8th Grade Curriculum Guide
Mathematics
When students at SGCS reach 7th grade, they begin to be placed in math classes that best fit their learning needs. Please refer to the Middle School Course Catalog for more information about the offered math classes in 7th and 8th grade at SGCS.
The Connected Mathematics program addresses the PDE State Standards for Mathematics.
Language Arts
8th Grade students will be immersed in grammar, reading, and writing through the Amplify curriculum. Students will read complex literary texts of fiction and nonfiction, and also use multimedia and primacy source documents to enhance their ELA skills.
In 8th grade, students study the following units:
- Units of Study include:
- Perspectives & Narratives
- Liberty & Equity
- Science & Science Fiction
- Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet
- Holocaust: Memory & Meaning
- The Space Race Collection
- Poetry
History
SGCS utilizes SAVVAS curriculum and Education and the Environment Initiative as the instructional resources for social studies.
In 8th grade, students continue their studies of American History. They will learn about the connection between human developments in industries beyond the Civil War and the beginning of the World Wars. Students will be immersed into the time when laws and governments were shaped, and research how governments continue to change. There is a focus on citizen participation in government and how that involvement has influenced historical change, as well as our students’ responsibility as a citizen of the United States.
EIC Units of Study
The Middle School science curriculum utilizes PITSCO and Education and the Environment Initiatives to develop the EIC framework for science studies. The yearlong, project-based unit uses the local environment and community as an integrating context for learning. Hands-on, integrated community investigations engage us in real-world explorations of natural and social systems.
8th Grade Overarching Environmental Principal
Human decision-making about natural systems is influenced by many interacting factors and considerations, including ecological, economic, and intrinsic values.
Biology, Green Chemistry, and Environmental Science
Organizing Question:
How is the health of living things dependent on the Earth’s health?
|
The eighth grade curriculum revolves around an overarching focus on the environmental principle that human decision-making about natural systems is influenced by many interacting factors and considerations, including ecological, economic, and intrinsic values. Concepts explored and developed are as follows: Communities, societies, businesses, government agencies, individuals, and families have many different viewpoints, attitudes, levels of awareness, and opinions about the interactions between humans and natural systems; the positions and decisions stakeholder groups, economic actors, and policy makers take on natural resource issues reflect their differing needs, concerns, responsibilities, priorities, and perspectives; the long-term impacts of human activities on natural systems are not known, however human understanding of environmental impacts and potential solutions is constantly advancing. Integrated, interdisciplinary units of investigation include biological taxonomy classifications, basic genetics and genetic recombinations, scientific advances in agriculture, green chemistry, and environmental studies and global impacts. The course is a combination of knowledge acquisition through inquiry lab and lecture and application of content to our local environment context. Students use the environment and community business experts and partners to further explore systems interdependence and to engage in real-world issues in relation to these. The course culminates with an environmental service learning project based on the natural and social interaction discoveries during the unit and student voice. |
||