Boston Grammar School

Knowledge Organiser
Year 8 - Term 5
 "Knowledge is like a garden, if it is not cultivated it cannot be harvested." African proverb
Instructions for use Years 7 - 9 Week 1 Subject 1 Subject 2 Subject 3
On a Week 1 you should undertake knowledge organiser homework. Monday French RE Maths
Each night you should study the identified subject knowledge organiser trying to Tuesday Geography Science German
learn the information to the extent that you can recall it. You can undertake Wednesday English Music History
different subjects on different nights, if it suits you, but it is easier to stick to an Thursday Maths Computing Science
agreed timetable.
Friday Music DT English
You should spend about 30 minutes on each of the identified subjects. Weekend Art Catch up Catch up
You should keep the evidence of this studying in; the back of your exercise book,
your general notebook or your own personal notebook.
If in school, you must bring this evidence in to school on Week 2 to show your subject teacher. If you are not in school, your teacher will let you
know how they will check the evidence. The knowledge organiser pack can stay at home as other copies will be kept in school. Failure to undertake
and show evidence of this homework will result in follow up from your teacher or Head of Year.
Exceptions
RE – you will continue to receive normal homework from your teacher which will be posted on SMHW.
MFL – you will receive a separate vocab booklet and instructions will be posted on SMHW.

How to study with knowledge organisers

In tutor sessions you undertake study skills work through BGS Mindset or VESPA, identifying and practicing key memory techniques:

➢ Look, cover, write, check

➢ Low stakes quizzing with a friend or family member, or make flashcards for yourself
➢ Brain dump – write down everything you can remember, review and then go again
➢ Get creative: mindmaps, flowcharts, diagrams, etc.
➢ Write some challenging questions or even some multiple-choice questions and answer them the following day
➢ Create fill in the blank sentences and then complete them the following day
➢ Making recordings and listen to them at appropriate times
➢ Mnemonics, acrostics, roman room method, memorable stories

