Months covered:

Curriculum Mapping for 8^th Grade Language Arts

Rattan Public Schools

Months covered:

Topics covered:

Objectives covered (based on 8^th grade standards):

August - September

Unit 4: The Elements of a short story: Review and discuss elements of a short story – plot, conflict, complications, suspense, climax, resolution, characters, various points of view, setting, and theme.

Spelling Unit: Compound words, homophones, adding endings to words, related words, easily confused words, and words with the prefixes ad- and in-. Weekly spelling tests are given.

Writing Unit: Daily journal entries, sentences with vocabulary words (checking for sentences that begin with capital letters, end with correct punctuation, and the vocabulary word must be used correctly based on the definition), and definitions of vocabulary words will be written out with phonetic spelling, part of speech, definition, and an example sentence using the word.

Language and Vocabulary: Fairly unfamiliar words pulled from the week’s story which the students will be expected to memorize and write the definitions of on a weekly test. Also covered: dialect, pronunciation, vocabulary syntax (omitted words), Spanish words, word roots from Latin, complete sentences, jargon, context clues, varying sentence structure, English words borrowed from another language, infinitives and infinitive phrases, transitional expressions, subject complements, British terms, and prepositional phrases.

Reading: Students are expected to read chosen library books silently during appointed times in class daily. The week’s stories will be read aloud to the students by the teacher, as well as the reading test over the story given weekly. Book reports are assigned to be due 6 weeks after the first day of school. They are to be written in a 5 paragraph essay form including information such as setting, characters, main events, conflict/problem, conclusion, and must include introductory paragraphs with a thesis statement and concluding paragraphs containing personal opinions about the book.

Reading/Literature Standards 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 3-1a, 3-1b, 3-2a, 3-2b, 3-4a, 3-4d, 3-4e, 3-4f, 3-5a, 3-5b, 3-5c, 4-1a, 4-2a, 4-2b, 4-3c, 4-4a, 4-4b, 5-1b, 5-1c, 5-2c, 5-2d

Writing/Grammar/Usage and Mechanics Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 2-1a, 2-1b, 2-1c, 2-2a, 2-5a, 2-5b, 2-7a, 2-7b, 2-7c, 2-7d, 2-8, 2-10

Grammar/Usage and Mechanics Standards

1b, 1c, 1d, 1i, 1j, 2a, 2b, 2b-I, 2b-ii, 2b-iii, 2b-iv, 2b-v, 2c, 3c, 3d

Oral Language/Listening and Speaking Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-4

October – November

Unit 1: Cliff-hanger, conflict, and suspense: Review and discuss elements of conflict, suspense, foreshadowing, inference, setting, external conflict, internal conflict, characters, dilemma, reversal, climax, and point of view.

Unit 2: Comedy

Review and discuss exaggeration, understatement, verbal irony, storyteller’s voice, satire, foreshadowing, situational irony, tone, slapstick, puns, jokes, and anecdotes.

Spelling Unit 2: French spelling patterns, adjective endings, Greek word parts, words from Greek, and science and technology words. Weekly spelling tests.

Writing Unit: Daily journal entries, writing a dialogue, writing persuasive paragraphs, writing an eyewitness account, writing a narrative with varying sentence structure, and writing a suspense-filled story.

Language and Vocabulary: Cliffhanger unit: Multiple meaning context, conjunctions, revision, figures of speech, end marks, gerunds and gerund phrases, general and precise words, verbs and verb phrases, repetition and wordiness, varying sentence length, allusions, archaic words, adverb clauses, simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentences, compound-complex sentence, independent clause, subordinate clause, reversed word order, and word analogies. Comedy unit: adverbs, puns, diction, elevated diction, context clues, dangling and misplaced modifiers, prefixes, narrative details, and word analogies.

Reading:

Students are expected to read chosen library books silently during appointed times in class daily. The week’s stories will be read aloud to the students by the teacher, as well as the reading test over the story given weekly. Book reports are due 6 weeks from the first day of the new nine weeks. This book report will be based on students reading a book from the Sequoyah list of books in our library. Book report format is the same as last 9 weeks’ report, however it will require more detail. Students will complete a self-evaluation survey to reflect on finished book report projects.

Reading/Literature Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3b, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 3-1a, 3-1b, 3-2a, 3-2b, 3-3a, 3-3b, 3-4a, 3- 4c, 3-4d, 3-4e, 3-4f, 3-5a, 3-5b, 3-5c, 4-1a, 4-2a, 4-2b, 4-3a, 4-3c, 4-4a, 4-4b, 4-4c, 5-1b, 5-1c, 5-1d, 5-2a, 5-2d, 5-2e

Writing/Grammar/Usage and Mechanics Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 2-1a, 2-1b, 2-1c, 2-2a, 2-3a, 2-3b, 2-3c, 2-5a, 2-5b, 2-5c, 2-7a, 2-7b, 2-7c, 2-7d, 2-8, 2-10, 3-1a, 3-1b, 3-1c, 3-1d, 3-1h, 3-1i, 3-1j, 3-2a, 3-2b, 3-2c, 3-3a, 3-3b, 3-3c, 3-3d

Oral Language /Listening and Speaking Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-4

Visual Literacy Standards

1-1, 1-2

December – January

Unit 3 – World of Fantasy – Wishes and Nightmares

Review and discuss mood, atmosphere, metamorphosis, symbol, cautionary tale, setting, fantasy, internal conflict, gimmick, onomatopoeia, fantasy world, point of view, chronological order, cause and effect, description, science fiction, character, plot, and conflict.

