Dual Credit Opportunities
Get High School course credit while you are still in middle school.
There are several opportunities for 8th graders to earn a high school credit. Below is a list of these courses.
Basic Agriculture Science
Students in Basic Agricultural Science learn about agriculture, including the importance of agriculture, forestry, agricultural mechanics, plant science, animal science, natural resources, soil sciences, food science, agricultural careers, biotechnology, and about the FFA in this year long course. Each student has to have 20 hour Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) project where they complete activities related to agriculture outside of school. Students in this class are strongly encouraged to become members of JMS FFA.
Introduction to Business and Technology
Introduction to Business & Technology provides an overview of business and technology skills required for today’s business environment. Students will learn essentials for working in a business environment, managing a business, and owning a business. An emphasis will be placed on developing proficient fundamental computer skills required for all career pathways. Employability skills are integrated into activities and projects throughout the course. Professional communication skills and practices, problem-solving, ethical and legal issues, and the impact of effective presentation skills are taught in this course as a foundation knowledge to prepare students to be college and career ready. Introduction to Business & Technology is a course that is designed for all high school students, but is being offered at JMS for 8th graders to earn a high school credit.
Health and Personal Fitness
Introduces instruction in methods to attain a healthy level of physical fitness; implements a lifetime fitness program based on a personal fitness assessment and stresses strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, body composition, and cardiovascular endurance; includes instruction in fitness principles, nutrition, fad diets, weight control, stress management, adherence strategies, and consumer information; and promotes self-awareness and responsibility for fitness. Explores the mental, physical and social aspects of life and how each contributes to total health and well-being. Emphasizes safety, nutrition, mental health, substance abuse prevention, disease prevention, environmental health, family life education, health careers, consumer health, and community health.
Physical Science
The physical science standards include abstract concepts such as the conceptualization of the structure of atoms and the role they play in determining the properties of materials, motion and forces, the conservation of energy and matter, wave behavior, electricity, and the relationship between electricity and magnetism. The idea of radioactive decay is limited to the understanding of whole half-lives and how a constant proportional rate of decay is consistent with declining measures that only gradually approach to zero. Students investigate physical science concepts through the study of phenomena, experiences in laboratory settings, and field work.