English 8

In ELA 8, students will be reading The Outsiders and The Devil's Arithmetic. We will review parts of speech as well as capitalization and various punctuation rules. In 8th grade ELA, students will also focus extensively on Persuasive essays, proper essay structure and creative writing elements. See links below for more information and downloadable materials for our major units.

Daily Required Materials

- Planner

- Pen (blue or black) or pencil w/ eraser

- Highlighters (multiple colors)

- Notebooks with lined paper

- English folder or binder

- Silent reading book

- Assigned reading for each unit

Grading Policy

Starting in sixth grade and going through eighth grade, students' grades are weighted between assessments and non assessments. Assessments (test, quiz, project and major assignment scores) will count for 70% of the students' grades. Non assessments (warm-ups, notebook checks, participation, classwork and homework) will count for 30% of the students' grades. With this in mind, it will be very important for students to use classwork and homework, as well as using their own study time at home, to prepare for those assessments. Students' grades are updated weekly and you can track them through Powerschool.

Homework

Typically, homework in my class are assignments that students may not have completed in class. There will be occasions, however, when students are assigned homework. Students will be expected to fill out their agendas for the entire week every Monday in their planner. If there is any homework assigned for the week (that is not just something they need to finish up), it will be communicated to them at the beginning of the week and they will be expected to write it down in their planners. The weekly agenda and homework assignments will also be posted on the calendar below.

Homework is expected to be turned in on the due date at the beginning of the hour. If it is something to finish up from the previous day, the assignment is due the following day in class. I will accept late assignments but each late assignment will only receive up to 60% for quality work. Rushed/incomplete assignments that are late could receive a score lower than a 60%. Students should be encouraged to turn in assignments even if they are late - some points are better than none!

If students are absent from school, they will have twice as long to complete the assignments they missed. So, if your child is absent for 2 days, they will have 4 days to complete the missing work but will also be expected to stay caught up with their current work. If your child is absent, it is their responsibility to check the absent folder or talk to me to get any work they might have missed.