8th Grade Science

Course Descriptions

8th Grade Science Course # 4012

8th Grade Science is a year-long, inquiry-oriented and integrated science course for 8th graders. This course builds on the ideas of stability and change introduced at the end of grade seven with the guiding concept that the processes that change Earth’s systems at different spatial scales today also caused changes in the past. Students will develop conceptual understanding and skills related to the following topics: forces and motion, gravity, electricity, magnetism, waves, solar system, eclipses, evolution, fossil record, biodiversity, and engineering as outlined for 8th grade by the California Next Generation Science Standards.

Sheltered 8th Grade Science Course # 4014

Sheltered 8th Grade Science is designed for second language learners and follows the course description for 8th Grade Science. While the content of the course is the same as 8th grade science, teachers use specially designed instruction in English strategies to make course content accessible to English learner students.

Lab Aids Online Portal

Teachers can access the Lab Aids online portal here. Note that SDUHSD is working to establish a Single-Sign On (SSO) for teachers and students . Until that process is finalized, teachers should follow the instructions from a 7-31-20 email from Amanda Harclerode at Lab Aids:

We are working to switch rostering methods for your district to integrate with Aeries. During this transition, your school email addresses need to be available to be rostered through integration. So, starting now, you have new temporary usernames to use for logging in to view your existing accounts. Everything is the same as before except for your username – so, your passwords are the same as before, and the content in your portal is the same as before. This change is just during the transition. Once your district’s account has finished transitioning, you’ll receive further instructions as to how to log in.

• Your new temporary usernames will have a prefix of “temp-“ followed by your original username.

• For example, if your previous username was teacher@sduhsd.net, you will now log in with temp-teacher@sduhsd.net.

• Teachers will be contacted by email with instructions for logging in once the Single-Sign On integration is completed.

Middle School Lab-Aids Shared Resources

Below you will find resources to support implementation of the Lab Aids Instructional materials for 7th and 8th grades, formally adopted by SDUHSD. Please add resources to these folders, and adjust sharing settings so they are viewable by colleagues.

• 8th Grade Science pdf of Student Textbook

• Translated Resources: download the PDFs of the student version and use translate.google.com, upload the PDF, and then translate. This is faster than converting the PDF to a doc, reformatting, and then translating via Google Docs (Amy Springstead’s Universal Supports Website has these instructions)

NGSS Performance Expectation Standards Assigned to Grades 6-12

NGSS Lesson Banks

• Stanford's SCALE NGSS Integrated Curriculum for 7th & 8th Grades

• NGSS Quality Lessons and Units

• San Diego County Office of Education Distance Learning Units of Study

• San Diego County Office of Education Environmental Literacy Resources

• NGSS@NSTA Hub

• Possible Worlds (Thermal Energy Transfer and Photosynthesis Activities and Games)

• Alaska Seas and Watersheds Curriculum

• Concord Consortium

• Share My Lesson

• Science Scope Middle School Resources

Electricity and Magnetism

Content Support

• Content Support for Electricity and Magnetism

Magnetism

• Magnet Resources

Physics Resources

• The Physics Classroom