Eighth graders will engage in a variety of projects, discussions, and activities to develop geographic literacy, inquiry, research, and critical thinking skills. Primary sources and historical fiction are highlighted as a method of comprehending and evaluating content-based material. Students will gain proficiency communicating understanding of content in a variety of formats. Social Studies curriculum focuses on United States history, beginning with the end of the Revolutionary War through Reconstruction, & our relationship with the world & one another. Eighth graders will also focus on current events and living history.
A More Perfect Union, Houghton Mifflin Social Studies. Novels include, but are not limited to, The Giver, To Kill a Mockingbird, & an American Civil War era (setting) novel of choice. Additional text and content will be presented in print and multimedia, with a focus on primary sources.
To allow for annotation, middle school families are strongly encouraged to purchase your own copies of the novels we will be reading this year. New, used, or e-reader versions are acceptable formats. If you need a copy of a text, please email and a copy will be provided, or you can reserve one at the library.
Eighth Grade Social Studies will address the following essential questions:
- Why do governments exist?
- In the founding of the American government, what are the struggles and contradictions of providing for equality and individual freedom, and general welfare?
- How is history recorded and why is it necessary to look at history critically, through a variety of lenses?
- What skills are needed to locate, evaluate, interpret, and synthesize information from a variety of primary and secondary sources?
- How can fiction provide insight on the historical experience?
- What are my roles and responsibilities as a member of the local, national, and global communities?
ALMA Gradebook Categories and Weights
| Social Studies/ Literature | |
| Homework | 5% |
| Classwork | 10% |
| Projects | 15% |
| Quizzes | 15% |
| Presentations | 25% |
| Tests | 30% |
