Course Outline

8th Grade Language Arts Course Outline

 

This course encompasses reading, writing, grammar, speaking, and
listening skills taught in thematic units.

LITERATURE   

Readings will be based on the following thematic units; four to five units will be covered each year.

 

Within each unit will be a mix of required readings and self-selected readings related to the themes including novels, short stories, poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and a variety of other genres. The Mystery and Suspenseunit will include stories by Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the creator of Sherlock Holmes) among others. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton highlights the Individual vs. Society unit, which also includes the fun-filled 1950’s/1960’s presentations. Our Conformity vs. Nonconformity unit includes The Giver by Lois Lowry (1994 Newbery Medal) as well as our research-based essay. The Tolerance unit will explore A Raisin in the Sun, a play by Lorraine Hansberry while Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare are also potential units.

 

Integrated into the reading units will be literary terms and vocabulary taken directly from the readings.

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GRADED WORK

 

• Composition Book

-      Reader’s Log

-      Writing practice

• Themes

-      Taken through the writing process (pre-write, draft, conference, revision, FINAL COPY)

-      Form of writing pieces vary

• Responses

-      Written responses to Essays, Poems, Articles, etc.

-      Less formal than Themes

• Presentations

            -     Group & Individual

• Grammar/Usage

-      Parts of Speech

-      Sentence Structure / Kinds of Sentences

-      Clauses

-      Phrases

-      Punctuation

"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without

losing your temper or your self-confidence."

Robert Frost 1874-1963