Eighth Grade

Our curriculum is driven by the Diocesan Standards which align with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Religion

The focus is on the preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation which occurs in the spring. As servant-leaders, students are expected to complete a minimum of 21 service hours to the school and the greater community. In addition, students participate in weekly school Masses, Liturgical events such as the Christmas Pageant, Lenten Passion Play and May Crowning, retreats, reflective prayer services, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

English - Language Arts

Eighth Grade utilizes a vocabulary and spelling program designed to prepare students for the SAT and ACT exams in high school.

The Literature program’s focus is exposing students to various writing genres including fiction, non-fiction/primary source documents, plays, short stories, the novel, mysteries, poetry, autobiographies, and historical fiction. Authors include: William Shakespeare, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Julius Lester, William Faulkner, Edgar Allen Poe, Ann Rinaldi, and Robert Fisher among others.

In addition, students practice various ways to respond to text, identify literary themes and terminology, participate in class and small group discussions and projects, and perfect presentation skills.

The goal of the Eighth Grade Writing and Grammar curriculum is preparation for high school success. Students continue to develop and expand language mechanics and conventions of language skills by writing in a variety of styles. Writing styles include persuasive arguments with counter-arguments, research, and proper citations; multiple page essays with Modern Language Association formatting; research reports and formal bibliographies on the Holocaust; story narratives utilizing plot diagrams, character development, dialogue, themes, and descriptive imagery; personal narrative modeling NPR’s “This I Believe” style, and poetry forms and analysis.

Students continue to practice and personalize note-taking strategies, study and organizational skills, and ways to respond to text. Oral speaking and presentation skills are perfected. Formal grammar instruction continues with an emphasis on complexity, depth, and integration into writing.

Mathematics

Number and Quantity

The Real Number System

• Extend the properties of exponents to rational exponents.
• Use properties of rational and irrational numbers.

Quantities

• Reason quantitatively and use units to solve problems.

Algebra Seeing Structure in Expressions

• Interpret the structure of expressions.
• Write expressions in equivalent forms to solve problems.

Arithmetic with Polynomials and Rational Expressions

• Perform arithmetic operations on polynomials.

Creating Equations

• Create equations that describe numbers or relationships.

Reasoning with Equations and Inequalities

• Understand solving equations as a process of reasoning and explain the reasoning.
• Solve equations and inequalities in one variable.
• Solve systems of equations.
• Represent and solve equations and inequalities graphically.

Functions Interpreting Functions

• Understand the concept of a function and use function notation.
• Interpret functions that arise in applications in terms of the context.
• Analyze functions using different representations.

Building Functions

• Build a function that models a relationship between two quantities.
• Build new functions from existing functions.

In addition, St. James School follows the California Common Core Math Practices:

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
4. Model with mathematics.
5. Use appropriate tools strategically.
6. Attend to precision.
7. Look for and make use of structure.
8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

History

The focus this year is to recognize the common threads that tie together the facts of American History: Multicultural Nation, Spirit of Democracy, Changing Economy, Environment, and Global Interdependence. Our study encompasses the creation of a new republic, an expanding nation, the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Science

St. James School educates the whole child. Therefore, Eighth Graders also attend classes in Music, PE, Spanish, and Art.