances -- fundamental ideas in chemistry. Students work with others as scientists and engineers to create conceptual and physical models to explain how something works. With an emphasis on designing and carrying out scientific investigations, students separate mixtures, explore differing concentrations of liquids, and compare saturated solutions.

In the Living Systems module, students explore earth as a system, focusing on the biosphere and describing ecosystems by looking at feeding relationships and energy transfers, described as food webs. Each group of students sets up a redworm habitat to study detritivores and the role of decomposition in ecosystems. For several weeks, students observe caterpillars as they transform into butterflies in the classroom habitat. Students compare nutrient and transport systems in both plants and animals and sensory systems in animals.

Social Studies

5th grade Social Studies starts with Exploration, the connection between the Three Worlds of Europe, Africa, and The Americas.

From there we dive into the Colonization of North America by the British and the creation of the 13 colonies. Once the colonies have been established and expanded, we study the issues that caused the 13 colonies to separate from Britain. We end the year with the Revolutionary War and the creation of the U.S. Government.

Vocal music

Meadows students performing in a concert.

Course Description and Units

Vocal Music provides an opportunity to learn music fundamentals with an emphasis on the voice. Students learn and practice proper vocal technique including breath control, diction and tone quality, through singing a variety of music. Music reading skills, part-singing, and common vocabulary are also studied in this class. Students develop ensemble skills and incorporate choreography, fostering individual coordination, as well as teamwork. A developed solo voice is not essential; however, a willingness to improve singing skills is vital.

Technique Unit:

Demonstrate correct posture
Sing with clear diction and choral vowels while blending with others
Use breath control for long phrases and sustained notes
Manage head and chest voices appropriately

Reading Music Unit:

Decode rhythms & pitches to sight-read simple patterns
Identify and demonstrate musical forms and tonality, as well as the meaning of common musical symbols and vocabulary
Read music in 2-3 parts on the grand staff

Expression Unit:

Identify and demonstrate vocal articulation, dynamic markings, tempo markings, musical tonality & phrasing

Performance Unit:

Follow the cues of a conductor
Use music vocabulary to create criteria for evaluation of performances
Demonstrate appropriate audience and riser behaviors
Sing songs from memory in 2-3 parts
Demonstrate stage presence & perform choreography accurately

World Language

Sixth grade

Art

Band and Orchestra

Sixth grade band and orchestra are yearlong elective classes that meet 2-3 times a week during Academic 30 time. Students will not miss any other special class or instruction time during band class.

Sixth grade band and orchestra is intended for second year players with one year of playing experience. Students will work on developing good tone quality, recognizing and performing different styles of music, increasing technical and rhythmic skills and developing as an individual and ensemble musicians. Students may have the opportunity to switch to an instrument that is needed in our band (bassoon, oboe, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, French horn, trombone, baritone or tuba) or orchestra (viola, cello or bass). Private lessons may be required for instrument switches. Students may elect to join sixth grade band or orchestra as a first year player. Hard work and private lessons will be required to help the student catch up to their peers.

Band and orchestra students are expected to practice 80 minutes a week. Students will learn valuable team building skills, setting and meeting short and long -term goals, individual responsibility, and many other lifelong lessons. The sixth grade band and orchestra will have two performances (winter, spring).

ELA

The sixth grade English Language Arts curriculum is designed to give students a critical foundation in reading and writing narrative, informational and argumentative texts. Through analysis and production of texts in these three genres, students will become more skilled as readers, writers, and thinkers. Students will study fiction and nonfiction in a variety of formats and will be expected to increase the complexity and volume of their independent reading through rigorous expectations. The use of a reader and/or writer’s notebook for each unit encourages students to be independent, engaged, and empowered learners who value close reading, idea generation, drafting and revision.

Math

Math 6 (Taught in 5th and 6th grade)

Sixth grade students work toward mastery of fluency with all operations of whole, decimal, and fractional numbers. Students will work toward connecting ratio and rate to whole number multiplication and division and using ratio and rate to solve problems. Students extend their previous understandings of number and the ordering of numbers to the full system of rational numbers, which includes negative rational numbers, and in particular negative integers. They reason about the order and absolute value of rational numbers and about the location of points in all four quadrants of the coordinate plane. Students work on reasoning about relationships among shapes to determine area, surface area, and volume. The relationship between perimeter and area is studied, with a focus on how changes in one affect the other. Students understand the use of variables in mathematical expressions. They are expected to write, interpret, and use expressions and equations to describe and solve mathematical situations. Building on and reinforcing their understanding of number, students begin to develop their ability to think statistically. They summarize data using the measures of center, measures of variability, and distribution.

