Grade Eight

List of 10 items.

• Mathematics

  In seventh grade, most students are placed into either Pre-Algebra or Pre-Algebra Advanced. After Pre-Algebra, students take Algebra I Part 1, Algebra I, or Extended Topics in Algebra (ETA). Following coursework in algebra, students take Geometry or Geometry Advanced, which is then followed by Algebra II, depending on prior mathematics coursework, standardized testing, and/or teacher recommendation.

  
  We recognize that students at this age develop at different rates and appreciate that there is more than one path through the math curriculum; for that reason, we conduct careful student placement in the spring of each year to ensure that each student is appropriately challenged. Please see the Mathematics Addendum for a complete list of course descriptions.

• English 8

  Eighth grade English emphasizes an understanding of literature, grammar, writing, and vocabulary. Students read from a selection of major literary works that have included in recent years the Holocaust novel MAUS I by Art Spiegelman, American Street by Ibi Zoboi, The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo, A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, and Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Eighth graders begin their year with a study of Tonya Bolden’s Pathfinders: The Journeys of 16 Extraordinary Black Souls, exploring themes of empowerment, self-advocacy, and perspective. The course includes a broad survey of international poetry from Czeslaw Milosz’s A Book of Luminous Things. 

  
  Through discussion and reflection, students participate in a close examination of the literature and reflect on each book or play with an analytical essay. Students focus on using grammar as a tool for good writing, and they practice incorporating more complex sentence structures, including verbal phrases and subordinate clauses.

  
  Writing assignments are frequent, and students learn to move from the free writing stage, through the process of revision, to final drafts of five-paragraph (or longer) essays. The emphasis in class discussions and in student essays is on a more abstract examination of the work rather than on plot description, and students learn to identify themes and literary devices as well as specific details in the reading. Students study vocabulary in order to develop a more sophisticated written and spoken command of the English language.

• Ancient History

  In Ancient History, eighth graders explore the development and evolution of democratic theory and institutions from their origins in Greece to their demise in the Roman Republic. Students develop an understanding of how socio-economic and political factors created change within various societies and influenced the behavior of these societies as related to the themes of imperialism, slavery, and republicanism.

  
  In this course, students develop their historical thinking skills, learning how to use primary and expert secondary source materials. Specifically, students learn to interpret and analyze these sources using the historical thinking concepts such as significance, context, perspective, cause and effect, agency, and continuity and change. To demonstrate understanding, students engage in active daily discussion and also participate in a rigorous research and writing process that stresses critical thinking and reflection.

• Physical Science 8

  Upper School science practices have been adopted from the National Resource Council’s A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (2012) and directly build upon the practices from the Lower School. Students who demonstrate success in upper school science courses will be able to:

  • Ask questions (for science) and define problems (for engineering)
  • Construct explanations (for science) and design solutions (for engineering)
  • Plan and carry out investigations
  • Analyze and interpret data
  • Use mathematics and computational thinking to solve problems
  • Develop and use models
  • Participate in evidence-based arguments
  • Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information

  
  Physical Science is a lab-based course that covers foundational content related to physics and chemistry. It includes three units: coding, motion and forces, and chemistry. Using Arduino microcontrollers, students learn how to write code to manipulate movement and data collection. They develop computational thinking skills as they design rockets to collect data over the course of simulated rocket flights to study the relationship between speed and acceleration and calculate the force of gravity. Students also have the opportunity to compete on a school robotics team. Later in the year, students learn about motion and forces, starting with motion as related to a position, building to define speed and acceleration, and ending with an examination of the force of gravity. Through focused laboratory experiments, students learn to isolate variables, work with large sets of data, graph their findings, and extract information from graphs. In the final term, students learn about the structure and properties of matter and chemical reactions. Students design investigations where they control variables to provide evidence for the law of conservation of mass and energy, while taking into account variables that affect the rates of reactions.

• World Languages

  Upon entering the Upper School, students select a world language to study. Students choose from French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Latin. Placement in all levels is based upon the student’s prior experience in the language, teacher recommendations, and a placement test. Click here to see a detailed list of all Upper School world language course offerings.

• Music

  The music faculty is committed to the concept of "learning by doing" and recognizes the value of performance in every student’s experience. Each year, Upper School students choose a music course from an array of options that include choir, bells, string ensemble, band, and basic musicianship. The courses are designed to extend the theory and performance skills developed in the Lower School, but students new to Fay will also find that they can succeed in a beginning-level ensemble with little or no previous musical experience. Click here to see a complete list of music offerings.

• Art

  The Upper School visual arts curriculum encourages personal expression and fosters the development of cognitive, motor, and social skills. Interdisciplinary and multicultural projects, art history, and resources within the school and community are integrated through the program.

   

  Students learn basic art skills as well as the elements and principles of design. In all grades, students have regular opportunities to draw from life and imagination; they also work in a range of media that includes paint, collage, ceramics, cut paper, sculpture, printmaking, origami, digital media, and other two- and three-dimensional media. Eighth and ninth graders have the option to participate in art electives that allow them to focus on specific areas of interest. Click here for a complete list of course descriptions.

• Creators Class

  The Creators Class takes place in Fay's Innovation Lab. The course is designed to build each student's creative confidence and focuses on the following themes:

  • Design thinking, an empathy-based problem solving mindset and process, to help students identify problems and possible solutions
  • Basic electronics, to do basic programming of circuit boards
  • Digital fabrication, to design and build 2D and 3D objects using the school's laser cutter, vinyl cutter, and 3D printing technologies

  Our ultimate goal is to give students the ability to isolate a problem they want to solve and to spend the latter part of the year designing and building solutions.

• Wellness 8

  Students in our co-educational eighth grade Wellness classes delve more deeply into a range of topics that includes sexual development, nutrition, accepting others’ differences, stereotyping, bullying prevention and response, mindfulness, conflict resolution, boundaries, cyber safety and responsible use of technology, keeping one’s self safe, stress management, and tobacco and alcohol awareness. Students also explore how outside influences such as the media affect decision making. Other topics include resisting peer pressure, dating and relationship violence, practical ways to address temptation to use substances and become involved in premature sexual experimentation, alcohol, marijuana and prescription drug misuse prevention, and the development of leadership skills. The relatively small, mixed-gender classes allow for discussion aimed to help students understand others’ points of view and to prepare students for the social dynamics of high school.

• Athletics

  The athletics program takes place every day following academic classes. All students in grades seven through nine are required to participate daily in all three terms. Students choose from an array of interscholastic sports and intramural activities (one per term). Students may try out for competitive interscholastic teams or join an intramural team or activity. However, all students are required to participate in at least one interscholastic sports team each year. Click here for the complete list of athletic options.