Traditions of Painting
• Aboriginal art is one of the oldest
forms of artistic expression in the
world.
• Cave paintings found in the
Northern Territory’s Arnhem Land
dates back at least 60,000 years.
• A non-Indigenous Australian does
not have the authority to paint an
Aboriginal piece of artwork.
• Most people recognise aboriginal
art as paintings made from dots
but this is just one style used.
• Dot painting originated from the
time of white settlement in
Australia when tribes feared non-
Indigenous people could
understand secret knowledge held
by the Aboriginal people.
• Double-dotting obscured any form
of meaning but was still discernible
to Aboriginals.
• The aboriginal peoples have no
written language of their own.
Instead, they have used visual
symbols in painting to pass on
their stories and knowledge.
Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: Art – Aboriginal Art
• Different tribes from different regions Dream Time
have their own styles of art. • The Aboriginals believed that the entire world was made by their
• Artists must have permission from ancestors at the very beginning of time, the Dreamtime.
elders to paint in the style of a • Aboriginal peoples believe the land and the people were created by
particular tribe. the ancestral Spirits including the rivers, streams, water holes the land, hills,
• It is considered both disrespectful and rocks, plants and animals.
unacceptable to paint on behalf of • It is also believed that the ancestral Spirits gave them their hunting tools and
someone else’s culture. It is simply not each tribe its land, their totems and their Dreaming.
permitted. • The Dreamtime continues as the "Dreaming" in the spiritual lives of aboriginal
• Only artists from certain tribes are people today.
allowed to adopt the dot technique. • ‘Dreaming’ is when the events of the ancient era of creation are enacted in
• All Aboriginal artwork tells a story. ceremonies and danced in mime form. Song chant incessantly to the
• Aboriginal artists cannot paint a story accompaniment of the didgeridoo or clap sticks relates the story of events of
that is not from their lineage. If they those early times.
are seeking to paint a story concerning
historical or sacred information, they
must be given permission before they
can proceed.
• It is important that each artist sticks to
the stories and artistic techniques born
from their tribe.
• Painting on canvas in western manner
did not start among the aboriginals
until the 1970s but is now widespread.
Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: Computing – Programming
Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: DT - Automaton
Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: DT - Buggy
Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: DT - Clock
 Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: English Language – Paper 1
A. Questions 1 to 3:
Q1. (5 minutes, 4 marks): Read again the first
part of the source, from lines ____ to _____.
List four things about _____________________
from this part of the source.
Q2. (10 minutes, 8 marks): Look in detail at this
extract, from lines ____ to ____ of the source:
How does the writer use language here to
_______________________________? You
could include the writer’s choice of:
• words and phrases
• language features and techniques
• sentence forms.
Q3. (10 minutes, 8 marks): Here’s the kind of Q3
you’ll get in the exam: You now need to think
about the whole of the Source.
This text is from the middle of a novel.
How has the writer structured the text to interest
you as a reader? You could write about:
• what the writer focuses your attention
on at the beginning
• how and why the writer changes this
focus as the Source develops
• any other structural features that interest
you.
B. Question 4 (25-30 mins, 20 marks): C. Question 5 (45 mins, 24 + 16 marks):
This is the evaluation ‘GRANDDAD’ question: Genre, This is the WRITING section and you will usually be given a
Reader, Atmosphere, Names, Dialogue, Description of choice of TWO tasks. Complete only ONE. One task is
character, Archetypes, Description of setting. Use normally writing to describe and the other writing to
‘PETAZL’ (Point, Evidence, Technique, Analysis, Zoom narrate. They usually provide a picture to help inspire you.
and Link) to look ‘for’ and ‘against’ the argument givenMake sure you focus on your organisation, structure,
to you. This Q uses a specific part of the text. sentence structures, vocabulary, techniques, SPAG,
paragraphs and a sense of purpose and audience. This is the
Success criteria: kind of question you will get in Section B or Question 5 of the
A range of points that include both ‘for’ and ‘against’ exam. The exam board will give you a choice between two
perspectives. activities (so only answer ONE of them!). The exam board
A focus on the statement given in the question and could ask you to write a description or a narrative (story), or
your opinion on it. they could give you a choice between two descriptions or
Using Point, Evidence, Technique, Analysis, Zoom, Link two narratives. Whichever one you go for, you will be
paragraphs to answer the question. assessed on the same skills.
Using ‘GRANDDAD’ to evaluate the text.
Linking back to the task. Example question:
Possible sentence starters to use: One way I agree with [Purpose and audience explained]
the [person is] because… This is best shown when it
says: “…” This shows the reader that… because…The Either
use of the technique ________ helps to emphasise
that… because… Therefore the statement is correct Write a description, as suggested by this picture or write a
because… story with the title ‘____________’.
Moreover, we learn _________ when we are told: “…” (24 marks for content and organisation, 16 marks for
This shows the reader that… In particular the words technical accuracy)
“…” and “…” work with the technique _____________
to make the reader think… In contrast, the [person] [40 marks]
can be said to be wrong because… A good example of
this is… The use of [technique] here makes clear to the
reader that… Carry on in this style.
Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: Geography - Coasts
 Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: History – Living and Working conditions in the 19th Century
Key People
Robert Owen – A factory owner who set up a model factory caring for his workers.
Darby family – Family involved in improving the quality of iron that then led to
many more discoveries of its use.
Lord Shaftesbury – A reformer who successfully argued to have changes in the law
to protect the poor.
John Snow – The doctor who worked out how cholera was spreading.
Edwin Chadwick – an MP who wrote a report on sanitation leading to MPs
wanting change.
Joseph Bazalgette – the engineer tasked with creating a sewage system across
London.
Key dates
1831 – First incidence of cholera in England occurred.
1833 Factory Act – Reducing the hours young children could work and stopping
children under 9 from working in factories.
1844 Factory Act – No women to work more than 12 hours per day.
1848 Public Health Act – The first instance of the British Government taking
responsibility for the public’s health, particularly focused on sewage and
introducing taxes to pay for it.
1854 – Cholera epidemic in Westminster .
1875 Public Health Act – Increased the powers of councils to demand clean streets
and their powers to tax people to pay for it.
1895 Factory Act – Children under 13 to work a maximum of 30 hours a week.
Key terminology
Back to back housing – Rows of houses, built very close together without room for
a garden. They were usually inhabited by factory workers. There was no toilet or
water. A whole street would have to share a couple of toilets and a pump.
Census – An official count of a population and its details e.g. ages.
Cholera – A disease that causes vomiting and diarrhoea spread through water.
Domestic system – The system where people worked in their homes rather than
factories.
Entrepreneur – A businessman that takes risks to make profits.
Epidemic – A rapid spread of a disease.
Laissez-faire – French words meaning ‘leave alone’.
Manufacture – mMake goods in a factory.
Miasma – ‘Bad air’ believed to cause disease.
Navvies – Workers employed to build railways, canals, roads and buildings.
Overseer – People in charge of a factory floor who often used strict punishments
to make people work hard.
Pauper – Name given to someone who lived in poverty.
Philanthropist – Someone who freely gives help or money to people in need.
Poverty – Being extremely poor often leading to a lack of basic needs e.g. clean
water, nutrition, shelter, etc. Many people lived in poverty during the 1800s.
Suburb – The outer parts of a city, which grew with housing in this era. Usually the
richer people lived here. They were usually better built, larger and had most of the
new gadgets installed, such as flushing toilets, gas lighting, and inside bathrooms.
These houses were also decorated in the latest styles.
Trade union – An organisation formed to protect the workers that join it.
Trapper – Children who opened and closed trapdoors in mines.
The Great Stink – The term used to refer to the period when the Thames was so
polluted with sewage, businesses and even Parliament had to close.
Deeper contextual knowledge and understanding
There have always been large differences between the amount of wealth people
have and people’s living conditions in modern Britain but during this period, as the
wealth of the country outstripped the rest of the world, people really began to
recognise that there was a duty for the Government to take action to look after
the most needy in society. This concept continues to this day and has led to the
NHS and welfare benefits in the 20th century. These topics are always in the news
because they require vast sums of money to run and this is paid for by people that
have jobs. Some people argue it is up to individuals to work hard to earn the
money to pay for their own health and housing but it is generally accepted in
Britain that taxes help level the playing field because the differences in wealth
often aren’t the fault of many families and certainly not children or the elderly. The
school’s values are based in this attitude of looking after one another, CARE, and
we also undertake charity events to further supplement opportunities for those in
most need.
 Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: Maths – Unit 11 – Indices and Standard Form
Topic/Skill Definition /Tips Example Topic/Skill Definition /Tips Example
5 3 8
1. When multiplying with the 7 ×7 =7 7. Estimate To find something close to the An estimate for the height of a man is 1.8
Multiplication same base (number or 𝑎12 × 𝑎 = 𝑎13 correct answer. metres.
Index Law letter), add the powers. 4𝑥 5 × 2𝑥 8 = 8𝑥 13

