eighth grade

learning and growing

our eighth grade

This year, the eighth grade will start the year learning about some of the greatest revolutions in human history. The purpose of this is to inspire and mirror the adolescent experience of rising up into their own personal beliefs with empowered action.

The 8th grade focuses heavily on learning how to care for ourselves for the sake of being of service to our community. We discuss and apply tools to support and improve our social, mental/emotional, and physical health. The metaphor that we use for this is the cup: if we spend all of our time emptying our own cup into others' cups, then we will find ourselves depleted and unable to help. If we spend our time making sure that our own cup is full, we will find that it overflows into the cups of those around us, and everyone is better for it.

Encourage your middle schooler to create morning and evening routines that they can complete on their own. This can be as simple as drinking a glass of water before bed and when they first wake up, or can be longer processes including things like: stretching, journaling, a gratitude practice, setting intentions, etc. Cultivating a personal routine/ritual allows adolescents to take some ownership over their sense of self and helps them begin to form healthy self-care habits!

—Spencer Dirats, class teacher