Grade 8 Curriculum
Eighth grade is the culminating year at Belmont Day, when students take pride in being the leaders of our school and consolidating all they have learned. The curriculum focuses on critical thinking, abstract reasoning, creativity, and core foundational skills. All eighth graders complete a Capstone project—a year-long investigation of a unique topic that interests them. Through this project, students write a substantive research paper, create a hands-on work, and present their work to an audience of peers, parents, and faculty. Outside of class, eighth graders are mentors (and rock stars!) to their pre-kindergarten buddies. They captain our teams, take leads in the seventh and eighth grade play, and, in the spring, travel together to a destination related to a curricular area. They come to know themselves as learners and manage their own academics by effectively using Resource Time, when all teachers are free tor support, questions, corrections, and enrichment. They write graduation speeches reflecting on their journey at Belmont Day and they head off to high school poised to make the most of their secondary education.
Program Highlights
- Capstone
- Arts electives
- Seventh and eighth grade play
- Interscholastic athletics program
- Advisor program
- Pre-kindergarten buddies
- Class trip
Specialist Time
- World language four times a week for 50 minutes
- Arts electives four times a week for 60 minutes (music, visual art, theater arts, woodworking, and technology)
- Athletics four times a week for 90 minutes
- Clubs, advisory, and resource time

Math
Eighth graders tackle a problem-based learning approach, using exercises created by Phillips Exeter Academy. This puts students in the driver’s seat for creating knowledge as they engage in a rigorous Algebra I curriculum. Students build facility with graphing, graph interpretation, algebraic expressions, functions, and other representations leading to an increase in flexibility and the development of multiple forms of reasoning.

Science
Eighth graders focus on physical science, including basic chemistry and fundamental concepts of genetics and heredity. Students conduct more complex laboratory experiments and refine their ability to communicate scientific ideas both orally and in formal lab reports with appropriate terminology.