𝒂𝒎 × 𝒂𝒏 = 𝒂𝒎+𝒏
2. Division When dividing with the 157 ÷ 154 = 153 8. When using approximations to 348 + 692 300 + 700
≈ = 2000
Index Law same base (number or 𝑥9 ÷ 𝑥2 = 𝑥7 Approximation estimate the solution to a 0.526 0.5
letter), subtract the 20𝑎11 ÷ 5𝑎3 = 4𝑎8 calculation, round each number
powers. in the calculation to 1 significant ‘Note that dividing by 0.5 is the same as
figure. multiplying by 2’
𝒂𝒎 ÷ 𝒂𝒏 = 𝒂𝒎−𝒏 ≈ means ‘approximately equal to’
3. Brackets When raising a power to (𝑦 2 )5 = 𝑦10 9. Standard 𝑨 × 𝟏𝟎𝒃 8400 = 8.4 x 103
Index Laws another power, multiply (63 )4 = 612 Form
the powers together. (5𝑥 6 )3 = 125𝑥 18 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝟏 ≤ 𝑨 < 𝟏𝟎, 0.00036 = 3.6 x 10−4
𝒃 = 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒓
(𝒂𝒎 )𝒏 = 𝒂𝒎𝒏
4. Notable 𝒑 = 𝒑𝟏 999990 = 1 10. Multiply: Multiply the numbers (1.2 × 103 ) × (4 × 106 ) = 8.8 × 109
Powers 𝒑𝟎 = 𝟏 Multiplying or and add the powers.
Dividing with Divide: Divide the numbers and (4.5 × 105 ) ÷ (3 × 102 ) = 1.5 × 103
Standard Form subtract the powers.
5. Negative A negative power performs 1 1 11. Adding or Convert in to ordinary numbers, 2.7 × 104 + 4.6 × 103
3−2 = =
Powers the reciprocal. 3 2 9 Subtracting calculate and then convert back = 27000 + 4600 = 31600
𝟏 with Standard in to standard form. = 3.16 × 104
𝒂−𝒎 = 𝒎
𝒂 Form
6. Significant The significant figures of a In the number 0.00821, the first
Figure number are the digits significant figure is the 8.
which carry meaning (ie.
are significant) to the size In the number 2.740, the 0 is not a
of the number. significant figure.

