Eighth grade year is the pinnacle of the students’ experience at St. Pius School. Students are given extra responsibilities in order to prepare them to achieve success in high school, and at the same time are expected to continue to expand their knowledge by actively participating in all of their core subjects.

Religious studies in the eighth grade focuses on the creation of the Church, Church history, and the key virtues of morality expected from the members of the Church. Students look in depth at the Beatitudes, the Ten Commandments, the Vatican Councils, the Reformation, The Great Commission, and also prepare for their Confirmation.

In social studies, they learn about the foundations of the United States beginning with early exploration and continuing through Reconstruction after the Civil War. Students learn to analyze many historical documents including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address and Presidential Inaugural Addresses. Other topics explored include: immigration, the World Wars, Korean and Vietnam Wars, as well as contemporary issues.

In ELA, St. Pius School students are engaged, enlightened, and empowered readers, writers, and effective communicators for life-long learning. As they continue to build on their progression of concrete and abstract skills taught previously, analytical, and expressive skills will be explored to gain proficiency.

In the middle school years, students develop an appreciation for the genres of literature: short stories, fiction and non-fiction, poetry, drama, and novels. Further discovery and exploration allow for the honing and refining of skills in reading and comprehension, vocabulary development, and higher-level critical thinking of analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing texts to develop a deeper understanding of what is read. At the same time, students claim ownership to nurture reading for appreciation and personal enjoyment.

Reflection, discussion, group and independent learning, writing, listening, and speaking are the continuum of the curriculum. Equally important is that attention to research skills invites students to engage in topics of independent interest, to develop unique questions, and to support their original ideas with textual evidence.

Furthermore, students write across the curriculum by engaging and focusing on different audiences in narrative, informational, persuasive, and expository writing. In addition, emphasis will be placed on the continuance of developing skills in the study of English grammar and its mechanics.

It is the belief and with strong conviction that St. Pius School’s goals are to help in fostering and nurturing its students to become compelling communicators and passionate participants in a culture of reading, writing, and thinking. The program equips each student to succeed and accomplish from what has been imparted and learned. As students make their way into the world, they go with confidence, vision, and intellect so that they may further impart and influence others to change the world.

By the end of eighth grade in math, students will formulate and reason about expressions and different types of equations. They will understand the concept of a function and will use functions to describe quantitative relationships. They will understand quadratic equations and functions and apply them to real world problems. Students will also be able to analyze two- and three- dimensional space and figures using distance, angle, similarity, and congruence. Finally, students will work with radical and exponential functions to problem solve.

Eighth grade studies physical science focusing on physical and chemical properties of matter, atomic structure, covalent and ionic bonding, Newton's laws of motion, forces, sources of energy, chemical reactions and the solar system. Eighth grade also studies the geologic features and ecology of Yosemite National Park during a week long field trip. Eighth grade participates in the science fair. 

Students also enjoy classes in art, technology, music, Spanish and PE.