Eighth Grade

Students in eighth grade continue building reading, listening, grammar, vocabulary, and writing skills.

Texts include

• Parallel Journeys, Eleanor Ayer
• “The Perils of Indifference,” Elie
• Night, Wiesel
• To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

With Writing Workshop, students write daily, participate in peer conferences, multiple teacher conferences, and keep individual "skills lists" of rules to correct their specific editing needs.

Research Essay: Students select a non-profit organization to research with the idea of deciding whether or not to give this organization a one million dollar donation. Students find out everything they can about what the organization does, how it spends its money, how it gathers its money, how it’s rated.

During final week, in anticipation of graduation gifts, students work on writing quality thank you notes.

There are two different math courses offered in eighth grade: Common Core 8th grade math and Common Core Algebra I.

8th grade

In the traditional eighth grade math course students work through topics like radicals and exponents, multi-step equations, pythagorean theorem, functions, graphing, and geometry. In order to learn these topics and learn how to solve problems, students work individually, work in partners, and work in groups. They reinforce their skills in class and are given the opportunity to practice at home through the use of homework and the site IXL Learning.

Learning in eighth grade math also extends beyond the traditional classroom material. Students are exposed to real life situations and problems through projects that they complete. For, instance, this year, students had the opportunity to learn real life skills like writing checks, understanding what a paycheck looks like, and how to manage expenses.

Algebra

In the Algebra class students cover topics like equations and systems of equations, inequalities, functions, quadratic functions, factoring, statistics, and rational and radical expressions.

In this class, there are a variety of different activities that students work through. They work in groups, complete projects, and participate in flipped classroom lessons. At the end of the year, these students take the Algebra I exam in order to get credit for the course in high school

The 8th grade curriculum cover American History from the causes of the Civil War to present day issues facing our nation. Current events are addressed and debated using an online discussion board. Students use a variety of sources, including many primary sources to discover the events of our nation’s past. Students learn how to write a DBQ essay and even write their own children’s book about the Civil War. Students film and retell the Gettysburg Address and publish it on Mrs. Beahan’s teacher YouTube site. Technology is incorporated daily into the lessons. A number of contests are offered to the students to enter throughout the year including Junior Scholastics Mapman and The Buffalo News Editorial Cartoon Contest.

Grade 8 covers both Chemistry and Physics. A year end Unit Project involves incubating chicken eggs to learn about the life cycle of a more complex organism, culminating in the hatching and care of baby chicks.

Grade 8 Concentrates on reading writing and speaking in the past tense. Culturally students learn about traditional homes, favorite pastimes and important artists.

Grade 8 Honors concentrates on the past tense and the future tense. They learn reflexive verbs to talk about their daily routines and make videos of them. Students write essays on familiar topics using the writers workshop. They also use direct and indirect object pronouns.

A continuing study of the New Testament with an emphasis on the miracles and parables of Jesus. The lives of the twelve apostles are studied and the seven sacraments are revisited and reviewed. Church history is studied in relation to the apostles and the spread of the Good News.