8th Grade Curriculum

Religion

Morality and Jesus in the New Testament

1. Focus on the life and messages of Jesus Christ through a deeper understanding of the four Gospels.

2. Review how the Ten Commandments and Beatitudes guide us to live a successful moral life.

3. Focus on the principles of Catholic morality, including the Social Teachings of the Catholic Church.

4. Review the writings of the New Testament letters and the Book of Revelations.

5. Read and Discuss “Who Moved my Cheese” for Teens to better understand how to maneuver life.

6. Read and Discuss “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” through the eyes of a Christian.
   

1. Understanding, calculating, and identifying of "Rational and Irrational" numbers

2. Working with expressions, equations, and inequalities in real-world problems

3. Using functions to model relationships between two quantities

4. Understand the connection between proportional relationships, lines, and linear equations

5. Understand congruency and similarity using physical models

6. Performing arithmetic operations on polynomials

Literature

1. Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.

3. Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.

4. Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader create such effects as suspense or humor.

5. By the end of the year, read an comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, independently and proficiently.

Writing and Grammar

1. Continue to develop and use conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing and speaking.

2. Form and use verbs in the active and passive voice as well as in the indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive mood.

3. Five paragraph essay structure by focusing on developing opinion and persuasive writing projects.

4. Conduct appropriate research skills using correct non-plagiarism rules to gather information in order to present an argument and support it with a logical sequence of evidence through their writing.

5. Revise, edit, and rewrite their compositions using correct writing mechanics.

6. Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

7. Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
   

Growth and Conflict of the U.S. History and Geography (1585-1914)

1. Understand how the 13 Colonies were established and be able to compare and contrast the different attributes, resources, and colonial governments of each.

2. Identify the beginnings of American identity and how economic, spiritual, and governmental controls led to the Revolutionary War,

3. Dissect how the Articles of Confederation led to the Constitution and understand the people and events that led to the beginning of a Democratic government of the United States.

4. Understand the divide of the United States which led to the Civil War - Examine the Reconstruction which led to an Industrial Society.

Specialty Classes

• Computer class 40 minutes once a week

• Music class 40 minutes once a week

• PE class 30 minutes twice a week

• Spanish class 45 minutes twice a week

• Library 30 minutes once a week