Reading/Writing Review and Intro to Mosaic and Traits (Wks 1-4)
Poetry Unit (Wks 5- 9)
1st 9 Weeks / Program of Studies:
EL-8-FF-U-1, EL-8-FF-U-2, EL-8-FF-U-3, EL-8-FF-U-4, EL-8-FF-S-1, EL-8-FF-S-2, EL-8-FF-S-3, EL-8-FF-S-4, EL-8-FF-S-5, EL-8-DIU-U-1, EL-8-DIU-U-2, EL-8-DIU-U-3, EL-8-DIU-U-4, EL-8-DIU-S-1, EL-8-DIU-S-2, EL-8-RRT-S-4, EL-8-RRT-S-5, EL-8-DCS-S-6, EL-8-SLO-U-1, EL-8-SLO-U-2, EL-8-SLO-U-3, EL-8-WC-U-1, EL-8-WC-U-2, EL-8-WC-U-3, EL-8-WC-U-4, EL-8-WC-S-1, EL-8-WC-S-2, EL-8-WC-S-3, EL-8-WC-U-4, EL-8-WC-S-5, EL-8-WC-S-6, EL-8-WC-S-7, EL-8-WC-S-8, EL-8-WC-S-9
Week(s) / Core Content / Activities / Assessments
1 / 4.0.1
1.0.4, 2.0.7
1.0.5 / *Go over class syllabus with kids. Teach expectations that you are assigned. (Make up various ways to teach expectations to kids.)
*Two truths and a lie game. Introductions (Create “All About Me” Brochure. (Brochure can include information like hobbies, personality traits, favorite things, etc.)
*Introduce RWN (Reading/Writing Notebook). This notebook will be their portfolio/journal for their 8th grade year. Introduce “Territories” by Nancy Atwell. (What do you have expertise in?)
*Discuss text –to- self, text- to- text, and text- to- world connections.
*Angel/Devil Activity. Have students act out what happens when they deal with a frustrating activity? How do you deal? What would the angel on your shoulder say? What would the little devil say? When you come to a difficult reading passage what do they say?
Discuss Prior Knowledge.
*Model how to formulate questions to guide reading, make predictions, draw conclusions, make generalizations, or make inferences based on what is read. (Discuss new vocabulary (e.g. generalizations, inferences, etc.) CREATE WORD WALL IN ROOM.
Read story *The Captive” to discuss drawing conclusions, predictions, and making inferences
*Explain that you are going play a game where the goal is to infer what emotion is taped to our back. Tape a card with an emotion on the back of a student (without allowing the student to see which one). Let the rest of the class see what emotion is on the student’s back. They are to give clues by finishing the following: “I felt that way when…” The student then guesses what emotion is taped to his/her back. The student should explain why he/she guessed the emotion correctly.
Model these strategies using a picture book. (“The Keeping Quilt” Think aloud.
Students will do an activity where they have to read a passage to scan and find key information.
-Lexington Herald Leader articles about driving and talking on your cell phone. / Pre-Test for Unit 1
2 / 1.2.0, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.1.3, 1.1.1, 1.1.2 / *Give an introduction to On-Demand Writing. How it relates to real life. Make this connect to their lives. Remind students that On-Demand writing provides prompts that are pretend scenarios.
*Remind students they need to develop logical, justified, and suitable explanations for their ideas.
*Connect to the reader with real life reflections.
*Apply idea development strategies appropriate to the mode of writing the prompt asks for. (i.e. letter, article, speech, editorial, etc.)
Do various activities where students can practice SPAM - Situation, Purpose (Informing, Persuading, Explaining, etc.) Audience, Mode (Letter, article, speech, etc.)
Introduce “Writing Through The Window”. A graphic organizer to break down On-Demand Writing
*What does having a strong Idea mean? Begin introduction to Idea development with 6+1 traits.
*”By the Side of the Road” Picture book. Students will create a rough draft for a writing piece focusing on creating strong ideas. RAFT (Roles, Audience, Format, Topics) Or Do same activity with “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.”
*Students will journal in their RWN what they struggle with most as a writer. Coming up with ideas, grammar, etc.
3 / 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3
1.1.0, 4.10.4, 4.10.5 / *Activity to review synonyms and antonyms
*Discuss how applying the knowledge of synonyms and antonyms help you comprehend a passage.
*Discuss prefixes, suffixes, and root words. Use this knowledge (prior knowledge) to figure out unfamiliar words.
*Those two activities will then lead to discussion of context clues. Consider yourself a detective in reading. You have to use the clues around what you read to decode the message you don’t understand.
