Eighth Grade
Looking Back, Looking Forward
Eighth Grade is a year of celebration and anticipation: a capstone to the middle school experience and a bridge to the more advanced academic program in our high school. Students have ample opportunities to reflect on their years in the grades and celebrate everything they’ve achieved, while preparing for what’s to come – socially, emotionally, and academically – as they look toward high school.
Building on Sixth and Seventh Grade social studies, the Eighth Grade curriculum brings history up to the present day, including the study of colonialism and the impulses behind world revolutions to gain political, religious, and economic freedom.
Science blocks engage students with experiments in organic chemistry and physics, continuing to build on their capacity for observation and independent thought. Study of the human body continues with a block on physiology that covers the skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems.
Eighth Graders at San Francisco Waldorf School learn:
- Math: Practical applications of arithmetic; algebra; geometry
- Literature and Grammar: Essay composition; grammar; spelling; literature (short stories, poetry, letters, Shakespearean drama)
- Science: Physics; organic chemistry; physiology
- Music: Singing; recorder; singing; orchestra
- Art: Calligraphy; clay modeling; painting
- Music: Singing; recorder; orchestra
- World Languages: Spanish or Mandarin (students continue to study the language they chose in Seventh Grade)
- Handwork: Machine sewing of clothing
- History and Social Studies: World economics; U.S. history, colonialism
- Geography: Political geography
- Woodwork: Complex projects introducing new tools, including making a three-legged stool
- Theater: Annual class play
- Technology: Computers are used to conduct online research and engage in curriculum-related projects online; digital citizenship, digital literacy
Daily Schedule (Grades 4-8)
8:30am-3:10pm, Monday-Wednesday, Friday
8:30am-2:15pm, Thursday