Grade Eight students are separated into two tracks: Group A prepares students for a high school level Algebra 1 course in Ninth Grade whereas Group B prepares students to go straight into Algebra II, Trigonometry or Euclidean Geometry in Grade Nine.
Group A
Idealistic concerns are very real at this age and stressing the beauty of mathematical operations continues to be an important goal during the eighth grade year. Students should have a firm grasp of all arithmetic operations and their applications in the areas of percentage, business problems, computations with time and money, estimation, and Algebra. Word problems are stressed —especially ones that test thinking against multiple-step problems and utilize analytical skills and strategies.
Group B
The Algebra I course covers a broad range of topics to meet a broad range of goals. We wish to prepare students to go straight into Algebra II, Trigonometry or Euclidean geometry in their ninth grade year. As such, we spend a good deal of time on traditional topics such as factoring polynomials and solving linear equations. In addition, we discuss topics not traditionally covered to expand the children’s mathematical thinking and to build their number sense and confidence. The combination of goals means that this course moved briskly. The students have to work actively to absorb the material and keep up with the homework.