8th grade--Parent's Guide to Student Success
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The guide outlines the essential skills and knowledge that students will acquire by the end of 8th grade in mathematics and English language arts/literacy, aligned with the Common Core State Standards. It emphasizes the importance of academic standards in preparing students for future academic challenges and encourages parental involvement in supporting their child's education. The document provides practical suggestions for parents to enhance their child's learning experience at home and communicate effectively with teachers.
8th grade--Parent's Guide to Student Success
- 1. PARENTS’ GUIDE TO Student Success This guide provides an overview of what your child will learn by the end of 8th grade in mathematics and English 8TH GRADE language arts/literacy. It focuses on the key skills your child will learn in these subjects, which will build a strong foundation for success in the other subjects he or she studies throughout the school year. This guide is based on the new Common Core State Standards, which have been adopted by more than 40 states. These K–12 standards are informed by the highest state standards from across the country. If your child is meeting the expectations outlined in these standards, he or she will be well prepared for high school. WHY ARE ACADEMIC STANDARDS IMPORTANT? HOW CAN I HELP MY CHILD? Academic standards are important because they You should use this guide to help build a relationship help ensure that all students, no matter where with your child’s teacher. You can do this by talking to they live, are prepared for success in college and his or her teacher regularly about how your child is the workforce. They help set clear and consistent doing — beyond parent-teacher conferences. expectations for students, parents, and teachers; build your child’s knowledge and skills; and help set At home, you can play an important role in setting high high goals for all students. expectations and supporting your child in meeting them. If your child needs a little extra help or wants to learn Of course, high standards are not the only thing more about a subject, work with his or her teacher to needed for our children’s success. But standards identify opportunities for tutoring, to get involved in provide an important first step — a clear roadmap for clubs after school, or to find other resources. learning for teachers, parents, and students. Having clearly defined goals helps families and teachers work together to ensure that students succeed. THIS GUIDE INCLUDES Standards help parents and teachers know when ■ An overview of some of the key things your child students need extra assistance or when they need will learn in English/literacy and math in 8th grade to be challenged even more. They also will help your ■ Ideas for activities to help your child learn at child develop critical thinking skills that will prepare home him or her for college and career. ■ Topics of discussion for talking to your child’s teacher about his or her academic progress
- 2. English Language Arts & Literacy To prepare for bigger challenges in high school, 8th grade students must grapple with major works of fiction and nonfiction that extend across cultures and centuries. As they work diligently to understand precisely what an author or speaker is saying, students also must learn to question an author’s or speaker’s assumptions and assess the accuracy of his or her claims. They also must be able to report findings from their own research and analysis of sources in a clear manner. A Sample of What Your Child Will Be Working on in 8th Grade ■ iting the evidence that most strongly supports an C ■ Analyzing the purpose of information presented in analysis of what is explicitly stated and/or implied diverse media (e.g., print, TV, web) and evaluating from a book, article, poem, or play its social, political, or commercial motives ■ Analyzing where materials on the same topic ■ Presenting findings and claims to others, disagree on matters of fact, interpretation, or point emphasizing key points with relevant evidence of view and sound reasoning, adapting speech to the audience and the formality of the setting, and ■ Learning how authors support their ideas through responding to questions and comments with word choice, sentence and paragraph structure, relevant observations and ideas and other methods ■ Using strong, active verbs to create a clear ■ Building writing around strong central ideas or points picture for the reader (e.g., walk, skip, meander, of view; supporting the ideas with sound reasoning lurch, limp) and evidence, precise word choices, smooth transitions, and different sentence structures ■ Interpreting figures of speech (e.g., irony, puns) and developing a large vocabulary of general ■ Planning and conducting research projects that academic words and phrases include several steps and use many credible and documented print and digital sources Keeping the conversation focused. Talking to When you talk to the teacher, do not worry about covering everything. Instead, keep Your Child’s the conversation focused on the most important topics. In 8th grade, these include: Teacher ■ Reading closely and drawing evidence from grade-level fiction and nonfiction works that most strongly supports an analysis of the material ■ Developing a rich vocabulary of complex and sophisticated words and using them to speak and write more precisely and coherently Ask to see a sample of your child’s work. Ask the teacher questions such as: Is this piece of work satisfactory? How could it be better? Is my child on track? How can I help my child improve or excel in this area? If my child needs extra support or wants to learn more about a subject, are there resources to help his or her learning outside the classroom?
