Eighth Grade

Learning Objectives

• To develop his/her analytical reading practices
• How to analyze author’s craft and how writers use specific craft techniques to convey meaning
• How to use persuasive techniques while writing powerful editorials.
• How to analyze and use craft techniques for writing short stories of various genres.
• How to analyze poetry and write literary analysis of poetic devices.
• Content specific vocabulary

Students will:

• Get to know him/herself as a reader and a writer and set reading and writing goals
• Keep a reader’s and writer’s notebook
• Study mentor text (a published piece of writing) for the writing he/she is expected to do
• Prepare for and engage in student-led discussions such as Socratic Circles and fishbowls
• Analyze various genres and styles of nonfiction and literary texts (prose and poetry).
• Write a wide variety of texts including literary analysis essays, editorials, and short stories.
• Submit writing for online publication
• Reflect on his/her learning

Teacher's Classroom Websites

Mrs. O'Brien

In Grade 8, instructional time should focus on three critical areas:

• formulating and reasoning about expressions and equations, including modeling an association in bivariate data with a linear equation, and solving linear equations and systems of linear equations;
• grasping the concept of a function and using functions to describe quantitative relationships;
• analyzing two- and three-dimensional space and figures using distance, angle, similarity, and congruence, and understanding and applying the Pythagorean Theorem.

Visit the District Math Department website to learn more >>

The Grade 8 curriculum focuses on change: 1) changes in Earth (Climate Change and Chemistry) and changes in life over time (Evolution, Genetics/Heredity). In addition, 8th graders design and carry out a science or engineering project, which they present at the Harvard Science & Engineering Showcase at the end of the year. The theme for the Showcase is: How can we use science and engineering to solve problems? Learn more >>

Eighth grade students in the Cambridge Public Schools explore World History and Civics. At the end of the eighth grade, students will be able to:

• Describe the development of government and the meaning of citizenship in Japan, Europe, Meso-America and the United States.
• Understand the effects of cross-cultural contact by analyzing the Crusades and by exploring the impact the “Age of Exploration” on the Americas, Africa and Europe.
• Investigate the power of individual citizens in creating change in society.
• Analyze primary and secondary sources to evaluate the author’s bias.
• Write formal, coherent arguments with clear thesis statements and well-supported claims.
• Research and write well-crafted historical essays using evidence from multiple sources.

All eighth grade students complete a range of Common Core-aligned writing assessments, including at least two Document Based Questions (DBQs) and a three to five page research paper with multiple sources and MLA citations.

View Mr. Folman's classroom website >>

Learning Objectives

• The second half of a level 1 course in preparation for entrance into a level 2 CP or Honors high school class, building on the concepts learned in grades 6 and 7;
• New opportunities to practice the four essential language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
• Reinforcement in the development of cultural awareness;
• Stem-changing verbs and common irregular verbs in context;
• The past tense for regular, irregular, and stem-changing verbs;
• Oral and written communication skills in the target language

Students will:

• Collaborate and communicate with classmates and the teacher in the target language;
• Create projects that integrate the study of grammar and vocabulary into oral presentations;
• Work in groups and in pairs to practice the language structures and vocabulary;
• Prepare dialogues and make oral presentations with the content provided by the teacher;
• Play games and use computer websites to practice the language;
• Access and use proficiently computer technology to research data about oral and written projects.

View Madame Laura's French Class Website >>