Eighth Grade

Eighth Graders navigate their final year of middle school by balancing their academics and extracurriculars and beginning to look towards high school and college. As the “seniors” of the middle school, they are expected to support their younger peers and model the values of Mastery, Leadership and Community.

Core Courses

ENGLISH |  In 8th grade, students read books like 145th Street Short Stories by Walter Dean Meyers, I Am Malala by Malala Yousafazi, and Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Transferable close reading skills are built into whole class novel instruction to benefit students far beyond the ELA classroom. 

SOCIAL STUDIES | In 8th grade, students dive into American history to better understand the country’s colonisation by Europeans, the American Revolution, and formation of the United States government. Students then study the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Industrial boom, and the Great Depression. This ambitious span of time will leave students with a robust picture of the history of the United States.

SCIENCE | Our Science curriculum is inquiry based and involves many hands on activities and discoveries. Eighth grade begins with a unit on Energy & Forces in Motion. They then go on to study the Universe, Reproduction, & Evolution. At the end of the year they will take the 8th Grade Science State Test.

MATH | GO-NYC uses Illustrative Math, a curriculum that emphasizes problem-solving over algorithmic memorization. Eighth grade begins with a focus on Geometry. Scholars study transformations, dilations, congruence and similarity. They then move into more algebra where they learn about slope, linear equations, and functions.