8th Grade Reading Fridge List 2015-16

For general literacy comprehension

Students can use:

  • context as a clue to the meaning of unfamiliar words or phrases
  • tone of a passage to determine an approximate meaning of an unfamiliar word
  • Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of unfamiliar words or phrases(e.g., extra, hypo, pseudo)
  • reference materials to determine meaning and pronunciation of words
  • relationships between words to understand deeper word meanings (e.g., synonym, antonym, analogy)

Students can:

  • locate key ideas and details and cite several pieces of textual evidence
  • determine the central theme or idea of a text and explain it
  • write or describe an objective summary of the text
  • recognize the author’s purpose and subsequent use of structure
  • interpret figures of speech
  • distinguish among the connotations of words with similar denotations
  • analyze how differences in points of view of characters and audience/reader creates effects such as suspense or humor
  • analyze extent to which a filmed production stays faithful to or departs from text/script, evaluating choices of director or actors
  • analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types of myths, traditional stories, or religious works, including describing how the material is rendered new

For reading fiction/poetry

Students can:

  • examine some poems in detail, discussing what the poems mean as well as asking questions about the poet’s use of language.
  1. locate and cite meter, iamb, rhyme scheme, free verse, couplet, onomatopoeia, alliteration, simile, metaphor, imagery, symbol, personification, and allusion
  2. identify and define stanzas and refrains
  3. recognize forms: ballad, sonnet, lyric, narrative, haiku
  4. locate types of rhyme: end, internal, slant, eye
  5. identify tone and diction
  • read and examine short stories, novels, and dramas and be able to differentiate the various genres, locating and citing elements of fiction.
  1. map aspects of plot and setting
  2. explain the author’s point of view narration: omniscient narrator, unreliable narrator. third person, first person
  3. analyze how elements interact (e.g., how setting shapes character or plot)
  4. identify conflict and list as external or internal
  5. define and cite suspense and climax
  6. cite examples of literary elements: irony, simile, metaphor, flashback, foreshadowing parody, hyperbole
  7. compare/contrast fictional portrayal of era/location with historical/factual account to identify how fiction authors use or alter history
  8. compare/contrast text to a version in a different medium

For Reading Non Fiction and Persuasive Texts

  • accurately relate the main ideas of text
  • cite textual evidence to support analysis of explicit content
  • cite textual evidence to support inferences drawn
  • use text and text features to answer questions and form conclusions
  • integrate information from a variety of formats/media
  • trace and evaluate the argument and claims in a text, assessing whether reasoning is sound, evidence is relevant and sufficient
  • evaluate advantages/disadvantages of using different mediums to present a particular topic or idea
  • analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information and identify whether disagreement is a matter of fact or interpretation