The Montessori focus on peace education and conflict resolution continues in our Secondary School Program. In the beginning of the year, students identify the pillars of a positive Secondary School community, and as the year continues, they actively work to uphold these. With a voracious appetite for social justice, adolescents are able to sink their teeth into service learning, and our Secondary School Program allows students to do just that, fundraising for Heifer International and volunteering at Cradles to Crayons, for example.

Practical Life lessons are held regularly in the Secondary School and address issues of particular concern to adolescents: standardized testing, community, conflict resolution, family and peer relations, smoking, alcohol and drug awareness, dating, sexual education, and a variety of basic life skills (e.g. - folding clothes, wrapping gifts, audience etiquette, etc.). The Secondary School Micro-economy curriculum allows students to create, plan, and run a business. The funds raised support Secondary School activities, chosen charities, and future micro-economy ventures.

The Secondary School Language Arts program is integrated across the academic curriculum with a particular link to the sciences and social sciences (S3). Students continue their development of individual skills and the crafting of language through vocabulary and word study; the reading process with a focus on comprehension and self-monitoring strategies; and reading applications with informational, technical, persuasive, and literary text. Students explore their understanding of the writing process - prewriting, drafting, editing, conferencing, revising and publishing - and learn a variety of writing applications, conventions, and research techniques. They develop oral and visual communication through unique individual and group projects and deliver informational and persuasive presentations.

Math is taught in small group lessons, where each course of study is matched with individual developmental needs. The math curriculum focuses on projects integrated with the sciences and social sciences (S3) curriculum. By the end of Eighth Grade, students complete Algebra 1.

S3 is the driving force in our Secondary School curriculum. The program continues to develop and refine research and inquiry skills learned in the Elementary cultural lessons while emphasizing individual research and modern history. The S3 curriculum is an integrated study of geography, history, social studies, and science for Seventh- and Eighth-Graders. Because adolescents learn best when given real-world, personal, hands-on learning opportunities, S3 studies are taught through impressionistic lessons, primary and secondary source readings, independent research, experiments, and class discussions. The curriculum follows a two-year cycle with Year A focusing on earth science and physics through the lens of history of astronomy, US Westward Expansion, the US Industrial Revolution, and the global sustainability/green movement; Year B focuses on earth science and biology through the lens of ancient Mesopotamia, ancient Rome, the US Civil War, US Reconstruction, the US Civil Rights Movement, and global peace movements.

Library and technology lessons support the Secondary School curriculum, teaching students research skills, internet safety, email usage, and all things Google.

The Secondary School English program reviews those concepts introduced in Upper Elementary and broadens them to develop greater student confidence in the language. Verb tenses, grammar rules and an expanded vocabulary are practiced through creative, collaborative and individual projects and activities. The text, REALIDADES is a resource supported by workbooks, online exercises and audio-visual sources. The curriculum is complemented by authentic literary, historical and ethnic materials. Cooking, dancing and singing round out the traditional experience. As a culminating event, eighth grade students travel for a week to Puerto Rico. This trip combines biodiversity study, language and cultural immersion, and relationship building with Montessori student counterparts.

Creative expression is essential in a Montessori education, and being able to choose one's own classes is very meaningful to an adolescent. To that end, the CMS Secondary School arts program is set up as a series of Arts Electives where students can choose from a variety of offerings in Studio Arts, Musical Arts, and Theater Arts. Students showcase their work throughout the year.

A quintessential CMS Secondary School class, Film School brings together Studio Arts, Musical Arts, and Theater Arts. Students learn the skills of film creation, from planning to writing to directing to editing. Throughout the year, students will produce a variety of films of various genres including documentaries, animations, and short films, and they showcase their work in Community Meeting and the springtime Secondary School Film Festival.

We believe that health and physical fitness are important issues for Secondary School students. While the structure of the Montessori classroom inherently provides students with an active environment, there are many additional opportunities for activity, including recess four times per week, "Phys Act" classes on Wednesdays, and skiing and snowboarding at a local ski area in the wintertime. Optional athletic teams allow Secondary-Schoolers to compete interscholastically in the fall, winter, and spring.

Walls do not hold Cambridge Montessori's Secondary School in! We celebrate our urban campus by exploring it regularly, from the ICA to the Lowell Mills. Secondary School students begin each year with a two-day community-building and leadership trip to Thompson Island Outward Bound in Boston Harbor. Every other year, students travel to Washington, DC to study the Civil Rights Movement. All of the Secondary School learning comes together at year's end with an annual Farms and Cities trip where the students apply their experience and knowledge from their lessons to real-life work on a farm and an exploration of Cambridge and Boston.