*If a word has multiple meanings how can you choose the appropriate meaning in a passage?
*Create chart on board “What do Good Readers Do?” Have students list on board.
*Read picture book “Henry P. Baloney”. First time reading the story, don’t show students the pictures. Have students try to fill out worksheets while they listen to you read. Give them time to figure out the meanings of underlined words. NOW, re-read the story showing the pictures.
Ask the students why this activity was confusing at first? As detectives, how did they figure out some of the words? Did you use context clues?
-Can do same activity with “Jaberwocky”.
*Students will identify and compose a topic sentence of a paragraph.
Students will use Holt Handbooks to refine their topic sentence skills.
*Jeff Foxworthy – CD – Jeff Foxworthy explains non-standard English. (“usta could” “ya’ll” “wantto?”) Fun activity to introduce kids to Standard Formal, Standard Informal, and Non-standard English.
*Various writing activities to practice. One includes students re-writing an advertisement for a formal audience, and then also writing it like they would text it to a friend.
Purpose/Audience in writing. What do both of these words really mean…AUDIENCE…PURPOSE. In any form of writing these two elements are key. Give students different writing scenarios. If they were writing a letter to a friend vs. writing a letter to their principal to discuss school safety, how would it look different? Students will work in groups to discuss what they can come up with.
*Students will look at On-Demand prompts to look at how we can establish a controlling idea, theme or conclusion about the topic.
4 / 4.10.0, 4.10.7, 4.10.6, 4.10.8 / *Introduce Rubric. What is a rubric? Will model for class/with class how to create a rubric for a clean locker.
*The Great Deer Hunting Rubric for guys.
*Students will work on rubric for a great deer hunter on their own.
*Students should understand that a rubric tells us EXACTLY what we need to get a perfect score.
*Students will work on a small writing piece. They will choose one of their writing territories to demonstrate topics discussed in class. Rubric for this paper will be created and students will need to check their paper with their rubric. (Strong topic sentence, idea development, audience, purpose for writing, etc.)
*Writing Workshop: Students will conference with one another and with teacher to determine where to add, delete, rearrange, define/redefine, or elaborate content.
*How many of us argue with our parents? You don’t want to go to bed….You don’t want to clean your room…? Do you have support for your argument? That support is called “appropriate supporting details.” …”Because I want to” doesn’t work for a supporting detail.
*O.R.Q Practice. Students will complete O.R.Q. on article previously read in class about driving and talking or texting on your cell phone. Students will have to support their answer.
*Holt Handbook will be used for students to practice identifying extraneous/irrelevant material in a passage. Are you saying the same thing over and over? Are you using too many words to say something simple?
Model these corrections for students by finding passages or stories for students to correct.
*Sequence/chronological order – Write a story for students that is suspenseful. Show how the students were on the edge of their seats, and how that sequence helped to create the suspense. Now re-write the story to give some of the story away before the “punch” happened before. Ask the students how it changed their reactions?
*Remind students to consider correct chronological order in their own writing/structure. / Daily Oral Language Quiz given every Friday.
Post Test for Unit 2
Common Assessment 1
5 / 5.0.4 / *Students begin by receiving a poetry packet.
*Students will take notes in their RWN. Introduce new vocabulary on word wall. (Symbolism, irony, analogies, imagery, figurative language, etc.)
*Students will write definitions of vocab words in RWN, and then draw a picture that relates to that word next to the definition.
*Students will practice identifying literary devices as a class, in pairs, and then as individuals.
*Create a game day with different modules in classroom for students to rotate through. Each module will represent a different literary device. Students will apply their knowledge of vocabulary to / Pre-Test for Unit 2
6 / 1.2.2 / *Notes in RWN for poetic devices (simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, etc.)
Define: Stanzas, white space, repetition, sounds devices, etc.
*Have students begin to apply definitions by creating their own.
*Introduce TPCASTT as a way to analyze poems for meaning. Have students create mini-posters for each letter.
*Have students think of something that someone in their family passed down to them – object, words of wisdom, personality traits, etc. Have them draw a depiction of this “legacy”. Discuss the word “legacy.” Now, TPCASTT – “Legacy II,” by Leroy V. Quintana, pg. 682. Have students use RWN to record answers.
*Discuss how questioning while we read can also help us in poetry. Allowing ourselves to question what the poem means through asking is a good reader skill.
*Show the class a poem on the smart board and in their RWN, as it is read, pause and have students come up with questions. Write their questions on a chart or on the board. Take a minute to explain which questions are leading us to an inference about the author or the subject of the poem.