Math 7 (Taught in 5th and 6th grade)

Math 8 (Taught in 6th grade)

In this course, students extend the study of linear relationships that has been building through Math 6 and Math 7 as they compare linear functions to inverse, exponential, and quadratic functions. For both linear and non-linear functions students look at graphs, tables, and equations (symbolic form) as well as identifying situations that can be represented by each type of function. Students study the Pythagorean Theorem and the geometric topics of transformation, congruence, and similarity. Students develop skills in symbolic representation, as they continue the study of linear equations and systems of equations. Students in Math 8 study all eighth-grade learning goals as identified by Novi Community Schools and the Michigan Department of Education.

Physical Education

Physical Education Curriculum

Adventure Education: Team Building
Fitness Testing: Pre-test Mile Run.
Soccer: Passing, trapping, kicking, dribbling, with modified game play
Lacrosse: Passing and catching, with modified game play
Floor hockey.
Team Handball: Modified game play
Pillo Polo: Stick handling, Passing, Shooting, with game modified game play
Volleyball: Serving, Forearm Pass and Overhead Set, with modified game play
Basketball: Dribbling, Passing and Shooting with station work
Base Games: Whiffleball and Kickball-style games
Fitness Testing: Mile Run.
Football: Passing and Catching, with modified game play
Invasion Games: Capture-the-flag style games

Expectations/Assessment:

All students will be able to:

Demonstrate age appropriate motor skills, fitness skills and sport skills
Come to class prepared with appropriate gym shoes
Actively participate in daily activity, demonstrating best effort
Follow rules and directions
Use good sportsmanship
Work cooperatively with others
Stay on task during daily activities

Students are assessed on the above with a 3, 2,1 scale with 3 being the highest.

Science

Sixth grade science focuses on life on Earth. The sixth grade curriculum helps to build the foundation for high school biology.

Students complete four units of study:

The Diversity of Life will help students learn about the characteristics common to all living organisms.
Human Systems Interactions will provide an opportunity for students to explore how the body systems interact while solving a medical problem.
Populations and Ecosystems will explore population dynamics within ecosystems.
Heredity and Adaptation will explore genetics and inheritance.

These units will help students develop an ecological understanding and appreciation for the diversity on our planet.

World Language

Robotics

The 6th grade robotics program, the first of its kind offered in North or South America, is designed to teach the students the basic concepts of anthropomorphic robots and robot programming, including the concepts of the history, application, components, and movements of most common robots. The program integrates concepts of spatial mathematics -- as well as the scientific method -- to teach students to problem-solve both simple and complex tasks utilizing the robot arm, as well as other resources.

The curriculum is divided into five main sections:

Robotics 1: Components and Movements (8 weeks)
Mathematics 1: The Cartesian Plane (8 weeks)
Mathematics 2: Scientific Method (8 weeks)
Coding 1: Coding with eDo (5 weeks)
Coding 2: From Flow Chart to Blockly (5 weeks)

Social Studies

Vocal Music

Course Description and Units

Technique Unit:

Demonstrate correct posture
Sing with clear diction and choral vowels while blending with others
Use breath control for long phrases and sustained notes
Manage head and chest voices appropriately

Reading Music Unit:

Decode rhythms & pitches to sight-read simple patterns
Identify and demonstrate musical forms and tonality, as well as the meaning of common musical symbols and vocabulary
Read music in 2-3 parts on the grand staff

Expression Unit:

Identify and demonstrate vocal articulation, dynamic markings, tempo markings, musical tonality & phrasing

Performance Unit:

Follow the cues of a conductor
Use music vocabulary to create criteria for evaluation of performances
Demonstrate appropriate audience and riser behaviors
Sing songs from memory in 2-3 parts
Demonstrate stage presence & perform choreography accurately