Grade 8

Preparedness

Respect

Responsibility

Effort

Honesty

New Expectations for Eighth Grade

• Compare different pieces of evidence for the same claim. Decide which piece of evidence is the strongest.
• Analyze the effect of specific words, sentences, and paragraphs: for example, when a certain phrase reveals how the author or a character really feels.
• Explain how differences in point of view can make a text funny or suspenseful: for example, when the reader knows something that a character does not know (dramatic irony).
• Analyze how someone’s motives affect the way they share information. For example, explain how a newspaper or political advertisement uses photos and headlines to influence readers.

By the End of Eighth Grade, Students Can

• Understand connections between modern texts and traditional ones, like when a short  story reminds its readers of (alludes to) an ancient myth.
• Notice when someone includes irrelevant information in their argument—evidence that does not relate to their claim.
• Use words and details carefully to show how they feel about a topic (convey a tone, like happy or disapproving) when writing.
• Use technology to present information and communicate with others. For example, use platforms like Schoology for discussions with teachers and classmates.
• In class discussions, make contributions and ask questions that connect what several  other people have said.
• Use commas (,), dashes (—) and ellipses (...) to signal a pause: for example, write  yesterday’s basketball game was exciting—especially the end!

Focus Areas for Eighth Grade

• Understand and use linear equations (like 100 + 40x) to solve problems. For example, compare the costs of two phone plans, each with a onetime charge and a monthly fee.
• Understand and use functions: situations where one quantity depends on another, like  when the distance a train travels depends on its speed.
• Explore and use the Pythagorean Theorem for right triangles (A2 + B2 = C2). For example, find the height of a ladder leaning against a wall.
• Create linear equations to model real-life data. For example, graph the height of a plant based on the hours of sunlight it gets.

By the End of the Eighth Grade, Students Can

• Explain the concept of irrational numbers (like and ). Use square and cube roots (like √16 and ).
• Explain how proportions and linear equations are related. For example, explain the slope of a line as a unit rate.
• Solve single and paired linear equations. For example, if 3x + 5 = 11, then x = 2.
• Compare functions shown in different forms, like a table of values and a graph.
• Explain how angles inside and outside of a triangle are related. 
• Explain how angles created by two parallel lines being cut by another line are related.
• Use formulas to solve real-world problems involving the volume of cylinders, cones, and spheres.
• Create a scatter plot of two related variables, like arm length and leg length.

Focus Areas for Eighth Grade

• Understand how the ocean affects weather and climate.
• Use data to understand how human activity affects global temperatures.
• Understand how genes and environments affect the growth of living things (organisms).
• Understand how atoms combine in many ways to make the substances that make up all living and nonliving things.

By the End of Eighth Grade, Students Can

• Make a model of the Earth-Sun system. Use it to explain seasons.
• Explain how gravity creates tides.
• Use data to explain that some places on
• Earth have more resources (like minerals and fossil fuels) than others.
• Describe how food molecules are broken down and rearranged through chemical reactions.
• Compare the advantages and disadvantages of sexual and asexual reproduction.
• Show how genes can change (mutate) and how those changes can be helpful, harmful, or neither.
• Use evidence to talk about natural selection (like in evolution) and artificial selection (like breeding dogs).
• Make a model to predict changes in particle motion (like when molecules move faster or slower) in phase changes (like when water changes to ice or steam).
• Demonstrate Newton’s Third Law, about action and reaction forces.
• Show how forces affect objects differently depending on their mass.
• Understand that materials can be cut and change shape without changing what they are made of (their composition).

Focus Areas for Eighth Grade

• Explore how and why government systems developed, including the Massachusetts and United States Constitutions.
• Understand how court decisions and legislative actions can affect government systems over time.
• Understand how individual people work to keep democracy healthy in Massachusetts and the United States.
• Think about how to decide which information and opinions to trust in print and online media (like news outlets).

By the End of Eighth Grade, Students Can

• Explain how the United States political system was affected by ancient Greece and Rome, European Enlightenment thinkers, British ideas about government, and the governments of Native Peoples in North America.
• Explain how the writers of the United States Constitution tried to balance power and  freedom in the system they were creating.
• Understand major aspects of the United States political system (like separation of powers, elections, and political parties).
• Use Amendments to the Constitution and important Supreme Court decisions to explain how the country’s system has changed over time.
• Understand how Massachusetts state and local governments are organized and lead a civics project in their community.
• Explain how a free press supports democratic government. 
• Recognize the differences between fact, well-supported opinion, and unsupported opinion in texts.
• Explain what citizens and residents of the United States can do if they think a law is wrong.