Eighth Grade Curriculum

Religion

Studying the New Testament now provides the students with an overview of the Bible. Seeing the great love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father, they understand the awesomeness of Christ’s act of salvation. They see and understand the power God can provide in their lives to help them make decisions and allow their faith in Him to help them overcome negative peer pressure. In mission activities with the school, students participate in helping to expand God’s kingdom. The use of time, talents, and treasure is discussed and applied to classroom activities. As they study the development of God's church on earth, they learn more about religions and beliefs of Non-Christians. Selected passages of Scripture and the catechism are learned.

Pre-Algebra

Inductive and deductive reasoning helps students arrive at problem solving ideas. Graphing linear equalities and inequalities, working with polynomials, understanding real versus irrational numbers, and notations serve to prepare these students for upper level math classes. The understanding of theorems and additional geometric terms and figures plus measurements that include volume of objects like pyramids will also aid their future classes. Students use the basic principles of algebra to analyze and represent proportional and non-proportional relationships.

Language Arts

Literary works are read, explored, and studied for content, understanding, inferring, and concluding. Concentration on both the author’s intent and techniques are priority subjects. Understanding more about authors frees the student to think like an author and respond accordingly in their own writing. Producing multi-paragraph compositions with varied sentence structure is expected. In research writing, students use citations competently and write by following accepted formats for research reports. As individuals and as members of groups, students critically evaluate and respond to language. Grammar skills sharpen as students prepare to move ahead in high school. Emphasis is on understanding and applying this knowledge across the curriculum.

United States History

God’s controlling and directing history is a major emphasis in this year as students study some European history that helps them clearly see God’s hand in the settling of the New World. From the Native Americans and the interaction they had with the early explorers, to the establishment of European colonies in North America, students easily see the Lord directing the actions of early America. Learning about major documents and contributions of individuals and groups of individuals accelerates the understanding of America as a great nation composed of the efforts of the many. As America wars in its early years, seeking independence from another nation or for individuals within its borders, the continual vigilance of the Father is clearly seen and acknowledged. Students have the opportunity to see government in action and to understand more clearly how the constitution works for all people. As part of the living history, they tour Vicksburg and Natchez, Mississippi, for the flavor of the Civil War and a bygone era.

Earth Science

The study of earth science enables the students to appreciate further God’s creation on their behalf. Students study the planet earth and all of its unique features, the atmosphere, and solar system. Within each of these areas, students are exposed to in-depth learning that includes significant understanding of the components of each area, terms and identification of those components in the systems. They study the complex interactions between matter and energy. Hands-on learning makes this more concrete.

Computer Science

Computer literacy continues along with the use of computers. Besides terminology and understanding the various functions a computer can perform, students study the history of computers and look ahead into the future generations of computers and their possible uses. For students who have progressed through the program, keyboarding skills have reached a high level of use and ability enabling them to use computers not only in the computer classroom setting, but across the curriculum in other areas as well as prepare papers and presentations. In addition to understanding and using on-line services in the lab, students continue with their use and application of databases. Desktop publishing takes on a new dimension as students learn how to use PageMaker in journalism class to publish the school newspaper and yearbook. Students learn about and use spreadsheets and databases.

Art

Students are encouraged to use color to express emotion or feeling. Continued work on fostering creativity and encouraging students to express themselves in various forms occurs. Whether the student is working in realistic or surrealistic modes, the objective is for the expression to be one that reflects themselves. The study of the use of color in the church for differing seasons is identified.

Music

Recognizing, playing, and singing melodies and parts of musical pieces are accomplished at this level. Students are able to recognize, perform, and conduct all meters. Writing melody from dictation is encouraged. Harmonizing in various forms and formats allows for flexibility and creativity. Sacred versus secular music that is traditional or contemporary is presented so that students are exposed to a wide variety of music. The role of music in the church is discussed, and these students have the opportunity to participate in leading worship. Further study of musical composers will help students become familiar with styles and periods of music.

Spanish I

Sequentially taught, students expand their understanding of the Spanish language in a bilingual classroom. The teacher converses in both English and Spanish using a (natural) grammar-implied approach which includes greetings, commands, phrases, and other everyday conversation. They continue learning the use of conjugated verbs, articles, adverbs, and adjectives. The students begin using the past tense. This well-rounded approach to acquiring another language includes singing Spanish traditional, popular, and Christian songs; acting out scenes and dramatizing stories; learning about traditions and holidays of Spanish speaking countries; the use of realia; hearing Hispanic folk tales; creative writing and corresponding in Spanish; learning about Spanish-speaking countries of the world; and playing Hispanic games.

Physical Education

Students’ work as part of a team is a major concern to many students this age. Skills of all team sports available to the school are taught and reinforced through classroom experiences. Students learn that through practice, endurance can be built up and they are more willing to work to build themselves up for the good of the team.

*Algebra I

Using ratio and proportion, problem solving occurs. Formulas are used to solve linear equations. Radical expressions are solved in all operational modes and simplified. Quadratic and high order equations are solved or graphed using ordered pairs of points. Operations on numbers involving scientific notation, factors of polynomial expressions, and simplification of rational expressions foster the development of high level thinking that will enable the student to meet with success through the progression of later math classes.

*English I

Students who are involved in this level of study follow the requirements of the eighth grade class but with additional specific areas of concentration. Extra study is given to vocabulary development including SAT words. In the area of writing, requirements for papers are more directed to focus on style, literary content, or analysis and synthesis and require the students to think and respond more critically, analytically, and strategically. Students read extensively in multiple genres from world literature such as reading selected stories, dramas, novels, and poetry.

*Physical Science

Students are exposed to more in-depth physical and chemical science at this level. Understanding topics such as energy, motion, and forces help students to discover how and why things work. In addition, concepts in chemistry, like atomic structure, elements and their properties and chemical reactions provide a well-rounded study on the nature of matter. Using hands-on investigations help students with their learning.