Grade 8

Inquiry, Identity, and Justice in a Changing World

Essential Questions:

• How do societies define justice?
• What is power, and how is it used or misused?
• How do individuals and communities create change?
• What does it mean to be an informed global citizen?
• How do we use evidence to understand complex issues?

The eighth grade English curriculum expands on the core skills established in seventh grade by challenging students to refine and apply their reading, writing, and speaking skills with an increasing amount of independence. Through powerful texts like Just Mercy, We Are Not Strangers, and If I Ever Get Out of Here, students deeply explore complex themes centered on identity and justice. They independently apply their close reading and annotation strategies to connect these literary narratives to real-world social issues, while class discussions evolve into student-led dialogues. 

Eighth graders take full agency over the writing process across various genres, including fiction, poetry, and expository pieces. A major milestone this year is mastering the traditional five-paragraph literary analysis essay. Shifting away from the heavy step-by-step scaffolds of 7th grade, students learn to organize, structure, and clarify their own arguments from brainstorming to final revision. This deliberate focus on student autonomy ensures they develop the confidence, voice, and critical thinking skills necessary for high school.

Developmental Skills:

• 8th graders learn and practice critical literary analysis, essay outlining and revising, generating and articulating ideas in classroom discussions, making tangible connections between literature and the wider world, and how to plan and finish long term assignments with independence. 
• Students read If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth, We Are Not Strangers: A Graphic Novel by Josh Tuininga, Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, and a variety of short stories, memoirs, and current event articles.

Grade 8 – Algebra 1

• Solving Equations Review
• One Variable Statistics
• Linear Equations and Systems
• Two-Variable Statistics
• Linear Inequalities and Systems
• Functions
• Introduction to Exponential Functions
• Introduction to Quadratic Functions
• Quadratic Equations

Grade 8 – Geometry

• Constructions and Rigid Transformations
• Congruence
• Similarity
• Right Triangle Trigonometry
• Solid Geometry
• Coordinate Geometry
• Circles
• Conditional Probability

The eighth-grade curriculum serves as the advanced culmination of our two-year Perspective on Justice sequence, transforming students into deep legal analysts, critical researchers, and articulate advocates. This year, students transition from examining foundational historical events to investigating the systemic engineering of American democracy, civil rights, and constitutional law. By deconstructing “master narratives,” the sanitized versions of history often found in standard textbooks, eighth graders confront the “rebellious reality” of grassroots movements, legal precedents, and structural power dynamics.

The course heavily centers on voice-centered discourse and collaborative problem-solving. Students consistently engage in peer “cross-examinations” of arguments, step into the shoes of historical committees to design legislative policy, and apply advanced mathematical modeling to historical injustices. Ultimately, eighth graders learn to trace how the legal, economic, and social battles of the 19th and 20th centuries directly shape contemporary supreme court decisions, environmental justice, and their own personal freedoms today.

Core Units of Study

• The Bill of Rights: History, Landmark Cases, and Modern Impact
• Sovereignty, Survival, and Resistance: Indigenous Rights in America
• A House Dividing: The Lead-Up to the Civil War
• Reconstruction: The”Magnificent Aberration” and the Unfinished Struggle
• Civil Rights: The “Master Narrative” vs. The Rebellious Reality

Grade 8 students study Physical Science. The lessons and labs are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ curricular standards for middle school.

Skills include scientific observation, generating testable questions, design and engineering practices, data collection and analysis, and communicating findings. Students engage in writing lab reports, research papers, and scientific arguments. Topics include: Matter and its Interactions, Waves and their Applications, Forces and Interactions, and Energy. Students have the opportunity to design and conduct experiments and to participate in the state science fair with their projects. 

In the third year of a three-year program, students expand their knowledge of French/Spanish grammar and vocabulary. Instruction is almost entirely in the target language. Students improve their language skills through group and paired speaking and writing activities during class and through individual work on their Chromebooks both in and outside of class.

Developmental Skills:

• Students continue to build vocabulary and increase their knowledge of grammar in order to speak and write with increasing fluency in the target language.
• Students read longer stories and articles and present in the target language..
• Students write more complex sentences and longer paragraphs in the present and past tenses.

