• Understand and analyze historical time and chronology
• Understand events, trends, individuals, and movements shaping United States, world and Washington State history.
• Examine the influence of culture on the United States, world and Washington State

• Use and construct maps, charts, and other resources to gather and interpret geographic information

• Washington State history and government is a one-semester course for eighth graders. The class, built on the students’ background in history and geography, will extend their knowledge base about the State. Broadly, the class surveys Washington’s physical geography, government, resources and economy, Northwest Native American cultural characteristics, and state history. The successful completion of this course is a requirement for high schoolgraduation.
• Language Arts is a year-long class that emphasizes literacy-based activities. Learning activities include strategies for improving reading comprehension, vocabulary building, reviewing grammar and usage patterns, and developing strong writing skills. Students will continue to work on increasing their repertoire of words, reading proficiency, and writing skills using various fiction and nonfiction resources.

• World Geography is a second semester class that explores the physical and cultural characteristics of the world’s places and regions and how people live on and use the earth to satisfy basic needs, with an emphasis on physical geography. Topics of study are organized around five themes: location, place, human/environment interaction, movement, and region. Maps, globes, and other graphic tools are used to develop geographic literacy and to acquire geographic information about the world

• Students research the voting process in the State of Washington during the campaign period prior to the general election. Informational texts from various election sources are collected and analyzed to provide an introduction to the national, state, and local election process.

• Expository writing on a topic in Washington State History/World Geography TBA. The written and/or oral reports can employ multiple skills such as: internet and library research, note taking, collaborating in group, summarizing, paraphrasing, proofreading, and organizing the information in a logical order, and speaking to an audience.
• Weekly Reading Logs. Students are assigned to select a good reading book for 20-minutes of Sustained Silent Reading daily, known as Encore. Students are expected to bring a reading book to their Humanities class everyday and write a short response daily on their Reading Logs -which are collected weekly.

• Students practice WASL (Washington State Assessment of Student Learning) test-taking strategies and skills in preparation for the 8th grade Reading portion of the WASL, which is the yearly state assessment.

• Writer’s Workshop –a curriculum that teaches sequenced writing instruction, will be continued this year with work on narrative and expository essays.

• In Language Arts students will read and respond to different points of view, various cultures, universal themes, and global issues in literature, stories, nonfiction and informational materials.
• In Washington State History students will learn of the contributions made by individuals and cultural groups in Washington State.
• Students will know the cultural characteristics of the first inhabitants of Washington and the results of cultural interactions between Native Americans and other groups that settled in our State.
• Students will extend their understanding of the pluralistic nature of our culture and be familiar with the diverse ethnic/cultural groups and their place in the history of this country.
• In World Geography students will learn to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process and report information about people, places, and environments in the world.
• Students will learn geographic (global) knowledge of the physical and human characteristics of places.
• Students will augment their understanding of how human actions modify the physical environment.

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