Grade 8 Curriculum
Grade 8 Curriculum Overview
Religion
Students will learn about Jesus’ life. The focus is how we, as Christians, are called to follow Jesus’ teachings. The students will participate in classroom discussions, read the Bible and complete projects individually as well as in a group setting. Along with our classroom text, we will use the Pflaum Gospel Weeklies Faith Formation as well as the Child Lures program.
Language Arts
Write an intelligent response to any number of prompts
Write arguments from the text to prove a point
Write creatively using real or imagined experiences and characters
Use specific verbs and nouns to evoke the desired response in connection with the assigned task
Use technology while assessing its credibility and accuracy to produce an intelligently researched and documented project
Write short as well as more involved research projects on a specific topic with guidelines to follow
To consistently use correctly spelled words in all writing
Use new vocabulary in written and spoken responses
Analyze word structure to discover the meanings of new words
Create performable dramas
Write response journal entries
Read a variety of genres to determine explicit meaning and to draw conclusions from the text
Determine central ideas or themes of a text
To read coherently and smoothly adding expression and understanding of the text
To compare and contrast characters, ideas, styles, and themes
To summarize and paraphrase the text
To be able to identify point of view, allusion, alliteration, metaphor, irony, and many other literary elements
Make connections to other texts, life experiences, and world events
Develop a writing that incorporates a variety of sentence lengths
Apply all grammatical rules for capitalization, punctuation, and grammar
To orally present material in a clear, audible voice.
To understand motivation and character traits when analyzing a text or visual work
To see the morality and the connection to our Catholic beliefs in characters and situations in writings and everyday life
Pre-Algebra
Purpose
The purpose of pre-algebra is to build on the mathematical background students obtained in earlier grades and set the building blocks to succeed in applying math to real world situations and to set the cornerstones for algebra.
*Factors and Fractions
*Real Numbers
*Ratio, Proportion and Percents
*Algebraic Expressions, Equations and Inequalities
*Monomials
*Graphing
Science
Cells
Genes
Genetics
Protein Synthesis
Mutations
Evolution
Viruses
Bacteria
Plants
Waves
Sound
Light
Spaghetti Bridge Technology Project
Projects and Labs associated with this curriculum include but aren’t limited to:
Edible Cell Project
Family Genetics Project
Natural Selection Project
Plant tropism project
Yeast lab
Sound and light wave reflection and refraction
Metric System
Social Studies
In seventh grade we use the book: America: A History of our Nation
The following topics are covered:
Events leading to the American Revolution (from 1745-1776)
The American Revolution (from 1776-1783)
Creating the Constitution
The Constitution and what it means
The presidencies of George Washington and John Adams
The Era of Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase
War of 1812
The Age of Jackson and the Indian Removal
The Westward Expansion and the Oregon Trail