Grade 8
The Grade 8 students are well- prepared for the challenges they will face in secondary school.
Each semester, the rigorous curriculum is enriched with both independent and collaborative projects. As leaders of the school, students have the opportunity to run Middle and Upper School morning meetings and lunch announcements, give campus tours to visitors,organize all-school service and fundraising events, and facilitate discussions with peers.
Students develop and strengthen skills needed to be effective leaders in a rapidly changing society. During the spring, our students compose and deliver a formal address to their teachers and peers as part of the public speaking program.
The relationships that I build with my students - with entire families, in many cases - and with my colleagues are the backbone of and the impetus for the work I do here. That work is made joyful by this sense of community.
Rich Andriole, English Department Chair
Grade 8 Highlights
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Leadership Opportunities: Student Council, athletic team captains, Spirit Captains, club officers, yearbook editors, admissions ambassadors
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Upper School Musical
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Grade 8 Speeches
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Global Nomads Program
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Wellness Collaborative
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Pals
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Mystery Bus Trip
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Student Dances and Movie Nights
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Electives in Visual, Performance, and Applied Arts
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Overnight Nature’s Classroom Outdoor Education Trip
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GOALS (Get Out And Learn Something) Electives
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Winter Term: Studios with Authentic Projects Related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
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Optional extracurricular travel opportunities
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Social Emotional Learning in Advisory
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Math Club, Math Team, AMC8 Math Challenge
In the Classroom
The science curriculum focuses on the skills and process of science. Grade 8 science students study chemistry, cell biology, genetics and evolution. Through laboratory investigations, research projects, debates, and modeling, students gain a deeper understanding of the nature of science.
Our coordination with the Wellness Collaborative program helps students understand the underlying causes and responses to stress, anxiety and self esteem. This program, in conjunction with social-emotional learning opportunities in advisory, provide students with strategies to help them navigate the pressures they face.
Our Grade 8 students are able to apply their advanced world language skills in Spanish, French, and Latin by writing a full paragraph utilizing vocabulary and appropriate grammar, as well as demonstrate proficiency by reading short passages and stories, and completing interactive speaking and listening activities. All languages incorporate cultural competence.
Our Grade 8 math program consists of solving, interpreting, and graphing algebraic relationships, with an emphasis on strengthening problem-solving skills, critical reasoning ability, and number sense. Students study linear functions including inequalities and absolute value, quadratic functions, operations with monomials, polynomials, operations with radicals, introduction to radical and rational functions. Standard and Honors classes study math within the context of real-world applications including quadratic modeling of projectiles and a systems-of-equations small business project during Winter Term, while Honors students are introduced to additional topics related to the core curriculum.
Students complete analytical, personal, creative, and expository writing tasks, making full use of the writing process to produce high-quality and effective writing pieces, including a five-paragraph essay on moral courage. Reading journals for Grade 8 students highlight close reading skills as they summarize and make use of inferences, character observations, and setting observations, all while fostering higher level thinking skills. Students participate in class-led dynamic and organic discussion on reading selections, and even respond to peer journals and provide specific feedback on the use of elements for classmates.
In 8th Grade History, students prepare to be global citizens in an ever-more interconnected and interdependent world. The course fosters cross-cultural competency and a global perspective, two crucial 21st century skills. Students will be asked to reflect on their own identity and empathize with other people from different times and places. We will learn about some of the events that shaped the nations and peoples of the twenty-first century, as well as issues we all currently face. Topics covered include the development and interaction of five world religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism. We also touch on European colonialism and decolonization, as well as historical and ongoing conflicts across the globe.
