Year 8 Term 1 Overview

Year 8 - Term 1 curriculum

English:  In Term 1, Year 8 students will explore the reading and writing connection through storytelling. The first topic that we will cover is conveying a message through writing. As a class we will examine an indigenous dreamtime text and identify the symbolism within it and its inferred meaning. We aim for students to show how ideas can be expressed in new ways through combining ideas, images and language features. Following on from this the Year 8’s will explore biographical narratives. In this unit students will examine the purpose of tone, mood, embellishment, anticipation and figurative language, and how it can be applied to their own narrative. Lastly, students will explore the genre of Fantasy, where they will analyze an author's writing style and their expression of ideas.

Humanities:In Term 1, Year 8 students will be studying Ancient Rome as a means of comparing how decision making in the past can affect decisions in the future. They will analyse the daily life of Ancient Rome in a range of aspects such as: clothing, social structure, military, entertainment and religion. They will compare the challenges and limitations of different groups within Ancient Rome’s society and compare this with modern society. At the completion of the unit, students will select an area of interest from the topic and explore it in more detail through an inquiry presentation in a format of their preference.

Health: In Term 1, Year 8 students will be reflecting upon their individual skills, mental health, and interpersonal communication. To begin the term, students will be asked to consider what skills they possess and how that can translate into future career paths. In class, students will engage in personal reflection and conversations with peers in order to begin planning for their future and developing goals for what they would like to achieve. Additionally, students will investigate resources and strategies for managing the transitions that are taking place physically and socially during this time in their lives. Students will learn different ways to address their own mental health as well as how to support others’. Classes will explore relationships and sexuality, and the accompanying physical, social, and emotional changes that take place. They engage in lessons and conversations designed to build positive relationships, explore their own identities, and how to develop safe practices for relationships and sexual health. Students will be finishing with a unit on safety, and how to navigate uncomfortable situations in a variety of settings from their daily lives.

Maths: In Term 1, Year 8 students will be exploring data representation and interpretation. Students will explore how different sampling methods can be used to make assertions about a population with varying levels of confidence. Students will observe how outliers affect the mean and median. Following this, students will move into a numbers and operating unit. Students will deepen their understanding of rational and irrational numbers throughout this unit. They will consolidate their skills of estimating within a financial maths context. Students will also observe and calculate percentage increases and decreases, profit and loss and explore the index laws. To round out the term, the year eights will revisit algebra and deepen their understanding of distributive law, factorising algebraic expressions and simplifying algebraic expressions. 

Science: This term, students will be exploring various scientific concepts focused on Physical and Earth Science. Students will be guided to use evidence-based understanding and real-world applications. Through hands-on exploration students will uncover patterns and relationships, using their insights to justify their conclusions. Specifically, they will explore processes of rock formation, examining the intricate time scales involved. In addition, they will explore implications for sustainable resource usage. They will model the dynamic connections between Earth, the Sun, and the Moon, and their effects on Earth’s processes. Students will also explore the realm of energy, investigating its various forms and understanding how energy transfers and transformations drive change in simple systems. Through these explorations, students will develop critical thinking skills and a deeper appreciation for the role of science in understanding our world and shaping our future.

The Technologies: Term 1 of Year 8  technologies begins with consolidating knowledge from mathematics and science while applying different skills and concepts in the digital medium. In digital technology, students will explore computer networks and the data transformation process across different networks. They will recognize different communication protocols for transmitting data in networks. In the second phase, students will Analyze and visualize data using a range of software to create information and use structured data to model objects or events. They will explore collaborative apps, specifically Google Sheets and Excel spreadsheets, where students will source primary and secondary information and engage in integrated data representation and interpretation units.