8th Grade English/Reading

Welcome to a new school year. We will begin our year working on Grammar: the 8 parts of speech, diagramming sentences, conjugating verbs, phrases and clauses, as well as direct objects, indirect objects, predicate nouns and predicate adjectives. We will be reading both Fiction and nonfiction stories as well as poetry by such authors as Madeleine L'Engle, O. Henry, Mark Twain, Sir Conan Doyle, Steinbeck, Bradbury, Poe, Jack London, Paulsen, Colin Powell, Tennyson, and Dickinson, just to name a few. We will be doing novel studies along with our daily assignments. You will be required to read at least one novel each 9 weeks above and beyond what we read in class. This novel will be shared with the class in any format you choose, and will have a short essay assigned with it, as well as an AR test. Your goal will be to earn 25 AR points every 9 weeks.

You will need a notebook in which to keep notes on literary terms, authors' backgrounds and grammar notes, as well as a flash drive on which to save your essays and writings. We will learn how to write your essays in an APA format, with in-text citing and a reference page. There is an example of this in the File Cabinet. I look forward to seeing you in the fall and having a great year of reading, writing, and discussions. There is a list of books for summer reading in the filing cabinet. I hope you will continue to read this summer.

Our new Prentice Hall Literature series is online and can be read and/or listened to online at any time. The log in for you is: www.pearsonsuccessnet. com.