The first significant figure 0.00821 rounded to 2 significant

of a number cannot be
zero.
In a number with a
decimal, trailing zeros are
not significant.
figures is 0.0082.
19357 rounded to 3 significant figures
is 19400. We need to include the two
zeros at the end to keep the digits in
the same place value columns.
 Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: Maths – Unit 12 – Expressions and formulae
Topic/Skill Definition /Tips Example Topic/Skill Definition /Tips Example
1. Expression A mathematical 3x + 2 or 5y2 9. Expand To expand a bracket, multiply 3(𝑚 + 7) = 3𝑥 + 21
statement written using each term in the bracket by
symbols, numbers or the expression outside the
letters. bracket.
2. Equation A statement showing 2y – 17 = 15 10. Factorise The reverse of expanding. 6𝑥 − 15 = 3(2𝑥 − 5), where 3 is the
that two expressions Factorising is writing an common factor.
are equal. expression as a product of
terms by ‘taking out’ a
common factor.
3. Identity An equation that is true 2x ≡ x+x 1. Solve To find the answer/value of Solve 2𝑥 − 3 = 7
for all values of the something.
variables. Add 3 on both sides
Use inverse operations on 2𝑥 = 10
An identity uses the both sides of the equation Divide by 2 on both sides
symbol: ≡ (balancing method) until you 𝑥=5
4. Formula Shows the relationship Area of a rectangle = length x find the value for the letter.
between two or more width or A= LxW
variables
5. Collect ‘like terms’. 2𝑥 + 3𝑦 + 4𝑥 − 5𝑦 + 3 3. Use inverse operations on 2𝑥−1
Make x the subject of 𝑦 = 𝑧
Simplifying = 6𝑥 − 2𝑦 + 3 Rearranging both sides of the formula
Expressions Be careful with 3𝑥 + 4 − 𝑥 2 + 2𝑥 − 1 Formulae (balancing method) until you Multiply both sides by z
negatives. = 5𝑥 − 𝑥 2 + 3 find the expression for the 𝑦𝑧 = 2𝑥 − 1
𝑥 2 and 𝑥 are not like letter. Add 1 to both sides
terms. 𝑦𝑧 + 1 = 2𝑥
6. 𝑥 times 𝑥 The answer is 𝑥 2 not 2𝑥. Squaring is multiplying by itself, Divide by 2 on both sides
not by 2. 𝑦𝑧 + 1
7. 𝑝 × 𝑝 × 𝑝 The answer is 𝑝3 not 3𝑝 If p=2, then 𝑝3 =2x2x2=8, not =𝑥
2
2x3=6 We now have x as the subject.
8. 𝑝 + 𝑝 + 𝑝 The answer is 3p not 𝑝3 If p=2, then 2+2+2=6, not 23 = 8 Expand When you expand double
double brackets, you multiply each
brackets term in one set of brackets by
each term in the other
bracket.
 Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: Music – Exploring Jazz and The Blues

All That Jazz Exploring Jazz and The Blues

A. Jazz and Blues Key Words
RIFF/OSTINATO – Short, repeated musical patterns often used in SOLOS.
IMPROVISATION – music created ‘on the spot’ (previously unprepared
performance)
SEVENTH CHORD – a TRIAD (root, third and fifth) with a fourth note added
which is seven notes about the root/tonic. C7 = C , E, G (triad) + B flat.
SWING/SWUNG RHYTHM – performing a regular ‘straight’ rhythm with a ‘lilt’
in a “ONE and A, TWO and A” style (using TRIPLETS) common in swing music.
B. The Twelve Bar Blues
Some or all of these chords can be SEVENTH CHORDS (7)
CHORD I CHORD I CHORD I CHORD I
CHORD IV CHORD IV CHORD I CHORD I
CHORD V CHORD IV CHORD I CHORD I
C. The Blues Scale
BLUES SCALE – a series of notes often used within
improvisations in blues music (the Blues Scale on C
is shown to the right).
BLUE NOTES – additional or extra sharpened or
flattened notes in a melody.
D. Instruments of Jazz and Blues
Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: Science
Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: Science
Knowledge Organiser – Year 8 Term 5: Science