GATE
YLMS GATE PROGRAM
GATE Night Presentation 2021- This presentation will help parents and students better understand our GATE program and if you have additional questions feel free to reach out to the YLMS administration.
Yorba Linda Middle School’s GATE program is off and running. This year’s program offers our students more opportunities to strengthen their leadership qualities, enrich their talents, and recognize their gifts through a rigorous yet thoughtful curriculum. Our goal is to cultivate confident students that understand knowledge is important and valuable, but more importantly, we want them to have the wisdom to know how to put that knowledge to work. We want our students to have sagacity.
With regards to language arts, students will have exciting opportunities to delve deeper into the curriculum. First of all, the depth and complexity icons will serve as a useful tool to help kids understand concepts at a much higher level. For example, students would use the icons to analyze a hero’s journey, determine the catalyst behind the evolution of a character, and/or discover archetypes within a novel. Students will also have opportunities to compete in mock trials, co-author a vignette novel, participate in the Chapman Art and Writing Holocaust Project, showcase their poetic talents at Poetry Night, and experiment with creative writing. In addition, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students will embark on a research project, The ETHOS Project, in which each student will explore an event that has had a major impact on society.
In the math department, YLMS has many highly rigorous academic classes offered. The classes are accelerated or compacted, which means that more material is covered in the course of the year than the traditional grade level class. A club has been created to offer students the opportunity to compete in MathCounts, the nationwide middle school mathematics competition. The subject matter will include geometry, combinatorics, counting, probability, number theory, and algebra.
The science department is committed to implementing the new NGSS science standards which are much more rigorous than the old CST standards. These standards place an emphasis on higher level thinking skills, including analytical thinking and problem solving. YLMS science teachers implement inquiry based activities, project based learning, hands-on and lab activities, and critical thinking activities via technology. Students use this technology to show their thinking and solve problems. 21st century skills and real world applications are incorporated when applicable. The science department subscribes to the award winning TWIG program, which makes short online science videos available to students, as well as Science World magazine in hard copy.
In the social studies department, YLMS students will be expanding the curriculum with a Constitution Toss, a project illustrating Hamilton and Jefferson Ideals, Lewis and Clark journal entries, and Civil War Presentations. From debates to simulations to inquiry based learning, students will engage in a multitude of activities and projects that strengthen and stretch their mindset. All students will be participating in DBQ’s (Document Based Questions) to enhance their research skills and primary source analysis; it also strengthens their essay writing abilities.
Not only does YLMS offer a rich academic program, but also provides many enrichment opportunities. The National Junior Honor Society members are inducted into a group with the purpose of creating an enthusiasm for and recognition of superior scholarship and citizenship; to stimulate a desire to serve; to promote leadership; and to instill exemplary qualities of character.
Finally, technology plays a major role in challenging the students at YLMS. Every classroom is outfitted with SMART technological systems. These systems allow students to learn, interact and progress in a whole new way. For example, in social studies, kids are exploring Japan’s ninth and tenth centuries’ golden age of drama and its lasting effects on culture today via a Japanese Opera and a causal chain graphic organizer that is manipulated by students to show the drama’s influential history.
Collectively, our school offers opportunities for our students to strive for the fullest potential while still honoring and respecting each of their individual strengths and talents. YLMS is a wonderful place to embark on a meaningful academic career.