*Discuss how visualizing is key to understanding what we read, sometimes even with poetry. Read a poem aloud. Have students close their eyes and try to visualize what is happening. Once the poem has finished, have them discus with a partner what they visualized.
*Students should then draw their visualization, adding a short sentence at the bottom that explains what their picture has to do with the poem.
*Discuss how music is poetry. Take a popular song the kids are interested in, and break it down with TPCASTT.
*Using a three column chart, students should complete a Background Knowledge/ Text Clues/Inference chart about a poem. Have students complete the chart based on a poem that is read together in class.
7 / 2.3.0, 2.3.2 / *Students will use pg. 530 from Elements of Literature book to answer questions about style in literary devices.
*Students will complete copy/not quite plagiarism poetry lesson.
*Students will begin the building a 6-room poem lesson.
8 / Cont’d / *Catch up if behind on poetry unit.
9 / 4.7.0, 4.8.0, 4.9.0 / *Finish 6-room poem lesson to actually create drafts of poems.
*Students will use an experience, issue, problem, or question to determine a meaningful reason to write.
Objectives:
Vocabulary:
Unit Title:
Drama and Novel Study
On-Demand Writing and
Editing/Revising in the Writing Process
2nd 9 Weeks / Program of Studies:
EL-8-DIU-S-5, EL-8-DIU-S-6, EL-8-DIU-S-7, EL-8-DCS-S-5, EL-8-IT-U-1, EL-8-IT-U-2, EL-8-IT-U-3, EL-8-IT-S-1, EL-8-IT-S-2, EL-8-IT-S-3, EL-8-IT-S-4, EL-8-IT-S-5, EL-8-DCS-U-1, EL-8-DCS-U-2, EL-8-DCS-U-3, EL-8-DCS-U-4, EL-8-DCS-U-5, EL-8-DCS-S-2, EL-8-DCS-S-6, EL-8-DCS-S-2, EL-8-DCS-S-8, EL-8-DCS-S-9, EL-8-DCS-S-10,EL-8-WP-U-1, EL-8-WP-U-2, EL-8-WP-U-3, EL-8-WP-S-1, EL-8-WP-S-2, EL-8-WP-S-3, EL-8-WP-S-4, EL-8-WP-S-5, EL-8-WP-S-6, EL-8-WP-S-7
Week(s) / Core Content / Activities / Assessments
1 / 2.0.1, 2.0.2 / *Introduction to characteristics of short stories, novels, poetry, and plays. Engage class discussion to talk about the differences. Assess what they already know.
*Read a short story to discuss main idea in a passage. Teach students real strategies to detect the main idea. / *Pre-Assessment
2 / 5.0.2 / *Introduction to Holocaust. Read real stories of survivors from the Holocaust. Show power point to students about Anne Frank. Allow this story to slowly emerge in students’ minds. Help them understand it was a real time in history, and this story is about a kid their age.
*Students begin reading Anne Frank Play in Elements of Literature Book. Assign parts to kids in class to read aloud. Give a reading grade daily for students’ participation in reading parts, and being actively engaged in listening/following along.
*Students will journal in RWN while reading the play daily.
*Students will begin to discuss literary elements (e.g. characterization, setting, plot, theme, point of view) in a passage.
*While reading parts of play aloud, students will be able to pass notes (controlled setting) in class to discuss back and forth elements of these literary elements.
3 / 3.0.1, 3.0.2, 3.0.3
1.1.2, 2.3.1 / *Anne Frank Play continued.
- Students analyze the relationship between a speaker’s or character’s motivation and behavior in a passage, as revealed by dilemmas.
- Explain author’s purpose.
- Students explain how a conflict in a passage is resolved.
*Sustain a suitable tone.
*Discuss transitions with students. Explain how your written work should flow. Show students examples of well written papers using transitions correctly.
4 / 5.0.1, 5.0.3, 5.0.9
2.3.2, 2.3.3, / *Anne Frank continued.
*Take the novel read in class, short stories, picture books, and play and help students identify interrelationships (themes, ideas, concepts) that are developed in more than one literary work.
*How does the Anne Frank Play show symbolism, irony, analogies, imagery, foreshadowing, figurative language, etc.)
*Mini lessons on cause and effect AND comparison or contrast. / *Post-Assessment
5 / 4.11.16, 4.11.23, / *Various spelling games.
*Weekly spelling tests will begin for what problems I see students having in their writing.
*Students will practice applying knowledge of special problems in usage (e.g. a/an, to/two/too, their, there, they’re), pronoun references, and double negatives.
*Holt Handbook activities.
6 / 4.11.24, 4.11.25, 4.11.26 / *Spelling tests continued. (Will add a spelling word from previous weeks each time for student review)
*Spelling for rules to plural forms of words, and contractions.
