Reply to Can someone tell me about the Eastern Magnet?

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "Can someone tell me about the Eastern Magnet?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here,

Can I ask just on a basic level, how many magnet classes does a kid take?  Are they additions to the schedule, making a longer school day, or are they replacing other classes?  If so which classes?

What electives are available?

Can someone post their kid's schedule?

What extracurriculars are there at Eastern?  Are there sports teams?  [/quote]

There should be an open house presentation for admitted students that will answer this, but I'll answer some (as parent of a current Eastern 7th grader).

Students take 3 magnet classes each year: English, World Studies, and Media.  Many/most also take a Literature elective in 6th grade that used to be a required magnet class but is now optional and open to non-magnet students (it's a great class). The magnet classes are coordinated and often have overlapping themes/projects.

Students take non-magnet PE, Science, and Math (at the math level that is recommended from their elementary school).

Students take 7 classes total, which is a typical load.  There are the 5 core classes that all middle schoolers across MCPS take (math, science, social studies, english, PE) and two electives, but one of the electives is automatically filled by media each year.  If kids take the lit class in 6th grade, there's not room for other electives. This year, my 7th grader is taking art and computer science (a semester each) as an elective, and will start a language in 8th grade.

My kid takes after-school band, which counts as a real class and meets three days a week after school (well, two days a week now on Zoom).  So band kids are able to continue in band without eating up an elective slot.  Because of this, though, I'm not as familiar with other extracurriculars, which typically meet at the same times.

There is a lot of information on the Eastern webpage (https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/easternms ), particularly in the parent handbook (https://sites.google.com/view/parent-handbook/home).

Hope that helps![/quote]

Generally, most magnet kids do take Ms Ray's Literature and Culture class in 6th. It does a great job of setting them up for the kind of analysis they'll be doing in the rest of the program and kind of gives them a grounding in that sort of thinking, plus it's really fun and not that intense.

And then most take a language elective the next two years, but there are stuff like technology, music, or art classes available if they'd prefer. But if there's any chance they might want to apply for International Baccalaureate programs in MS, they'll need those language credits to be eligible.

So each year, you've got:

1. Magnet English
2. Magnet World Studies (these first two are sometimes treated as a block period for the day, when they have projects that involve elements of both courses)
3. Magnet Media elective
4. Another elective, usually (but not always) the quasi-magnet Literature and Culture in 6th, then a language in 7th and 8th
5. Science (there are "honors" sections, so most magnet kids tend to be grouped together here, too, along with some kids from the rest of the student body, but I can't see that they're particularly advanced in any way. I think they just don't spend as much time on reading the material, maybe?)
6. Math
7. PE/Health

They also have a very short Advisory period each day, but it's only 15 minutes or so before lunch. They can knock off a bit of homework, check their grades or assignments online, or get permission to go to the library or meet with another teacher. Occasionally they have stuff like Common Sense Media lessons in Advisory, but it's mostly just a short chunk of relatively free time.

No additional periods or extended day for magnet kids, but as the PP said, some do choose to take Afterschool Band. Even though that's a for-credit class, it runs on the same schedule as the other after-school activities.

There's an activity bus for kids who participate in after-school sports, clubs, or band, but my kid found it awkward to use because the magnet activity routes change buses at Blair. We ended up picking them up on after-school band days because we had one parent who could adjust their timing and it wasn't too far out of the way.

There are sports teams, but I think sports are kind of an afterthought in general at a lot of MCPS middle schools. I know they do cross-country, basketball, and probably soccer? My kid isn't sporty at all, so I haven't paid much attention there, but the website might have some info left over from last year.

Extracurriculars vary each year by interest and availability of faculty sponsors, but I've seen STEM-type stuff, creative writing, math team, art clubs, LGBTQ+/allies, Book Wars, drama (they usually do two plays a year, and many kids get involved behind the scenes with set design or tech), and sometimes intramural/club sports. There's usually a pretty sizable number of options, which I think speaks well for faculty involvement. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics