Grade 8

GRADE 8 CURRICULUM

Humanities/Language Arts
Throughout this course, students work with themes of freedom, equality, and liberty and their changing definitions over time. This course also explores the early colonies, exploring American westward expansion, Civil War and Reconstruction, and finally, industrialization. Students read a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts including novels, poems, essays, and short stories. Students are constantly writing (creative and academic pieces), researching, and presenting their work.

Human Rights Program

The three guiding principles of the Human Rights classes are:
1. The study of history, terminology, and current events; 2. Advocacy, action, and service; 3. Community engagement and support.

Math –Pre-Algebra
8th graders make sense of the world while solving real-world problems through creative and critical thinking. The ultimate goal of this course is to give students a foundation for exploring and understanding algebra and geometry so they may be inspired and prepared for the rest of their math lives. We focus on having a positive math identity, learning to persevere when problem-solving, and relating math concepts to our passions. Major units of study include expressions and equations, functions, geometry, and statistics and probability.

8th Science
8th grade science at MUSE focuses on the merging of science and math. Important algebra skills are developed as fundamental equations in physics are explored in labs. Properties of exponents, slope, and dimensional analysis are key to success in 8th grade science. Scientific disciplines covered include: Newtonian mechanics, biochemistry, astronomy, and coding in javascript.