English
Eighth grade English is a combination of vocabulary exercises, grammar studies, and writing assignments. Vocabulary will focus on learning Latin and Greek roots and how knowing those makes it easier to not only identify words but also remember their meanings. Writing assignments will vary from smaller, daily journal entries to larger narratives and descriptive pieces. The largest English assignment is the research paper. Beginning in the third quarter and lasting into the fourth, students will research, organize, draft, revise, and finally submit a 5 to 7 page paper on a topic of their choosing.
Life Skills
A co-curricular class that doesn’t receive a grade, Life Skills covers a range of topics from academic honesty and bullying to drug and alcohol education, study skills, and service learning.
Literature
Students will be reading fictional short stories and novels as well as non-fictional essays and poetry. Through these texts, students will be exposed to a diverse group of authors writing about a range of subject matter. One unit worth noting is the Holocaust education unit. Most years, a Holocaust survivor has come and given a talk to the eighth grade class.
Math
Our Algebra I course focuses on setting a solid foundation for more advanced high school math classes. The students will explore and master basics operations with polynomials, equations, factoring, radicals, inequalities, and graphing. The students will experience the practical usefulness of algebra as they use these skills to take the guesswork out of solving word problems.
Religion
In 8th grade religion, there are two main areas of study: Liturgy and Morality. Students begin with a lesson on mission, where they review the mission statement of the school, as well as write personal mission statements for themselves. This leads into learning about the mission of the Church, and they spend the rest of the year discovering how the Church celebrates (through liturgy and sacraments) and what the Church teaches about how to live out our God-given mission (morality). Also, in preparation for Confirmation, students will have the opportunity to research a Catholic saint and create an informational website about him or her.
Science
Science builds on previous years learning of the five major science disciplines – Earth, Space, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Topics are interwoven into units along with current events, economics, and politics as they apply to the subject matter. Students demonstrate their knowledge through research, building models, experiments, and expository writing.
Spanish
We will continue with our textbook and will finish Spanish level I. We will watch a video series, “Eres tú María.” Students will read short stories and a novela en español.
U.S. History
We will begin the study of U.S. History with a brief review of the Colonial Era through the Revolutionary War. Our purpose is to set the stage for an in-depth study of the United States as an independent nation, with a focus on the creation of a national government as established by the U.S. Constitution. We will learn about the movement of Americans to the West, and how the nation was formed by cultural influences of people from many nations, as well as advances in technology. The goal is to study the history of our nation up to the start of the Civil War.
Specials
Eighth grade students will also attend specials classes which include Music, Art, and P.E.
