What's Happening in the Eighth Grade?

Welcome to 8th grade ELA! My name is Cheri Omernick and this is my second year teaching at GET Middle School, and the 30th year of my teaching career. Last year I learned how much fun 8th graders can be. I'm looking forward to a fantastic 2025-26 school year!

STAR Testing: Tuesday, September 9

Materials are on the StudySync app and in a StudySync workbook that is provided.

Language Arts

Unit 1: Everyone Loves a Mystery

Essential Question: What attracts us to the mysterious?
Genre Focus: Fiction
Extended Writing Project: Narrative

Several excerpts, poems, and the novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers will be studied.

Grammar is an important part of becoming a better reader and writer. We will have mini lessons and Quill, which is a program used on the computer, to teach and assess progress. Annotation, text evidence, context clues, CER (Claim-Evidence-Reasoning), and vocabulary development are a few of the skills that will be taught during Core classes and Target Time.

Beyond the Classroom: ELA

Math

Welcome to the 2025-26 School Year!

Our math curriculum resource is Open Up Resources. This has a physical student book (consumable) as well as an online presence. Here are the 8 units we will cover during the school year:

U1 - Rigid Transformation & Congruence
U2 - Dilation, Similarity & Introduction to Slope
U3 - Linear Relationships
U4 - Linear Equations & Linear Systems
U5 - Functions & Volume
U6 - Associations in Data
U7 - Exponents & Scientific Notation
U8 - Pythagorean Theorem & Irrational Numbers

HERE is the link that takes you to the family version of our online book.

Beyond the Classroom: Math

Social Studies

We start our year getting to know each other, establish expectations, and examine why we study history in the first week. The following week, we will begin to learn about the cultures of the Americas, West Africa, and Europe, and how these cultures clashed after the European discovery of America. I will update this info Mid-September and add key information about the end of unit assessment.

Questions to ask your student-

-What do you like about history class so far?

How are West African, Native American, and European cultures different?

-Describe the clash of civilizations when Europeans arrived in the Americas. What did you think was the most important factors that helped Europeans conquer the Americas?

updated: 8/19/2025

Beyond the Classroom: Social Studies

Science

Welcome to the 2025-26 School Year!

We have 5 units of study in 8th Grade Science. Take a look at the outline for each below:

1) Earth Systems - Throughout this unit, we learn about the four main systems that drive Earth’s processes. We then make connections to how materials and energy within those systems drive Earth’s processes in regards to plate tectonics, volcanoes, and earthquakes.

2) Earth's Place in the Universe - In this unit we focus on the various objects that make up our solar system, galaxy, and overall universe. We strive for a deep understanding about how gravity and other natural forces impact the movement of objects.

3) Structures and Properties of Matter - To prepare for Chemistry, our focus revolves around classifying and describing matter using their physical properties. We then dive into the Three States of Matter and how they change from one to another.

4) Atoms and Chemical Reactions - As we launch our unit into Chemistry, we strive to ensure that students leave 8th grade with an understanding about overall atomic structure, the organization of the Periodic Table, and a basic understanding regarding molecules & bonding.

5) Waves & Information Technologies - During this coursework we learn about the electromagnetic spectrum and how it impacts our everyday lives. We seek a deeper understanding about sound waves, light waves, and how they interact with the natural world.

Beyond the Classroom: Science