Eighth Grade

English

The eighth grade English curriculum is part of a dynamic interdisciplinary Humanities program in the Middle School. Students study a variety of works - novels, poetry, plays, essays, memoirs, short stories - that complement the topics and time periods being covered in their Civics course. Browne Academy's Music and Art programs frequently touch upon these same topics. The end result is an exciting and substantive immersion in American government and history.

Students begin the year reading William Golding's classic novel, Lord of the Flies. We build upon topics learned in civics and discuss the distinctions between democracy and dictatorship as well as the fateful human tendency toward evil. Later in the year, as students study the election process and legislative branch in civics, we engage in a public speaking unit designed to make the students more confident and articulate when speaking in front of a group. Other interdisciplinary units include an exploration of the American immigrant experience and the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Students read the play A Raisin in the Sun by acclaimed African-American author, Lorraine Hansberry and Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Throughout the year the class is defined by impassioned discussions of American government, society, and values. The students write frequently in a number of formats from creative character diaries to structured five-paragraph essays. In conjunction with the Civics class, the students participate in a number of field trips including a visit to the United States Senate and Supreme Court, and an exploration of the American Presidents and Separate but Equal exhibitions at the Smithsonian American History Museum.

Math

An accelerated high-school level Geometry course is offered to advanced students ready for this level of study in their eighth grade year. Engaging text presents Euclidean and non-Euclidean concepts at all times interwoven with examples and problems based in intriguing puzzles and historical and current references to technology, business, architecture, mathematics and the arts. Hands-on Geometry Labs serve both to introduce concepts and strengthen understanding. Students examine rigorous formal logical proofs and learn to write their own. A comprehensive, demanding review of Algebra I is incorporated throughout the year.

All courses are founded upon the curricular and instructional guidelines and standards of both the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the State of Virginia Standards of Learning.

Science

Physical Science is the focus in 8th grade. Students begin by repeating Galileo's motion studies as they read Galileo's Daughter, which is a mix of love story, history and science. They write reports on the book relating to subjects of their own choosing. The course proceeds with forces, gravity, friction, pressure, work, machines, properties of matter, energy, temperature, and heat to round out our physics work. Chemistry explorations begin with the periodic table and end with students being able to very accurately predict the amount of product expected from a specific chemical reaction that they carry out. The course ends with studies of electricity, magnetism, waves, sound and light, which prepare students for designing and building solar powered cars that they race in a regional competition. Field trips include The Goddard Space Flight Center and an evening trip to the Naval Observatory where students can look through large telescopes.

Civics and Contemporary American History

The eighth grade Civics course gives students an introduction to disciplines of behavioral and political science and the humanities. A primary goal of this course is to train students to function as intelligent and contributing members of a democracy. This course examines the history of American democracy, investigates the rights and duties of American citizens, and helps prepare the students for the roles they are to play as citizens in our democratic society.

Students begin the year by learning about the foundations of our United States government, including the basic principles of the Constitution. After establishing the ground work of our government, we begin to explore each branch of government (Legislative, Executive and Judicial) in more detail. The students learn how each branch works with each other as well as independently in order to make our country function in a constructive way.

The political process of America is also examined in detail. The students learn about the purposes of political parties and examine the history of them in American society. The class also explores the Electoral College in a logical and systematic way in order to foster a greater understanding a sometimes difficult concept. Finally this unit traces the expansion of voting throughout the years and the importance of voting in our nation.

An interesting aspect of the class is the incorporation of two important historical eras in 20th Century. Students examine the history of the Modern Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s while focusing of the incredible contributions minorities have made on our country. The Vietnam era is also discussed in Civics. This is an area that many students in the Middle School have not had the chance to learn about - something that is still relatively recent in history but something that had an enormous impact on American society and its government.

Each quarter the students have a Portfolio project. These are designed to explore the content area being discussed in class in more detail. Portfolios give the student a chance to be creative in addition to learning more about America and our government. Portfolios have various components: research, reading, writing, drawing, oral presentation. For example, when we are covering the Political Process, one assignment for the Portfolio is that the students need to create a campaign poster and slogan if they were running for president or senator.

