Grade Eight Curriculum

• Multiple perspectives and Colonialism using Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
• Harlem Renaissance and pre-civil rights literature using Richard Wright’s Black Boy
• Extensive creative writing unit featuring contemporary and classic short stories and poetry

Skills

• Close reading and interpretation of texts
• Formal essay writing
• Analytical thinking
• Academic discourse in a seminar setting
• Writing process: drafting, revising, editing, proofreading, publishing
• Individual grammar and vocabulary in the context of student work

• Linear functions and linear systems
• Quadratics
• Inequalities
• Radical functions
• Exponential functions
• Rational equations and expressions
• Absolute value functions

Skills

• Algebraic reasoning
• Problem solving (independent and group)
• Modeling problems with graphs
• Recognizing patterns
• Providing evidence to support an answer

Learn more about the mathematics program

Interscholastic athletics

• Fall: soccer, field hockey, football, cross-country
• Winter: basketball, hockey, wrestling, squash
• Spring: lacrosse, track, baseball, softball, tennis

Skills

• Developing sportsmanship and appreciation of sports
• Team problem solving and building camaraderie
• Understanding strategy, concepts and rules
• Competing against 30+ schools in the Boston area

Library and research skills are integrated throughout core academic classes.

Key Concepts

• Social responsibility
• Emotional fluency
• Personal confidence and identity
• Critical thinking
• Constructive coping skills

360 Program

• Understanding independence, dependence and interdependence
• Developing awareness of responsibility, both as a leader and a member of the community
• Understanding the impact nutrition, sleep and exercise have on overall health and wellness
• Understanding oneself as a learner as well as the neurological basis for learning: multiple intelligence theory, growing one’s intelligence, neurons, cerebrum, the limbic system, the brainstem and cerebellum, and drug/alcohol impact on the adolescent brain

• Properties of pure substances
• Law of Conservation of Mass
• Law of Constant Proportions
• Atom as the fundamental unit of matter
• Environmental values and issues

Skills

• Lab skills: data collection, measurement, analysis and analytical writing, composing lab reports
• Group problem solving
• Applied mathematics
• Experimental design
• Critical thinking and inductive reasoning
• Communication and teamwork

• Figure-ground design
• Photograms
• Tile project (ceramics)
• Translating form
• Storytelling with shapes
• Creating metaphors

Acting

• Improvisation
• Devised theatre
• Exploring varied sources of inspiration (found objects, texts, imagery)
• Stage movement
• Playwriting
• Monologue performance
• Adaptation
• Rehearsal process and ensemble performance

Skills

• Developing spontaneity, confidence and awareness as a performer
• Strengthening skills in projection, diction, expression, stage movement and rehearsal discipline
• Creating and embodying a range of believable characters
• Collaboratively and individually crafting original works of theatre
• Exploring the rehearsal process and preparing for performance

Chorus

• Performance based; all Middle School grades mixed together
• Various types of music performed, in various groupings
• Continued improvement in vocal sound; emphasis on sight-reading

Wind and String Ensembles

• All Middle School grades mixed together in separate wind and string groups to perform varied musical selections
• Emphasis on ensemble togetherness, sight-reading and technique

General Music

• Taught in separate grade-level sections
• Music history and music theory; includes some performance
• Emphasis on musical elements
• Opera, percussion playing, folk dancing
• How to listen to music

• Wiki project in science and social studies
• Graphing calculators (TI-Nspire CAS)
• Statistical analysis in Excel
• Google Docs for English peer editing
• Using class conferences responsibly