The LMS Middle School Program is for students ages twelve - fourteen years old. Seventh and eighth grade at LMS is an ideal community for early adolescents. Students can stretch themselves, take academic risks, and learn about themselves as leaders and blossoming young adults.


Big Themes

The Middle School curriculum is designed to appeal to students’ intrinsic motivation. The year’s curriculum is structured into big themes (Interconnectedness, Exploration, Identity, Systems), with guiding questions for each unit. The guiding questions are broad, unanswerable questions that frame collaborative explorations. They include questions like: “How did humans allow the Holocaust to happen?” “What makes something alive?” and “When people want to make change in society, how do they do it?” These questions appeal to students’ developing moral compass as they engage their emotions, as well. Students often feel driven to dig deeply into topics of this kind.

Group of middle school students learning in the classroom

LMS students gathered in a circle for daily routines

Consistent Routines

The Middle School environment is fun, engaging, and supportive. Adolescents need joy, mentorship, purpose, and deep connection. Each day begins with a small morning meeting in advisory groups, where they ceremonially ring a chime, ask each other a morning question, do some mindfulness exercises, make pertinent, daily announcements, and play games. At the end of the day, students run a closing circle, where anyone can issue last-minute reminders, and students acknowledge each other for actions taken throughout the day. 

Real-World Skills

Real-world leadership skills are emphasized in the LMS Middle School. Each student leads a committee, such as a Library committee, an LMS Woods committee, a Literary Magazine committee, an Interior Decorating committee, and a Field Study committee. When a student contacts a snorkeling guide in Puerto Rico or a leader of a volunteer project in Boston, they find themselves treated as an adult, and this boosts their sense of competence. Students collaborate to plan the itinerary, meals and transportation on overseas field studies to Spain and Puerto Rico, learning and applying skills of collaboration, organization, flexibility, and leadership. In Spain, students take on the responsibility of using subway and street maps to lead the class through the city, looking for landmarks to figure out how to navigate unfamiliar streets.

Two LMS  middle school students tying a tent

Middle School students doing yoga outdoors

Social-Emotional Development

The LMS Middle School builds community purposefully. Adolescents are experiencing rapid mental and physical growth, so they have many emergent skills. They are also developmentally inspired by social connections. Thus, harnessing their emerging skills for the good of the group is a significant part of the learning in the Middle School class. As Middle School students work to define themselves, their teachers support them in thinking about ethical issues. Students learn through conflict resolution and personal reflection when issues arise. They learn by discussing and reflecting on readings, historical situations, and films that bring up issues of identity. These activities occur in Life Ed. classes, in Advisory and Advisor check-ins, and in many conversations that teachers have with students throughout their day. 

Middle School Curriculum

Middle School Curriculum | PDF


Meet the Team