8th Grade English Language Arts
Syllabus 2017-2018
Quarter 1
-Poetry
“Invictus” by William Earnest Henley
“Charge of the Light Brigade” by Lord Alfred Tennyson
“If We Must Die” by Claude McKay
-Nonfiction Narratives (The Holocaust)
“All But My Life” excerpt by Gerda Weissman Klein
“from Dairy of Anne Frank” excerpt by Anne Frank
-Novel: Greek/Roman Mythology
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
-Writing
Essay writing plus various paragraph/summary writings
-GPS Practice
Daily Grammar Punctuation Spelling practice
Quarter 2
-Fiction: Short Story
“Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs
“Third Wish” by Joan Aiken
-Novel: Historical Fiction (The Amerian Revolution)
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
-Writing
Essay writing plus short story fiction writing
-GPS Practice
Daily Grammar Punctuation Spelling practice
Quarter 3
-Fiction: Short Story Comparison
“The Two Wolves” Cherokee Legend
“The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury
“The Gift of the Magi” by O’ Henry
-Novel: Historical Fiction (Philadephia during the Yellow Fever outbreak)
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
-Writing
Essay writing plus argumentative writing – MLS research
-GPS Practice
Daily Grammar Punctuation Spelling practice
Quarter 4
-MAP Testing
-Novel: Historical Fiction (Civil War)
Tracker by Paulsen and The Pearl by Steinbeck
-Fairy Tales: Comparison of Original Fairy Tales, Disney-fied Fairy Tales, and Fairy Tales Retold
“Briar Rose”
“Sleeping Beauty”
“Maleficent”
-Writing
Essay writing plus various paragraph/summary writings
-GPS Practice
Daily Grammar Punctuation Spelling practice