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Grades 5-8

 

 

5th Grade & Middle School

Our Middle School program is the capstone of the Villa Academy experience, providing students with exceptional opportunities for study, growth, and leadership. 

Applying to Villa

5th Grade

During the 2024 - 2025 academic year, Villa Academy will commence the process of bringing  our 5th grade learners into Villa’s Middle School. This effort will enhance 5th grade academics, and move towards a model where students are supported through a two-year transition from Lower to Middle School. By creating a bridge year between our Lower and Middle School programs, 5th graders will get to know our Middle School faculty, explore subject-specific units of inquiry, cultivate their social-emotional growth, and build their executive functioning skills in preparation for middle school and beyond. Through this approach, our 5th graders will grow in increasing ownership of their inquiry-based learning, coming to a deeper understanding of the call to a purposeful, service-filled life. 

What Can Your 5th grade Student expect this year?

  • Increased social opportunities with our 6th Grade through lunch and recess.

  • 5th Grade Music Class under the guidance of Mr. Ben Draper, Director of Bands & Performing Arts Coordinator.  

  • Two 5th Grade homerooms led by experienced Villa educators Ms. Amanda Brothers and Mr. David Wellnitz. 

  • Increased laboratory experience in the recently upgraded third floor science room.

  • Aligned 5th Grade & Middle School Curriculum Night on Thursday, September 12.

  • Experience a 5th Grade Camping Trip in spring 2025.

  • Student-centered social justice service learning projects in conjunction with curricular units.

Inquiry & Exploration

Villa 5th graders lean into “Genius Hour” each week, an inquiry-based, student-directed approach to learning. During their Genius Hours, students choose a topic of study, commence research, grow in their knowledge, and determine how they’d best like to share their findings.

Investigation & Assessment

Villa 5th graders learn various methods of water quality testing to evaluate a healthy environment. They begin by collecting and processing water samples collected on the shores of our lake-front campus, then expand their research through a citizen science field study with NatureBridge.

Vibrant & Inclusive

During the Middle School years, students come to know themselves as learners, leaders, and individuals within an inclusive learning community. Students meet challenging academics, increasingly complex problems to solve, opportunities to create, and invitations to serve. As the senior members of our student body, Villa Middle School students understand that they have a sacred responsibility to lead and guide others, in preparation for lives of service and purpose beyond Villa.

Villa's exceptional Middle School not only prepared [my child] for high school and beyond, but also instilled a strong sense of self and confidence. 

Middle School parent

Joyful & Confident learning

Through its unique, challenging, and differentiated curriculum, Villa’s Middle School provides students with the skills and experiences in practical preparation to thrive in high school and beyond. Our graduates are joyful learners, exceptional communicators, and purposeful people. Regardless of where their journey takes them, Villa graduates know themselves and their world, and seek opportunities to positively impact it.

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Villa's 5th Grade & Middle School at a Glance:

One thing that I miss about Villa is seeing the friends I made there every day. I remember a highlight was playing tag in the woods with them during PE or launching model rockets in science class to see whose went the highest.Will mumford, class of 2022

Every day after school, my best friend and I would run around the woods together...Today, my exploration happens in the Robotics Lab, as I continue to pursue my academic journey as a very enthusiastic member of the Holy Names Robotics team.Allie staiger, class of 2021

During these years of rapid growth and change, Villa’s Middle School provides a supportive space in which students can be known, be challenged, and belong. Their social-emotional development is nourished through Middle School Advisory, which provides a small, grade-specific cohort of students that, led by a trusted Villa adult, addresses the dynamic needs of middle school learners while intentionally building community. Villa Middle School students come to know the power of their decision-making, both in the present and the future, and understand themselves both as individuals and community members.

As the senior members of Villa’s student body, Middle School students understand their roles as leaders in the community. They guide Student Government, assemblies, and spiritual life on campus. Our Buddy program, which partners Middle School students with Kindergarten - 2nd Grade “buddies” each year, imbues older students with a clear sense of leadership and responsibility.

Education of the Heart  Extended Day 

Stretch & Challenge

Our Middle School mathematics program meets students where they are and provides ongoing opportunity for stretch and challenge. Students are thoughtfully placed in math classes according to their needs, positioned to build the critical skills required for future mathematics study. Advanced math students may graduate having completed two full years of high school mathematics (Algebra I and Geometry) as appropriate to their math placement.

Critical Thinking, Research, & Communication

English, Social Studies, and Religion classes all require Middle School students to grapple with texts, inquire as to the meaning and use of language, assess the validity of sources, and consider various means of effective communication. Long-range global research projects such as the “World Fair” in 7th grade and capstone Culminating Project in 8th grade (through which students conduct a year-long study of a self-selected United Nations Sustainable Development Goal) prepare Villa graduates to take on the rigors of high school with skill and confidence.

Outdoor & Experiential Learning

Villa’s Middle School Science program invites students to consider the wonders of the natural world and make meaning of them. Frequently engaging in outdoor, experiential learning, courses take students beyond the classroom for physics experiments, dissections, and rocket launches. Students not only learn the scientific method, but learn to evaluate its results–to review, challenge, iterate, and try again. Research and presentation of creative, individual and small group work are also key components of Middle School Science courses.

Villa Academy At a Glance:

Stewardship

Villa Academy will steward its resources to ensure the school’s long-term sustainability and growth, inspiring the community to further invest in supporting the school and future generations of Villa students.

 

Identity & Program

Villa Academy will define, refine, and clearly articulate its curricular and co-curricular program in order to fully deliver upon its mission. In doing so, Villa will become the independent school destination for inquiry-based, whole child “education of the heart” in the greater Seattle area.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, & Belonging (DEIJB)

Villa Academy will be a community that celebrates, honors, and reflects the rich diversity of the greater Seattle area across its students, families, faculty and staff. The school strives to facilitate a culture of genuine belonging at Villa.

The Villa Difference

THE VILLA DIFFERENCE

Villa is the only independent school in the city of Seattle nurturing the holistic development of children: mind, body, and spirit. Dedicated to inquiry-driven, student-centered academic excellence, Villa simultaneously tends to whole child growth and integrated health, informed by clear and compelling research on the powerful influence of nature, spirituality, and social-emotional intelligence on academic thriving. Our empowered students become stewards of their lives, caretakers of their mental and social wellbeing, and custodians of the environment. Villa firmly stands in commitment to the transformative power of our Cabrinian tradition of “education of the heart.”
 

LEARN MORE

Be Known.

Inspired by the Cabrinian tradition of “education of the heart,” we practice whole-child education— mind, body, and spirit—that engages students’ minds in intellectual pursuits, recognizes them as unique individuals, challenges them to strive and grow, and honors their innate spirituality. 

Be Challenged.

Our dynamic inquiry-based program challenges and supports each child to learn and explore with a growth mindset, resulting in academic excellence and moral development. By nurturing the development of mind, body, and spirit, we’re growing curious and confident learners, equipped for success and fulfillment in high school–and far beyond.

Belong.

Villa affirms the critical need to amplify diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging (DEIJB) work in order to expand our communal vision of a more just world. Through justice-focused community engagement, we grow in compassion and stand in solidarity with others, particularly those who are marginalized.