- 3. Mathematics In 8th grade, your child will learn a number of skills and ideas that he or she must know and understand to be ready for college and career. Your child will continue to learn how to write and reason with algebraic expressions. Your child also will make a thorough study of linear equations with one and two variables. Building on previous work with relationships between quantities, your child will be introduced to the idea of a mathematical function. And your child will prepare for high school geometry by understanding congruence (same shape and size) and similarity of geometric figures. A Sample of What Your Child Will Be Working on in 8th Grade ■ nderstanding slope, and relating linear equations U ■ Working with positive and negative exponents, in two variables to lines in the coordinate plane square root and cube root symbols, and scientific notation (e.g., evaluating √36 + 64; estimating ■ Solving linear equations (e.g., –x + 5(x + 1⁄3) = world population as 7 x 109) 2x – 8); solving pairs of linear equations (e.g., x + 6y = –1 and 2x – 2y = 12); and writing equations ■ Understanding congruence and similarity using to solve related word problems physical models, transparencies, or geometry software (e.g., given two congruent figures, show ■ Understanding functions as rules that assign a how to obtain one from the other by a sequence of unique output number to each input number; using rotations, translations, and/or reflections) linear functions to model relationships ■ Understanding and applying the Pythagorean ■ Analyzing statistical relationships by using a best- Theorem (a2 + b2 = c2) to solve problems fit line (a straight line that models an association between two quantities) Keeping the conversation focused. When you talk to the teacher, do not worry about covering everything. Instead, keep Talking to the conversation focused on the most important topics. In 8th grade, these include: Your Child’s ■ Linear equations with one and two variables Teacher ■ Functions ■ Congruence and similarity of geometric figures Ask to see a sample of your child’s work. Ask the teacher questions such as: Is this piece of work satisfactory? How could it be better? Is my child on track? How can I help my child improve or excel in this area? If my child needs extra support or wants to learn more about a subject, are there resources to help his or her learning outside the classroom? PTA.org
- 4. Help Your Child Learn at Home Learning does not end in the classroom. Children need help and support at home to succeed in their studies. Try to create a quiet place for your child to study, and carve out time every day when your child can concentrate on reading, writing, and math uninterrupted by friends, brothers or sisters, or other distractions. You should also try and sit down with your child at least once a week for 15 to 30 minutes while he or she works on homework. This will keep you informed about what your child is working on, and it will help you be the first to know if your child needs help with specific topics. By taking these small steps, you will be helping your child become successful both in and outside the classroom. Additionally, here are some activities you can do with your child to support learning at home: English Language Arts & Literacy Mathematics ■ Make time in everyone’s busy schedule for family Ask your child to share with you any work he or she is discussions about things going on around the world. doing in math class that strikes him or her as interesting. Weekends can be a chance for everyone to catch up. Some possibilities might include: ■ Visit the campus of a local college with your teen. ■ Solving interesting problems involving cylinders and Begin talking about college early. What does he or spheres, such as figuring out how much water fits she expect from college? What high school courses inside a garden hose, or how many earths would fit will your child need to pass to prepare for college? inside the sun. ■ Make sure to keep books and magazines around the ■ Analyzing data with a scatterplot, for example to house that your child will enjoy reading and learning decide whether exercise and obesity are related. from. For a list of book recommendations, visit ■ Solving “just for fun” algebra puzzles, such as: “I’m www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_B.pdf. thinking of two numbers. The difference between the numbers is 40. Twice the smaller number is 20 more than the larger number. What are my numbers?” For more information, the full standards are available at www.corestandards.org. National PTA 1250 N Pitt Street Alexandria,VA 22314 Toll-Free: (800) 307-4PTA (4782) PTA.org • [email protected] © 2011 PTA All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. (1/11) and everychild.onevoice.® are registered service marks of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers.