Saint Valentine School

The year's focus is designed to help students understand their growth from a Catholic Christian perspective while exploring what the Church is for young Catholics. In preparation for Confirmation, eighth graders examine how Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist can help them come to religious maturity and belong in the adult world.

As a stepping stone to the future, students learn solving linear equations, solving and graphing inequalities, probability, exponents and powers, polynomials, solving systems, and quadratic equations.

Students take an in-depth look at The Ugly Duckling (Milne), The Pearl (Steinbeck), The Diary of Anne Frank, and various biographies, essays, short stories, and American myths. Students review parts of speech and proofreading skills, as well.

Students continue to supplement their knowledge of the parts of speech, capitalization, and punctuation by studying compound sentences with conjunctive adverbs and complex sentences using subordinate conjunctions. Eighth graders review imagery techniques, such as personification, alliteration, and onomatopoeia and practice their prewriting strategies, such as clustering and using a diagram. In addition, they write narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive works and prepare a research paper. These students now have a handbook to use for guidelines and strategies for writing.

The music series begun in kindergarten and progressing through grade eight emphasizes rhythm, tone color, form, melody, harmony, listening, and music appreciation. During class, students enjoy singing, playing rhythm instruments and musical games, dancing, listening for enjoyment, and listening for analysis.

Children in eighth grade participate in the Spring Musical.

In the eighth grade, the emphasis is team games and athletic skills. After warm-up exercises, students practice fitness testing or play soccer, floor hockey, basketball, volleyball, wiffleball, softball, speedball, or other organized games.

Using guidelines established by the Diocese of Pittsburgh, teachers provide career guidance and explain the use of computers on the job. Students also explore data base spreadsheet and math applications and practice using the computer for language arts, math, social studies, and science.

Students explore the various components of vertebrates and invertebrates, life processes, and the scientific method through the use of discovery.

In eighth grade, the emphasis is on American history from the fifteenth century to today. Critical thinking, cause and effect, and map skills are also covered.

Eighth grade Spanish is marked by a more in-depth look at culture and geography and a more complex study of grammatical construction, including present and past tense, commands, pronouns, and idiomatic expressions. Writing, listening, and speaking skills continue to improve, as well.

Students in eighth grade may participate in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS), English Festival, Math Counts, Forensics, Scouts, Geography Bee, Student Council, Bus Callers, Flag Raisers, Wheel Watchers, band, children's choir, cheer- leading, and basketball. They also may become altar servers, act in the Living Stations, and enter literary competitions.

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Page last updated on January 14, 2008
St Valentines - 2709 Mesta St - Bethel Park, PA 15102
"So Very Special"