8th grade

• Course Overview

English

• Vocabulary skills including identifying and determining the meaning of synonyms, antonyms, idioms, homophones, and Latin and Greek roots
• Comprehension skills including summarizing, paraphrasing, or synthesizing information from two or more literary or expository texts
• Identifying vocabulary words in a text and giving their meanings
• Understanding main ideas, comparing and contrasting ideas and information, cause and effect, symbolism, making inferences, mood, tone, and point of view in a story
• Applying writing skills in activities such as composing cover letters, poems, biographies, position papers, and more

Math

• Writing numbers in word, standard, expanded, and scientific notation
• Identifying and using ratios and rates
• Multiplying and dividing with positive and negative rational numbers
• Finding the perimeter and area of two-dimensional figures
• Identifying and plotting ordered pairs in four quadrants and along the axes
• Calculating probabilities of independent and dependent events

Science

• Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations
• Design and conduct a scientific investigation
• Use technology as a tool to gather data and information
• Analyze and interpret data
• Think critically and logically to connect evidence and explanations
• Use scientific practices during laboratory exercises

Social Studies

• Creation and ratification of the Constitution and Bill of Rights
• State and local history
• American expansion, immigration, and slavery
• The American Civil War and Reconstruction
• Civil rights expansion and social movements
• Industrialization and the Great Depression
• Inventions and advancements in communications and transportation
• Contributions of American leaders to the war