Special Subjects Eighth Grade

Eurythmy

In eighth grade, spatial movement through choreographies and arm movement to express soul qualities find expression in dramatic poems and stories. We review and work through the basic elements and structures in eurythmy so that later the artistic and creative aspects can come from a different angle. Ballades and humoresques with their polarities fit the soul condition of this age, as does the group choreographies we practice in tone eurythmy. We experience and practice geometrical forms and transitions, concentration and copper rod exercises, walking, running, skipping and jumping.

Movement – Bone

The eighth graders are dealing with many physical changes; gravity, heaviness and weight play into all they do. Circuit training in push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and core strength and stability develops strength to overcome the heaviness of matter. The students wrestle, play tug o’ war, climb ropes, and develop further in circus arts, gymnastics, tumbling and aerobatics. Greater skill levels are achieved in team and individual sports through football, basketball, volleyball, softball and track and field. The year usually culminates in a track meet. Students review all Bothmer and Spacial Dynamics exercises and begin “The Traveller” exercise. They also review games from the early grades.

Handwork

In relation to their main lesson studies of the Industrial Revolution, eighth graders learn the parts of the sewing machine, how it works, how to care for it and use it. Up to this point they have done all their sewing by hand; now they experience how machines make our work easier. Their final project is to make a pair of pajama bottoms.

Gardening

The focus of eighth grade gardening classes is fundraising for the class trip. The class is divided into half and each group spends one semester working on gardening projects. The products the students make and sell are from plants grown in the garden. During the fall, they make items to sell at the Holiday Fair, such as incense, handmade paper, dry flower wreaths, decorated gourds, rose bud ornaments and dream catchers. We also plant and grow potted flowering bulbs. The spring group makes products to sell at the May Renaissance Fair, including bentwood trellises, incense, rosebud ornaments, lavender wands, and handmade paper. During the year the class also maintains and makes improvements on the garden and pond area behind the eighth grade classroom.

Math

The eighth graders in the pre-algebra group work to strengthen their skills in the following topics: four basic operations, place value, multiplication and division with powers of ten, mental math and number facts, number theory, prime and composite numbers, factors and GCF, multiples and LCM, properties of zero and one, rounding and estimating, order of operations (PEMDAS), fractions (including equivalent, reducing, mixed numbers, improper and the four basic operations), decimals (including place value, four basic operations and scientific and standard notation),
ratio and proportion and percent, converting decimals to fractions to percents, proportion problems, percent problems, exponents, laws of exponents, negative and zero exponents, integers, square roots, applied problems, solving algebraic equations in one variable, substituting values for a variable, rational and irrational numbers and general problem solving. Our practice evolves to working with a mix of different problems, as the students are usually most challenged with recognizing and recalling the appropriate algorithm. We finish the year by taking an algebra readiness standardized test designed by the University of California.

The eighth graders in the algebra group complete a year of formal, high-school Algebra I. We use the text, Elementary Algebra, by Harold Jacobs. The topics we study include: sets of numbers (whole, integers, rationals, irrationals, and reals – with an introduction to imaginary numbers) and their operations, functions and graphing in two dimensions, equations in one and two variables, simultaneous equations, laws of exponents (including fractional and negative exponents), polynomials, factoring, roots, rational equations, quadratic equations and inequalities. The students have many challenge problems, take tests and quizzes and complete an impressive amount of homework. They are required to work on their own a fair amount as we complete a high school course in only three periods a week. They take a mid-term exam and end the year with a standardized geometry readiness exam designed by the University of California.

Music

In grade eight we sing African-American spirituals, African songs, Elizabethan songs and a cappella harmony. We study the effects of political and social changes on the course of music in America, including jazz, blues, ragtime, folk and rock. We sing and compose 12 bar blues. We also continue to study western classical music in the age of revolutions and conclude the year with a careful selection and preparation of a graduation song.

Spanish

The eighth grade curriculum takes into consideration the students’ upcoming departure from the school and places emphasis on reading matter and on observing the character of the language through the typical life and activities of the people who speak it daily. The opening exercises take less time than in earlier grades to allow more time for concentrated bookwork and conversation. The beginning-of-year review of past material and the daily recapitulation of the previous lesson, kept lively with questions, lays the groundwork for new material. Students are encouraged to use the participatory approach by constantly finding, on their own, the connection of new topics with those already studied.

The year’s reading texts complement class studies of the Industrial Revolution and the American colonies’ struggle for independence. These themes coincide with the students’ exploration and search for their own independence and spiritual freedom. The works of heroes who have changed the world, such as Simon Bolivar, Cesar Chavez, Jose Marti and others, highlight the reading and listening practice for eighth grade.

Students do some translating. They practice reading comprehension by retelling in their own words what they have read, using dramatic/theater practices. They work in pairs on longer “survival Spanish” dialogues. Writing in journals continues, with students working first to follow teacher-provided guidelines and then writing what they choose. In their first drafts they outline their main idea, gather vocabulary or idiomatic expressions suitable to the topic, model good sentence structure around the theme and end with a sentence that supports their conclusion. Excellent grammar use is a primary requirement for the final version.

Students learn the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Spanish and for their farm worker project spend one day working alongside farm laborers in the area. This allows them to connect with what they have read and discussed in class, as well as increasing awareness of how much we take for granted.