Curriculum

Middle School | 5–8

Welcome to FCS Middle School! Our program for Grades 5 through 8 is robust, attentive to students’ needs, and rooted in progressive practice. I think you’ll find that in the FCS community, faculty and students are courageous risk-takers, challenging themselves and one another to learn as much as possible, to listen closely for truth—be it our own or someone else’s—and to seize opportunities to do the right thing.


FCS Middle School Program

Students in grades 5 through 8 are taught in single-grade groupings. Core classes are Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science. P.E., Spanish, and a variety of elective choices round out the schedule. Middle-school students also meet weekly in multi-grade committees, where they have the opportunity to become leaders and effect change in the school and broader community.
 
Examples of middle-school projects include writing original fantasy and suspense stories in 5th grade, a multidisciplinary Green Architecture Project in 6th grade, a 7th-grade study of communities in early American history, and a Moral Courage Project in 8th grade.Interviews, guest speakers, and field trips help students forge relationships with local experts from NASA, the University of Maryland, the federal government, and non-government organizations, minimizing the line between school and the real world.
 
FCS middle-schoolers start and end each day with their advisories, where the emphasis is on consensus-building, conflict resolution, and choice to enable students to move through our multifaceted curriculum with both the academic and social-emotional skills they need to thrive. Measurable community skills help students see how their work habits influence their learning.
 
FCS graduates are accepted to and well-prepared for leading area high schools, including competitive public magnet programs, independent schools, and Catholic high schools (that award academic scholarships to many FCS graduates). More than 95% of FCS graduates are offered admission at their first- or second-choice high school.

The FoCuS

Six issues of The FoCuS, Friends Community School's student-run newspaper, are published throughout each school year. Check out the latest issues and archives on our parent portal here.

Located in College Park, MD, Friends Community School is a progressive Quaker K-8 day school, founded on the belief that every child is a valued member of our community. We offer a challenging curriculum imbued with strong values of equality, integrity, community, environmental stewardship, simplicity and peaceful conflict resolution, rooted in our Quaker heritage.
Friends Community School
5901 Westchester Park Drive
College Park, Maryland 20740
301-441-2100