Academics

Career and Technical Education (CTE):
All students take a College and Career Awareness course, which helps them develop skills for academic success, explore career options, set goals, and learn about personal responsibility, time management, and communication. Students may also take other CTE classes offered at their school, including digital literacy, coding, technology and architecture, and family and consumer science.

Computer Science:
Students explore the use of computing technologies in daily life and various careers. They also work in teams to design and refine programs, model data transmission protocols, and collect and transform data.

English Language Arts:
Seventh grade students analyze literature and informational texts by citing evidence, identifying themes, and summarizing content. They also develop skills in vocabulary, text structure analysis, evaluating arguments, and using the writing process to create organized, clear, argumentative, informative, and narrative pieces.

Fine Arts:
Students create original artwork with personal meaning, refine their work through reflection, and present their creations by evaluating preparation methods. They also analyze how art conveys meaning and connect their artistic skills to personal experiences and broader contexts. 

Health Education:
Students learn about stress management, mental health, disease prevention, nutrition, substance abuse, and safety. They also explore human development, reproductive health, and relationship dynamics. Students practice communicating personal boundaries and seeking help from trusted adults when necessary.

Library:
Students develop lifelong media literacy skills. They practice personal and academic research by defining research tasks, using effective information-seeking strategies, and synthesizing and evaluating their findings.

Mathematics:
Students apply and use operations with rational numbers, understand ratio concepts and apply proportional reasoning, simplify expressions and solve equations, and represent and analyze mathematical relationships.

Music and Performing Arts:
Students create and perform original works in dance, music, and theatre. They use movement, rhythm, and melody to express emotions, analyze elements, and connect to culture, history, and personal development. They also interpret dramatic works, develop characters, and explore social, cultural, and global issues through performance.

Physical Education:
Students demonstrate correct technique using a variety of movements, link movement skills together, and perform these skills in a complex environment. They also assess their fitness level, create goals, and track their progress. Finally, they develop respect for their peers' differing skill levels and celebrate others' successes and achievements.

Science:
Students use models, investigations, and data analysis to explore forces such as erosion, tectonic activity, and gravity. They also investigate cells, genetic reproduction and inheritance, and the evolution of organisms over time.

Social Studies:
Students analyze historical sources to understand the effects of European-American exploration and the involvement of Utah's American Indian tribes. They also explore the state's complex history and civic principles. Finally, students evaluate government roles in resolving issues and make evidence-based arguments about significant historical events.

 

USBE PARENT GUIDE - Seventh grade     UTAH CORE STANDARDS

 

 

Career and Technical Education (CTE):
Students explore academic and career pathways, develop goal-setting and decision-making skills, and learn strategies for personal responsibility, time management, and effective communication. Students may also choose elective courses in digital literacy, journalism, coding, peer tutoring, technology, and family and consumer sciences.

Computer Science:
Students collect and exchange data, evaluate data transmission protocols, and analyze the effects of changing variables in simulations. They also create reusable code, incorporate existing resources, and use control structures to develop and refine programs.

English Language Arts:
Seventh grade students explore academic and career pathways, develop goal-setting and decision-making skills, and learn strategies for personal responsibility, time management, and effective communication. Students may also choose elective courses in digital literacy, journalism, coding, peer tutoring, technology, and family and consumer sciences.

Fine Arts:
Students create original artwork with personal meaning, refine their work through reflection and persistence, present their art by evaluating preparation methods, and connect their artistic process to individual experiences and broader contexts.

Health Education:
Students learn to set health goals, make decisions, and communicate personal boundaries. They also explore mental health, stress management, and disease prevention. Finally, they study substance abuse, nutrition, human development, reproductive health, and healthy relationships.

Library:
Students develop lifelong media literacy skills. They practice personal and academic research by defining research tasks, using effective information-seeking strategies, and synthesizing and evaluating their findings.

Mathematics:
Students apply and use operations with rational numbers, understand ratio concepts and apply proportional reasoning, simplify expressions and solve equations, and represent and analyze mathematical relationships.

Music and Performing Arts:
Students create and perform original works in music, theatre, and dance. They develop technical skills and connect their experiences to history, culture, personal development, and societal issues.

Physical Education:
Students develop motor skills through games, sports, and dance while learning to assess and improve their fitness in areas like strength, endurance, and flexibility. They also practice teamwork, demonstrate respect for others, and understand the connection between physical activity and nutrition. Students engage in activities that promote enjoyment, social interaction, and personal growth.

Science:
Students use models, investigations, and data analysis to explore physical and life systems. Specifically, they examine atoms and molecules, interactions between systems, energy transfer, and natural resources.

Social Studies:
Students analyze primary sources to learn about American Indian life before European exploration, the origins of slavery, and urban-rural differences. They also study the American Revolution, the Constitution, democratic expansion, conflicts during American expansion, and the impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on modern America.

 

USBE PARENT GUIDE - Eighth grade     UTAH CORE STANDARDS

 

 

Career and Technical Education: 

• Help your child create a personal goal-setting plan for academic success.
• Explore various careers by researching different fields, discussing the skills needed, and identifying how those careers align with your student's interests and strengths.

English Language Arts:

• Ensure your child has access to many different kinds of reading material at home. Read some of the same articles or books together and discuss what you read.
• Encourage your child to write for practical and useful purposes, like helping create a weekly grocery shopping list or writing a get-well-soon card to a friend.

Fine Arts:

• Encourage your child to practice making their art.
• Create homemade valentines, Christmas cards, etc.

Health Education:

• Discuss your family values and expectations around substance use and sexual behavior and the consequences of decisions.
• Discuss together the importance of seeking help for yourself or others who are having mental health issues, including suicide, or have experienced physical or sexual violence.

Mathematics: 

• Encourage your child to play mathematical puzzles and games, take mathematical risks, and find value in the learning process. Honor the logic in student(s) thinking even when the answer is incorrect.
• Allow your child to build his/her/their own mathematical identity by remaining neutral when mathematical topics come up in conversation.
• Encourage and model number sense and flexibility through everyday mathematical reasoning.

Physical Education:

• Practice and play various sports or physical activities, including team sports, together.
• Assess and discuss personal fitness levels. Set goals to maintain or improve personal fitness.
• Model behaviors that celebrate the success of others.

Music and Performing Arts

• Provide materials to create a staging area. Encourage children to create musical and theatrical performances using homemade costumes, props, musical instruments, puppets, art supplies, filming equipment, etc. 
• Take children to see a variety of films and performances.

Science: 

• Build different kinds of paper airplanes to investigate the distance they travel when dropped from the same height.
• Identify different kinds of weathering and erosion on driveways, roads, sidewalks, walls, and other rock-based structures. Look for patterns to explain the difference in rate of change. Then, look for possible solutions to slow weathering.
• Track how genes are passed in families by looking for patterns in different heritable traits between family members, using pictures if necessary.

Social Studies:

• Talk with your students about the values that sustain America’s democratic republic, such as open-mindedness, engagement, honesty, problem-solving, responsibility, diligence, resilience, empathy, self-control, and cooperation.
• Research key events in Utah's history, European-American exploration, or the state's Native American tribes together. Then, create a visual timeline that includes causes and effects.