French

Eighth grade French students begin the year by studying verbs and vocabulary related to clothing, seasons and weather. They speak and write about weather-appropriate outfits for a variety of occasions and Francophone locations to inform the year’s theme of travel. After a review of the present and futur proche, students learn about the geography, sites, food and culture of Sénégal through fictional readings about life in the capital city, songs and short videos. Throughout the year, they refine their language skills through in-class writings, informal conversations, class discussions and readings in French. They learn the simple past of regular and irregular verbs, and how and when to form it with être or avoir. As a culminating final project presentation, each student designs a trip to a chosen arrondissement in Paris for which they research schools, housing and sites of the city.

Example skills & topics includes:

• Reading
• Short writings
• Past tense
• Presentations
• Cultural study of Sénégal and Paris

Spanish

Eighth-grade students expand their communication skills by diving deeper into Spanish grammar and Hispanic cultures. Moving beyond the present tense, they learn to navigate both regular and irregular verbs in the past tense. This milestone allows them to confidently share past experiences, tell stories, and express themselves with greater detail and independence. Our curriculum focuses on practical, real-world themes, including “Daily Life” and “Food.” The year culminates in a comprehensive capstone project, where students present from the perspective of an exchange student living in a Central or South American capital city. Throughout each unit, students continuously refine their oral proficiency, listening comprehension, and pronunciation.

Example skills & topics include:

• Readings
• Short writings
• Past tense
• My typical day video
• Presentations
• Cultural study of a capital city in Central or South America

In Grades 7 and 8, the focus shifts from discrete classes to using specific software applications embedded in content area curriculum.

Developmental Skills:

• Students use spreadsheets to support data analysis in social studies, use multimedia presentations to enhance persuasive speeches on social justice topics in English class, manage online portfolios, and use online collaboration for project management. 
• There is also an important focus in Growth Education on self reflection, social media use, and learning to navigate an online social world in healthy ways.

The seventh and eighth grade art program gives students the opportunity to develop an advanced foundational skill set across a variety of media.

Developmental Skills:

• The year begins with a progression of observational drawing assignments, developing new skills while experimenting with different techniques and approaches. 
• In the latter half of the year, the focus shifts towards sculptural work. Whether working with cardboard construction, clay, or papier mache, students learn to translate two dimensional ideation into three dimensional form.
• Project examples include: contour and blind contour still life drawings, figure drawing focused on gesture, monochromatic self portrait painting, mixed media collage, monoprint derived from landscape drawing

The Physical Education program is developmental and skill-based. The program includes cooperative games, standard games, such as capture the flag and ultimate Frisbee, and team sports including field hockey, soccer and basketball. Students practice motor and sports skills throughout these activities. Students develop sports skills through movement exploration, specific skill work and playing games.

Developmental Skills:

• Sports Skills: Throw, Dribble, Kick, Bat, Catch, Shoot (basketball), Volley
• Fitness Exercises, Relays, Cooperative Games, Group Challenges, Obstacle Courses, Lifetime Fitness Activities

Eighth graders participate in MultiArts, a project-based performing arts program, twice weekly throughout the year. The units, sometimes in grade groups and sometimes in mixed 7th/8th grade classes, are described below:

• Theater Unit – students begin with the fundamentals of improvisation, building into a scene study unit with a final performance of selected scenes from plays/films/musicals
• Handbells Unit – students learn and perform a handbells piece for the Winter Festival assembly.
• Dance Unit – students work with a hip-hop dancer and choreographer to learn a complicated dance piece for a school-wide performance
• Musical Production – the culmination of MultiArts, 8th grade students participate in a musical theatre production. The unit includes auditions, rehearsals, and two performances. All students are cast in a role and participate in the ensemble. 

Growth Education is a health and wellness class focused on the unique growth period in the teenage years. Classes are often taught by guest experts, such as EducaHealth for human development, and in collaboration with the Technology Office. Students in eighth grade explore topics such as: 

• Identity & Wellness: Exploring personal and social identity, recognizing unconscious bias, and bringing one’s “best self” to the community.
• Digital Communication & Etiquette: Master email norms, boundaries, intent vs. impact, and asking for recommendations.
• Sleep Hygiene & Rest: Understanding circadian rhythms, the impact of blue light, and the seven types of rest.
• Nutrition: Differentiating macro and micronutrients and learning to “eat the rainbow” for long-term health.
• Artificial Intelligence: Examining brain development versus AI tools, cognitive offloading, and setting healthy digital boundaries.
• Substance Use & Prevention: Learning how substances affect the teenage brain and practicing authentic refusal strategies.