Grade 8 Social Studies: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 8 social studies in the Newfoundland and Labrador Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Citizenship, power and governance. Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and the origins, functions, and sources of power, authority, and governance.
- Culture and diversity. Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of culture, diversity, and world view, recognizing the similarities and differences reflected in various personal, cultural, racial, and ethnic perspectives.
- Individuals, societies and economic decisions. Students will be expected to demonstrate the ability to make responsible economic decisions as individuals and as members of society.
- Interdependence. Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the interdependent relationship among individuals, societies, and the environment—locally, nationally, and globally—and the implications for a sustainable future.
- People, place and environment. Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the interactions among people, places, and the environment.
- Time, continuity and change. Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the past and how it affects the present and the future.
Easy ways to practise social studies at home
- Follow a current event together and ask who is affected and why people see it differently.
- Build a timeline of a family event or a historical topic they are studying.
- Use an atlas or online map to trace a trade or travel route.
- Ask “Whose voice is missing from this story?” when reading about the past.
What each unit covers
Making a Living, 1800s to 1949
Grade 8 looks at how people in Newfoundland and Labrador earned a living before 1949: the salt fish trade and the credit system, the seal hunt, the railway, mines, paper mills and the fishers’ union. Ask your child why depending on one industry was risky.
Newfoundland Joins Canada
Grade 8 looks at how Newfoundland moved from responsible government to the Commission of Government, then voted in 1948 to join Canada in 1949. Ask your child which sources and points of view helped people choose.
Quality of Life Around the World
Measures such as life expectancy, literacy rate, infant mortality and access to clean water, how these connect to each other, how to compare countries, and the work of groups such as Doctors Without Borders, Right To Play and Water For People. All country data in the questions are made up.
People on the Move
Why people move (push and pull factors), the difference between forced and unforced migration, how towns and cities grew, how disease and new crops changed populations, and the effect of growing communities on land and resources.
Exploration & Exchange
Why Europeans sailed across oceans, what the Mexica and Inca empires were like, the Columbian Exchange of foods, animals and diseases, and the serious consequences for Indigenous peoples and for enslaved Africans.
Sources & Evidence
Children practise choosing and judging sources, reading artifacts and art, comparing accounts and drawing conclusions from evidence.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Newfoundland and Labrador report card guide.
Common questions
Follow a current event together and ask who is affected and why people see it differently. Build a timeline of a family event or a historical topic they are studying. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Curriculum Grade 8 social studies units include making a living, 1800s to 1949, newfoundland joins canada, quality of life around the world, people on the move, exploration & exchange, sources & evidence.
Free printable Grade 8 social studies practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.