Welcome to the Middle School
Welcome to the MKA Middle School!
The Middle School Campus is an exciting place to learn and grow, and offers a wealth of academic and co-curricular opportunities uniquely suited to the needs of students in Grades 4-8. As you explore this website, I hope you will discover some of the distinguishing features of our campus and our school, including:
An advisor system and small class size designed to meet the social and emotional needs of young adolescents, as well as their academic needs. Students enjoy regular daily meetings in advisor group and weekly, extended advisor periods. Advisors get to know their students and communicate regularly with parents.
A schedule that provides students with time to work independently with teacher supervision, to meet with peers and teachers in small groups and 1:1, while retaining the two recesses essential to Middle School growth and development. There is a balance of academic periods, arts classes and physical education.
Middle School is a place full of opportunity. Students enjoy a robust interscholastic team sports program from Grade 6 and up, and students in all grades explore interests in our weekly club period and in the after school activities program.
MKA's Signature Programs in Ethics and Character, Core Works and Writing are woven through the curriculum. Middle School students write poetry and narrative, non-fiction and feature articles. They learn the skills of revision and the importance of critique to improve their work. The Writing Challenge provides regular assessment and feedback that helps students and teachers craft individualized programs for improvement.
Our 1:1 Laptop Learning Program that starts in Grade 4 provides students with the tools to learn in an exciting and relevant way that prepares them to be successful in the technological world in which they live.
The Middle School science curriculum engages students in inquiry, leading to the development of young scientists who can ask questions, test hypotheses, design experiments, collect and analyze data, and evaluate conclusions. Eighth graders complete an independent science research project and present their findings to their peers and other members of the community.
The Middle School Fine & Performing Arts program offers opportunities to sing in the chorus or play an instrument in band; students can learn to develop a character for the stage in Theater Arts, and to dance to Latin beats in dance; they can learn the rules of perspective and the color wheel in studio art or the nuances of graffiti and graphic design in Tech Arts classes. In addition, the Middle School experience is distinguished by the 7th Grade Shakespeare project that immerses the entire grade in the history, culture and language of Elizabethan England as they stage a Shakespeare production.
A true community: our students have the opportunity to come together as a class on overnights, class trips and community service projects, and they enjoy close relationships with an extremely caring and highly qualified faculty committed to the intellectual, social, emotional and ethical development of each child.
I look forward to meeting you on campus soon!
Dr. Randy Kleinman
Head of Middle School
201 Valley Road, Montclair, NJ 07042