The class takes field trips throughout the school year that illustrate many of these content areas and gives them the ability to see what they have been learning about in Civics in practice. Trips include a visit to U.S. Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, the National Archives, the Vietnam and World War II Memorials and the various historical exhibits at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

The Civics class at Browne is part of an integrated curriculum, particularly with English, that develops students' critical thinking and decision-making skills. It builds students' understanding of what it means to be productive, thoughtful, and responsible citizens.

Technology

Eighth grade Technology classes occur at Browne's Computer Lab once a week in an online course manner. All assignments are emailed by students to Mrs. Liberty as attachments using a specially created Hotmail account. While perfecting advanced report writing features in Microsoft Office 2003 are the primary focus, learning to interact safely in our global online world is as well. The objectives of the eighth grade Technology program are to:

• Create and present formal reports in Microsoft Office 2003 using information researched from the Internet
• Send email with attachments, adhering to ‘netiquette' guidelines
• Master keyboarding skills with Type to Learn 3 for Networks while concentrating on proper hand placement and accuracy
• Process, store, and retrieve documents from the Browne network and the Internet
• Cite all sources using MLA formatting

French

Browne Academy's French program reinforces and solidifies listening, speaking, reading and writing in French, and explores culture and history. Students at the eighth grade level continue to develop their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in French.

At this level there is a special focus on learning to conjugate irregular and regular verbs and more complex grammatical concepts and vocabulary. Taught by a native French speaker, students have French lessons four times on a six-day rotating schedule and each class lasts fifty minutes. Activities include class lectures, class discussions, oral exercises, role-playing, reading and writing tasks, and field trips and videos. Students will create a PowerPoint project on a subject of their choice using the past tense. The project will be presented to the class. Major issues in the Francophone world will be addressed by sharing newspaper and magazine articles.

By the end of eighth grade, students will have completed the equivalent of high school level introductory French (French I).

Spanish

The overall objective of the Browne Academy's eighth grade Spanish program is for students to master the needed skills to enter High School in Spanish II with little or no difficulty. Classes meet five times in a six-day rotating schedule. Students practice listening, speaking, reading, writing, and culture with themes such as city, country, immigration, and future life. The movie El Norte allows the students to discuss immigration and express their opinions while reading authentic newspaper articles. Another favorite activity is the visit to the Salvadorian neighborhood of Chiliragua to experience their culture firsthand doing field work in a variety of stores and interviewing Spanish speakers.

Art

Art is a language of visual images - we make visual images, and we study images. Through the study of the art of many lands and peoples, we learn how art can express the highest aspirations of the human spirit. Through art, we learn the meaning of joy of work-to work to the best of one's ability, for its own sake, for the satisfaction of a job well done.

The visual art curriculum of the Middle School is thematically linked to the course content of each grade's social studies course. Special events are also used to demonstrate the connection between the visual arts and other subject areas. The arts of other cultures or times are used to explore themes, materials and techniques. The artwork students create will not imitate, but will integrate what they have learned about these cultures with who they are today. Hands-on demonstrations, lectures, and reproductions introduce the lessons. Assessment and evaluation of student work is based on effort, application of new skills, creative solutions to assignments and class participation. Eighth graders will discover American artists like those in the Hudson River School, the Peale family, Edward Hopper, Faith Ringgold, Jacob Lawrence, H.O Tanner, Romare Beardon, Sam Gilliam, and Dorthea Lange.

Physical Education

The eighth grade P.E. program focuses on readying students for high school athletics. Students in eighth grade are expected to have mastered beginning- and intermediate-level skills and work to develop more advanced skills. Through a variety of activities, students work to improve their strength, flexibility, cardio-vascular endurance and general comprehension of game concepts. It is expected that students in eighth grade have a solid working knowledge of sports rules and positions. Students are expected to work independently in warm-ups and as team players in small and large group games. Eighth graders participate in core sport units including soccer, street hockey, flag football, basketball, softball, volleyball, lacrosse and swimming. Cooperative games, fitness activities and team building exercises supplement the core sports units to create a balanced curriculum. A strong emphasis is placed on sportsmanship, teamwork and effort.