8th Grade Honors English Quarter 4 Curriculum MapTeacher: Ms. Surber

Big Ideas:

  1. Where do you get your facts?
  2. Whom can we believe?

Essential Questions:

  1. How do we identify main idea and supporting details?
  2. How do we identify and analyze the author’s purpose?
  3. How do we distinguish between fact and fiction?
  4. How do we adjust reading rate to purpose?
  5. How do we summarize main ideas in an article?
  6. How do we use text features to comprehend and locate information?
  7. How do we identify analyze elements of an argument?
  8. How do we identify and analyze persuasive techniques?
  9. How do we distinguish between fact and opinion?
  10. How do we identify and analyze tone?

Standards
8.1.2
8.1.3
8.2.3
8.2.5
8.2.7
8.2.9
8.3.1
8.3.2
8.3.5
8.3.6
8.3.7
8.6.5
8.6.6
Learning Targets
8.1.2 Understand the influence of historical events on English word meaning and vocabulary expansion.
8.1.3 Verify the meaning of a word in its context, even when its meaning is not directly stated, through the use of definition, restatement, example, comparison, or contrast.
8.2.3 Find similarities and differences between texts in the treatment, amount of coverage, or organization of ideas.
8.2.5 Use information from a variety of consumer and public documents to explain a situation or decision and to solve a problem.
8.2.7 Analyze the structure, format, and purpose of informational materials (such as textbooks, newspapers, instructional or technical manuals, and public documents).
8.2.9 Make reasonable statements and draw conclusions about a text, supporting them with accurate examples.
8.3.1 Determine and articulate the relationship between the purposes and characteristics of different forms of poetry (including ballads, lyrics, couplets, epics, elegies, odes, and sonnets).
8.3.2
8.3.5 Identify and analyze recurring themes (such as good versus evil) that appear frequently across traditional and contemporary works.
8.3.6 Identify significant literary devices, such as metaphor, symbolism, dialect or quotations, and irony, which define a writer’s style and use those elements to interpret the work.
8.3.7 Analyze a work of literature, showing how it reflects the heritage, traditions, attitudes, and beliefs of its author.
8.6.5 Use correct punctuation.
8.6.6 Use correct capitalization.
Assessments
Tests, quizzes, summaries, short answer and essay questions, projects, application activities, skill application and matching quizzes, oral response, daily oral language responses
Resources and Materials
McDougal Littell Literature Grade 8 Literature
“The Great Chicago Fire of 1871”Michael Burgan
“The Spider Man Behind Spider-Man” by Bijal P. Trivedi
:Over the Top: The True Adbventures of a volcano Chaser” by Renee Skelton
Kabul’s Singing Sensation” by Tim McGirk
“Robo-Legs” by Michel Marriott
“Eureka: Scientific Twists of Fate”
“from An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793” by Jim Murphy
“Odd Couples” by Amy Sarver
“Zoos: Myth and Reality” by Rob Laidlaw
“Zoos Connect Us to the Natural World” by Michael Hutchins
“Position on Dodgeball in Physical Education” by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education
“The Weak ShallInherit the Gym” by Rick Reilly
“The Sanctuary of School” by Lynda Barry
“Educating Sons” by Chief Canasatego
“The First Americans” by The Grand Council Fire of American Indians
“Nuclear Energy: Does It Make Sense for the Environment?”
Fantastic Word Puzzles
McDougal Littell Resources: Grammar, Writing, Power Points, Media Study, Online Resources
Instructional Activities, Strategies, and Differentiation
Summary, Projects, Participation / Discussion
Questions / Handouts, Media Study, Outlining,
Short answer / essay type questions
Writing Workshop: Interpretive Essay

Key Ideas: Nonfiction, Persuasion, Facts, opinion

Key Idea Questions for each selection:

  1. What impact will you have on the world?

Key Vocabulary: Main idea, Supporting details, Summarize, Test features, Graphic aids, Argument, Tone, Fact and opinion, Author’s purpose, Persuasive techniques

Key Reading Strategies: Identify main ideas, Identify supporting details, Analyze author’s purpose, Distinguish between facts and opinions, Identify comparisons and contrasts, Identify the historical context of a text

Grammar Skills: Capitalize titles correctly, Use commas correctly (especially after introductory words and phrases), Use parallelism to link related ideas, Capitalize names correctly

Writing: Introductions, Body Paragraphs, Transitions, Conclusions, Problem-Solution Essay, Persuasive Essay