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MIDDLE SCHOOL: Mathematics

Our mathematics curriculum will help move American children, who ranked fifteenth in international math and science competitions in 2001, into top percentiles on standardized tests and into the most exciting jobs in the Silicon Valley. Our small classes, computer technology and expert teachers propel children into Algebra I by seventh grade and Algebra II or Geometry by eighth grade; this prepares them to take AP Calculus, Statistics, Chemistry and Physics in high school.

Pre-Algebra
This course offers an introduction to Algebra, incorporating word and logic and mathematical applications to science. Students develop mastery of essential mathematical concepts such as fractions, proportions, decimals, percents, scientific notation, prime factorization, and geometry. With challenging word problems, this course presents basic algebra concepts in a rigorous but exciting manner. It includes math activities, which encourage students to learn the importance of accuracy in a rewarding entrepreneurial environment, such as campus store management. The students participate in math/science projects and contests throughout the year. This course allows students to develop a wider and more realistic perspective, which cultivates their keen math knowledge for their future.

Algebra I
A continuation of the Pre-Algebra class, this is the first half of a two year rigorous training in Algebra emphasizing advanced methods and concepts in problem solving and data analysis. A wide variety of problems in science and other related fields reinforce the concepts through applications.

Topics covered include: the properties of real numbers, absolute values and equations and inequalities involving absolute value, solutions of equations in one unknown and solutions of simultaneous equations, the algebra of polynomials and rational expressions, word problems requiring algebra for their solution, graphical solution of equations, the Pythagorean theorem, solution of quadratic equations via factoring and completing the square, functions and functional notations. In addition, students learn to compute the perimeter and areas of two-dimensional regions, computation of the surface area and volume of a wide variety of geometric solids, and statistics and probability.