8th Grade ELA

The Georgia Standards of Excellence are very rigorous, and 8^th ELA is crucial for preparing students for the transition to high school. The language arts class focuses on literature and writing. Students write daily, weekly, and monthly in a variety of genres (narrative, expository, and argument). Students also engage in Document Based Questions (DBQ) and choice books to hone critical reading and writing skills. Throughout this course, students will learn reading strategies, literary elements, and stylistic devices utilized in both fiction and nonfiction literature. The students will analyze several genres including poetry, novels, short stories, informational texts, and biography. Students will keep an interactive notebook for ELA and will have notes, foldables, and graphic organizers to use for study purposes. Literary circles, group discussions, pairings, and student-teacher conferences will facilitate the learning process. Weekly homework will be conducted using a POW (poem of the week) or an AOW (article of the week). Mrs. Thompson will use Remind 101 and Google Classroom to aid student learning. Active participation is critical to student success.

Unit 1 PBL: "Calling in Haz-Mat"

Subject: Matter

Frontload Reading passages

• Students read and annotate passages in preparation for ELA task

• Weekly AOW: 4 science articles

• One pager, Cornell Notes, RACES paragraph

Articles:

• “Archimedes Crowning Moment”

• “Atoms and Molecules in Motion: States of Matter”

• “Matter is Everywhere”

• Excerpt from NASA’s “States of Matter”