Eighth Grade Curriculum Guide
The Catholic School is a unique faith-centered community, which integrates thinking and believing in ways that encourage intellectual growth, nurture faith, and inspire action.
The commitment to academic excellence, which fosters the intellectual development of all students, is an integral part of the mission of our school.
RELIGION
Your child will:
- Examine characteristics of worship, human vocation, and Church history
- Analyze the Seven Sacraments and the Ten Commandments
- Connect Catholicism to world religions
- Interpret parables and Gospel stories in the Bible
- Participate in volunteer and service work
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Your child will:
- Write clearly and effectively
- Use the six-trait writing techniques based on ideas, organization, sentence fluency, word choice, voice, and conventions
- Write in a variety of forms including descriptive, expository creative, persuasive papers, and research papers
- Utilize the writing process: pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing
- Analyze, evaluate, and chart the effectiveness of written work
- Learn and apply correct grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and capitalization
- Identify and use clauses and phrases
- Complete a spelling program
LITERATURE
Your child will:
- Expand comprehension by analyzing, interpreting, and synthesizing information
- Understand the elements of literature
- Read for literary experience
- Read and analyze American short stories, legends, plays, poems, and novels in conjunction with the study of U.S. History
- Build upon their vocabulary
- Create a poetry anthology
- Communicate ideas clearly and effectively in group and individual presentations
MATH
(Pre-Algebra and Algebra)
In Pre-Algebra your child will:
Explore the language of Algebra, geometry, and other areas of math including exploring integers, one step equations and inequalities, factors and fractions, patterns, problem solving, functions and graphing ratios, proportions, statistics, applying Algebra to Geometry and polynomials.
In Algebra your child will:
Organize and interpret data using tables, charts, and figures; graph functions and linear equations; perform operations with exponents, square roots, and polynomial expressions; develop and solve linear systems; apply probability, statistics, and geometry to real-world problems; solve quadratic equations and multi-step equations; practice communicating the language of Algebra.
SPELLING
Your child will have:
- Follow a spelling program
- Utilize spell check
- Spell words correctly on final drafts
SOCIAL STUDIES
Your child will:
- Connect with world events and the present
- Note the impact of historical events
- Understand the diverse cultural make-up of America
- Identify how U.S. history is reflected in stories, songs, and poems
- Learn basic map skills
- Explore the impact of geography on people's lives
- Analyze primary sources
- Practice citizenship skills
- Work with charts and graphs
SCIENCE
Your child will:
- Practice laboratory safety
- Use the scientific method for applications in problem solving, and conduct independent projects using controls and variables
- Use and understand the metric system (SI) and be able to convert between SI units
- Know the process by which minerals form rock, and how rock types are inter-converted via the rock cycle
- Recognize the tectonic, seismic and volcanic forces which shape Earth
- Understand properties of ocean wter and the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere
- Understand the interaction between atmospheric and weather phenomena as it relates to the water cycle
- Observe the night sky and learn contemporary theories regarding the formation of the solar system and universe
ART
Each student will have 1 quarter of Art in which they will be exposed to many different mediums and will produce items for public display. Eighth grade art focuses on sculpting and painting portraits. Your child will be introduced to:
- Pop and Modern Art
- Digital photography
- Computer graphics and graphic design
- Modeling clay
- Advanced watercolor techniques
- How to produce and display work in an art show
P.E.
Each student will have two quarters of P.E. class with their homeroom class. Students will be required to change into P.E. clothes (health and hygiene purposes). Students will be expected to participate at their current skill level, show growth in their skills, and show appropriate sportsmanship behavior during class.
MUSIC/DRAMA
Students receive one quarter of Music/Drama instruction. They will focus on performance of vocal music and theatre. They will be expected to improve their vocal technique and broaden their knowledge of the crafts that are needed in theatre. They will present a performance of singing and drama at the end of the quarter.
ACTIVITIES
- Reenactment of the Constitutional Convention
- Mock trials at the County Court House
- Immigration simulation
- Poetry sharing
- Attending plays
- Service projects (delivering food to homebound)
- KOSTKA club, squire choir, peace partners
- Writing a term paper
COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY
Students attend a computer class for a quarter each year as part of their enrichment classes. In addition, students use classroom computers and the lab computers to complete many classroom projects. Typically students use Power Point, word processing programs, the internet, and various other media resources to complete their projects.
September 2007