•  For a detailed description of the middle school's core courses and their curriculum maps, please follow this link.
     
    For encore course descriptions and curriculum maps, please follow this link.
    The Lower Dauphin Middle School program is an exploratory one where students, as young adolescents, are introduced to many unique programs and opportunities. LDMS offers a comprehensive education that includes a balance of academic and co-curricular offerings.
     
    Comprised of both “core” and “encore” courses, the middle school curriculum is intended to provide the foundation students will need for more specific study in senior high school.
     
    Core courses for all students include English, mathematics, science, and social studies. Core courses also include foreign language level one classes for eighth graders and reading classes for some seventh and eighth graders.

    Encore courses for all students include art, family and consumer science, music, and technology education.

    All students are required to take physical education every year. Sixth and eighth grade students also take health. Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students may elect Band, Chorus, and/or Orchestra.
     
    Specific courses by grade follow:

    Grade 6
    Math 6
    Science
    Social Studies
    Language Arts
    Reading
    Physical Education
    Health/D.A.R.E.
    Music*
    Technology Education*
    Family and Consumer Science*
    Art*
    (*Marking period course)
     

    Grade 7
    Math 7
    Life Science or Honors Life Science
    Geography and Early Civilizations
    English or Honors English
    Reading or Foreign Language Survey
    Physical Education
    21st Century Skills
    STEM and Computer Safety
    Music 1*
    Art 1*
    Technology Education 1*
    Family and Consumer Science 1*
    (*Semester course. Students are assigned 2 courses in 7th grade)
     
     
    Grade 8
    Pre-Algebra 8 or Algebra 8
    Physical Science or Honors Physical Science
    American History
    English or Honors English
    Reading or Foreign Language Survey or Level 1 Foreign Language
    Physical Education
    Health
    Music*
    Art*
    Technology Education*
    Family and Consumer Science*
    (*Semester course. Students will take the two Encore classes they did not take in 7th grade.)
     
     
    The following is a synopsis of curriculum offerings by discipline:

    Language Arts and English
    Sixth-grade language arts integrates the fundamentals of reading, composition, literature, grammar, and speech.
     
    The seventh- and eighth-grade English curriculum is designed to provide a basic program for all students on their level. Students are taught the fundamentals of grammar, composition, speech, and literature.

    Foreign Language
    An exploratory approach to foreign language is utilized to familiarize students with languages prior to their electing a language for further study. All foreign language 1 courses are high school level courses but do not count for HS credit.

    Health
    With a focus on daily living, the sixth grade course of study includes the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. Taught by an officer of the Hummelstown Borough Police Department, DARE helps students to recognize and resist the pressures to experiment with drugs, gangs, or violent activity.
     
    The eighth grade curriculum emphasizes wellness and the development of a healthy lifestyle. A co-educational approach is taken with both sixth and eighth grade health courses.

    Mathematics
    In sixth grade, students take Math 6. Math placements are determined by administration after a thorough review of data related to the students' performance in math. In seventh grade, students take Math 7. In eighth grade, students take either Pre-Algebra 8 or Algebra 8.

    Physical Education
    Sixth-grade physical education is designed to aid in students becoming healthy and physically fit, through a variety of activities. Activities will include team sports as well as various fitness activities in order for students to develop leadership, cooperation and teamwork skills.
     
    Seventh- and eighth-grade physical education continues to build upon the skills that are developed in sixth grade physical education, with more of an emphasis placed on lifetime activities. Through team sports, individual sports, as well as fitness activities, students will be introduced to activities they can carry with them throughout their lives. Students will also learn dance styles from around the world and the different cultures those dances represent.

    Practical and Fine Arts
    Students are provided with nine weeks of instruction in Art, Family and Consumer Science (FACS), Industrial Technology, and Music during their sixth-grade year. Students will have one semester of each class during their seventh- and/or eighth-grade years. Emphasis in all fine and practical arts courses is on hands-on activities and creativity.

    Reading
    Reading in sixth grade is an integral part of the Language Arts Program. Sixth grade students will have separate periods for reading and language arts.
     
    Reading in seventh and eighth grade concentrates on developing basic reading skills using a content area approach. Additionally, students are encouraged to read for pleasure. Note - not all seventh and eighth grade students take Reading. 

    Science
    The sixth-grade science curriculum comprises the following units: Introduction to Science, Geology, Meteorology, Natural Resources, Structure of the Universe, and Water.
     
    In seventh grade, Life Science is taught. Emphasis in life science is on helping students to understand their relationship to the environment.
     
    Physical Science, a study of chemistry and physics, is the course offered in eighth grade.
     
    Emphasis in all science courses is on hands-on activities, including labs to reinforce scientific concepts.

    Social Studies
    Sixth-grade social studies cover aspects of economics through JA BIZTOWN, geography and the study of the Americas.
     
    Seventh-grade social studies covers geography and the study of Early Civilizations. The curriculum travels through history and culminates during the Renaissance period.
     
    Eighth-grade social studies continues after the Renaissance with expansion into the New World. Emphasis is on American history up through the Civil War.

    Honors
    In mathematics, students are accelerated based on criteria.
     
    Seventh- and eighth-grade students in English may be invited to pursue an honors-level course based upon set criteria.
     
    Seventh- and eighth-grade students in science may be invited to pursue an honors-level course based upon set criteria.