What your child learns in Grade 8 in Manitoba
Grade 8 is the last year before high school. Students work with squares and roots, rates and ratios, linear relations, the Pythagorean theorem, surface area and volume. Social studies explores the origins of western society.
Grade 8 subjects in the Manitoba Curriculum
Math
Big Ideas
- Number: Develop number sense.
- Patterns and Relations: Use patterns to describe the world and solve problems.
- Patterns and Relations: Represent algebraic expressions in multiple ways.
10 units, including squares, cubes & roots, fraction operations, integer operations, percents & money.
English Language Arts
Big Ideas
- A1 Oral Language Communication: Learners will apply listening and speaking skills to receive, exchange and develop ideas for various purposes and audiences.
- A2 Language as the Foundation for Reading and Writing:
- B1 Acquire New Information: Learners will activate, acquire and build background knowledge through inquiry of diverse topics and engagement with multimodal forms of text (e.g., visual, oral, print, digital, experts, Elders).
9 units, including reading detective, close reading, whose story is it?, literary devices.
Science
Big Ideas
- How do the nature of the particles that make up matter influence the properties of materials?
- How does solar energy travel to Earth, and what effects does it have on the planet?
- How are organisms organized at the cellular level?
8 units, including cells & life processes, heart & blood, particles & matter, density & buoyancy.
Social Studies
Big Ideas
- Grade 8 Social Studies: World History: Societies of the Past
- Cluster 1: Understanding Societies Past and Present
- Cluster 2: Early Societies in Mesopotamia, Egypt, or the Indus Valley
9 units, including being a historian, world views & early societies, ancient greece, ancient rome.
French Immersion
Big Ideas
- French immersion is first and foremost a language program: French is both the language we learn in and the language we learn.
- Listening and speaking in French grow every day, in school and in the francophone community.
- Reading a range of French texts builds comprehension and the habit of reading for meaning.
11 units, including les registres de langue, parler et se faire comprendre, la légende, le théâtre.
Core French
Big Ideas
- Oral Communication: La communication orale Listen in order to understand the communicated message. Communicate orally and interact spontaneously, keeping in mind the message, fluency and accuracy.
- Reading: La lecture Read a variety of texts, for various purposes, and demonstrate understanding of text, orally, in writing or visually.
- Writing: L'écriture Plan and write coherent texts to communicate the message.
9 units, including past, present, future, asking questions, how often?, opinions and reasons.
What to look for on the report card
Look for comments on managing a heavier workload, showing steps in math and supporting an argument with evidence. Grade 8 students may take part in a provincial assessment.
Manitoba report cards describe learning with Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4. See what each level means.
Grade 8 students also take the Manitoba provincial assessments. Read the Provincial assessments guide.
Learning skills are reported separately from the subject levels in every grade. Read about learning skills.
Ready for Grade 8?
Grade 8 builds on what your child practised in Grade 7. If a skill feels shaky, a few short practice sessions before or early in the year can help:
- Math: divisibility rules, add & subtract integers, decimal operations, fractions, fractions, decimals & percents
- English Language Arts: close reading, whose story?, literary devices, tone & mood, poetry lab
- Science: heat & particles, moving heat, gravity & tides, our solar system, ecosystems
- Social Studies: latitude, longitude & time, mapping our world, human rights & citizenship, quality of life worldwide, climate change & sustainability
- French Immersion: le superlatif, choisir le bon temps, figures de style, la poésie, défendre son opinion
- Core French: directions, places in town, comparing, describing people, cognates and strategies
Common questions
What do kids learn in Grade 8 in Manitoba?
Grade 8 covers math, english language arts, science, social studies, french immersion, core french in the Manitoba Curriculum. Grade 8 is the last year before high school. Students work with squares and roots, rates and ratios, linear relations, the Pythagorean theorem, surface area and volume. Social studies explores the origins of western society.
How is Grade 8 reported in Manitoba?
Manitoba report cards describe learning with Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4. Students in Grade 8 also write the Manitoba provincial assessments, which is separate from the report card.
How can I help my Grade 8 child at home?
Short, regular practice works better than long sessions: 10 to 15 minutes a few times a week, on the skills your child's teacher flags. Read together, use math in real life, and praise effort.
Practise Grade 8 skills with Gradelings
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