*This week review the basics for On-Demand Writing again. Students will begin working on rough drafts of an On-Demand prompt.
*Introduce notes on DRAPES (the supporting details for your On-Demand) Drapes add the color and beauty to your paper, just as real drapes add beauty to your windows.
*Begin Novel Study. (Novel not decided on)
7 / 4.11.27, 4.11.28, 4.11.29, 4.11.30, 4.11.31, 4.11.32 / *Capitalization focus.
- Proper nouns (names, days, months)
- The pronoun “I”
- Proper adjectives
- The beginning of a sentence
- The first word in a quote when appropriate
- The first word and every succeeding main word in a title
*Then apply knowledge to their rough drafts of On-Demand.
8 / 4.10.10, 4.10.11, 4.10.12, 5.0.7 / *How do you know you’ve read a good story, poem, or passage? Is organization of words, thoughts important?
*Students will look at effective ways to create introductions and conclusions for writing.
Allow students two short passages to read. Make one of the passages an exciting read with an effective intro and closure, and the other not so exciting. How did they decide?
*Hold Handbook practice with students eliminating redundant words and phrases. Can they find these mistakes in their own papers?
*Students will be introduced to using a thesaurus. How can you choose the most specific word for use in a sentence? Teach students to proof read their papers. If they notice that they are using the word “because” many times, use the thesaurus to find another word that means the same thing. YOU NEVER WANT YOUR READER TO BE BORED when reading your paper. Keep them interested and on their toes.
9 / 4.10.9 / *Holt Handbook practice with students applying the most effective transitions.
*Catch up with anything you might be behind on.
Objectives:
Vocabulary:
Unit Title:
On Demand Writing
Sentence Structure
Text Features
Persuasive Techniques
3rd 9 Weeks / Program of Studies:
EL-8-DCS-S-3, EL-8-DCS-S-4, EL-8-DIU-S-4, EL-8-DIU-S-5, EL-8-DIU-S-6, EL-8-DIU-S-7, EL-8-IT-S-4, EL-8-IT-S-5, EL-8-IT-S-6, EL-8-IT-S-3, EL-8-DCS-S-1, EL-8-DIU-S-7, EL-8-WS-U-1, EL-8-WS-U-2, EL-8-WS-U-3, EL-8-WS-S-1, EL-8-WS-S-2, EL-8-WS-S-3, EL-8-WS-S-4, EL-8-WS-S-5, EL-8-WS-S-6, EL-8-WS-S-7, EL-8-WS-S-8
Week(s) / Core Content / Activities / Assessments
1 / 1.0.6, 2.0.4, 2.0.5
5.0.5 / *Students will take a closer look at informational text.
Using different selections of informational text, students will learn to scan to locate key ideas, and work on paraphrasing and summarizing text.
*Students as authors will look at how other author’s word choice, style, voice, etc. changes their writing.
*Look more closely at author’s voice.
*Activity where students will listen to various artists sing the same song. (ex. “Wonderwall”, “Smooth Criminal”, “Ring of Fire”.) What changes in these songs? Different artists put their spin on a new song. That’s what voice is in writing….Your Spin on things. Consider different writers like Stephen King, R.L. Stine, Stephanie Myer….many of their books have the same theme or writing style. That’s their voice shining through.
2 / 3.0.4, 3.0.7, 3.0.8
2.4.0, 2.4.1, 2.4.2, 2.4.3 / *Activity that models for students how to answer an O.R.Q effectively/completely.
*Students will analyze the use of details that support the main idea or explain their importance in a passage.
*Students will identify an author’s argument or identify evidence from the passage to support the author’s argument.
*Students will make a generalization or explain an author’s position based on evidence in a passage.
*Students will practice applying a variety of structures and lengths to sentences. Discuss with students that sometimes unconventional structures apply when appropriate, but those are rare for their writing pieces. Sometimes showing your “voice” in writing can be using unconventional sentence structure.
3 / 4.11.0, 4.11.19,4.11.20 / Mini Lessons:
*Students will look at how to combine short choppy sentences effectively.
*Students will correct sentence fragments.
Holt Handbook can be used to formatively assess
*Students will get old writing piece out that they used the RAFT model on at the beginning of the year. Let’s look at how we’ve changed as writers. Use all the knowledge they have to revise, re-write, and showcase voice in that writing piece.
4 / 4.11.18, 4.11.21, 4.11.22 / Mini Lessons:
*Students will correct sentences with misplaced and/or dangling modifiers.
*Students will combine simple sentences by using subordination and coordination.