Academics

Religion

• New Testament

• Church History

• Morality

• Creed

• Saints

• Family Life

• VIRTUS

• Prayers

• Weekly mass led by students

• Stations of the Cross

• Living Rosary

• 8th Grade Diocesan Mass

Language Arts

• Writing: Personal Narrative, Descriptive Essay, Persuasive Essay, Informational, Realistic Fiction, Literary Essay, Memoir

• Reading Skills: Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring & Predicting, Synthesizing, Evaluating

• Writing Conventions: Spelling, Grammar, Capitalization, Punctuation, Paragraphing

• Grammar: Subjects, Predicates & Sentences, Nouns, Verbs, Pronouns, Punctuation

• Reading Genres: Poetry, Mysteries, Historical Fiction, Scientific Fiction

• Spelling/Vocabulary

• Accelerated Reading

Math

8th graders study Algebra

• Algebra Foundations - variables, expressions, order of operations, combining like terms, Distributive Property, operations with positive and negative decimals and fractions, ratios, rates, proportions, similar figures, percents, applications of percents, percent change

• Equations - multi-step equations with variables on both sides, solving for a variables

• Inequalities - multi-step inequalities with variables on both sides, compound inequalities

• Functions - graphing, interpreting and writing functions, domain and range, scatter plots, correlation and trend lines

• Linear Functions - graphing, interpreting, and writing linear functions, intercepts, slope, direct variation, slope-intercept form, point-slope form, slopes of parallel and perpendicular lines, transformation linear functions

• Systems of Equations - solving by graphing, substitution and elimination, solving systems of linear equations and inequalities

• Exponents and Square Roots - negative and positive exponents, multiplication and division properties of exponents

• Polynomials - adding, subtracting, multiplying (FOIL) and dividing polynomials

• Factoring Polynomials - by GCF, in the forms x² + bx + c and ax² + bx + c, by grouping, difference of 2 squares, perfect-square trinomials

• Quadratic Functions - characteristics of quadratic functions, graphing, transforming, solving by graphing, factoring, using square roots, completing the square, and Quadratic Formula, discriminant

• Radical Expressions - adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing radical expressions, solving radical equations

Science

3 Year Rotating Curriculum:

• Year A: Earth Science - prehistory, plate tectonics, fossils, weather, atmosphere, solar system, water cycle, soil/rock/mineral formation

• Year B: Physical Science - force/motion/energy, waves/sound, atoms/Periodic Table, chemical/physical change, electricity, magnetism

• Year C: Life Science - organism classification, cells, plant life cycle, photosynthesis, reproduction, ecosystems, human body systems

• Hands-on learning through labs, projects

• High school laboratory setting

• Lab report writing

• Group work

• New textbooks with online component

Social Studies

• United States History: Pre-Colonial America through the Civil War & Reconstruction

Standardized Testing

• NWEA