Unit 5: The Elements of Drama

Review and discuss the various elements of drama including crisis, conflict, climax, resolution, change, theme, dramatic irony, flashback, exposition, and characterization.

Spelling Unit 3: Latin roots, more related words, prefixes that tell position, more prefixes that tell position, and noun and verb endings. Weekly spelling tests.

Writing Unit: Daily journal entries, writing a poem, keeping a diary imitating the writer’s technique, writing a new ending, extending the story forward, extending the story backward, inventing and describing a machine, changing the narrator, using another point of view, extending the narrative, and writing a short story set in a Fantasy World. Unit 5: Writing a screenplay scene. We will also be preparing for state writing test by writing numerous essays of various types and discussing the entire writing process in depth.

Language and Vocabulary: Synonyms, antonyms, images, sentence fragments, clues to meaning, inference, noun clauses, word histories, participles and participial phrases, style, punctuation, adjectives, and word analogies.

Reading unit: Students are expected to read chosen library books silently during appointed times in class daily. The week’s stories will be read aloud to the students by the teacher, as well as the reading test over the story given weekly. Students will also be expected to read selections from the textbook for homework.

Reading/Literature Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-3b, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 3-1a, 3-1b, 3-2a, 4-2b, 3-3a, 3-3b, 3-4a, 3-4b, 3-4c, 3-4d, 3-4e, 3-4f, 3-5a, 3-5b, 3-5c, 4-1a, 4-1b, 4-2a, 4-2b, 4-3a, 4-3c, 4-4a, 4-4b, 4-4c, 5-1a, 5-1b, 5-1c, 5-1d, 5-2a, 5-2c, 5-2d, 5-2e

Writing/Grammar/Usage and Mechanics Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 2-2a, 2-2b, 2-2c, 2-5a, 2-5b, 2-5c, 2-6a, 2-6b, 2-7a, 2-7b, 2-7c, 2-7d, 2-8, 2-9, 2-10, 3-1b, 3-1f, 3-1h, 3-2a, 3-2b, 3-2c, 3-3a, 3-3b, 3-3c, 3-3d

Oral Language/Listening and Speaking Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4

2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5

February - March

Unit 7: The Elements of Nonfiction

Literary elements covered within this text are: biography, personal essay, facts, irony, sources, objective writing, theme, purpose, anecdote, character traits, images, accurate report, objective report, description, persuasion, emotional appeal, facts, statistics, main idea, nonfiction, inference, and thesis statement.

Unit 8: Myths, Folktales, and Historical Realities

Review and discuss myths, legends, folktales, tall tales, moral, quests, personality traits, Historical speeches, purpose, and audience.

Spelling Unit 4: More prefixes that tell position, more Greek word parts, words from other languages, and more related words. Weekly spelling tests.

Writing Unit: Daily journal entries, drawing a map, using another point of view, writing a character sketch, imitating the writer’s technique, writing an autobiographical excerpt, and responding to the report.

Language and Vocabulary: Modifiers, subordinate clauses, connotations, weak words and clichés, pronouns, images, meanings of names, direct quotations in reports, commas, descriptive words and phrases, and word analogies.

Reading Unit: Students are expected to read chosen library books silently during appointed times in class daily. The week’s stories will be read aloud to the students by the teacher, as well as the reading test over the story given weekly. Students will also be expected to read various selections from the text independently. A book report will be assigned and students will be given 6 weeks in which time they will read a biography or an autobiography. Students will write a book report, make note cards, dress up like the character they’ve read about, and give an oral presentation based on the life of that person.

Reading/Language Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-3b, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 3-1 (all), 3-2(all), 3-3(all), 3-4(all), 3-5(all), 4-1(all), 4-2 (all), 4-3(all), 4-4(all), 5-1(all), 5-2(all)

Writing/Grammar/Usage and Mechanics Standards

1(all), 2-1(all), 2-2(all), 2-3(all), 2-5(all), 2-6(all), 2-7(all), 2-8, 2-9, 2-10

Grammar/Usage and Mechanics Standards

1(all), 2(all), 3(all)

Oral Language/Listening and Speaking Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5

Visual Literacy Standards

1(all), 2(all) 3(all)

April – May

Unit 6: Elements of Poetry

Review and discuss sound effects, rhythm, meter, free verse, narrative poem, symbol, rhyme, rhyme scheme, end rhymes, internal rhymes, approximate rhymes, tone, multi-syllable rhyme, onomatopoeia, alliteration, refrains, atmosphere, setting, imagery, figures of speech, simile, metaphor, extended metaphor, implied metaphor, personification, allusion, lyric poem, exaggeration, and character.

Spelling Unit 5: Words from names, more Latin roots, noun endings – diminutives, more Latin roots, more words from other languages, and suffixes in combination. Weekly spelling tests.

Writing Unit: Daily journal entries, describing a memorable moment, writing a birthday poem, writing a poem, making up comparisons, devising impossible tasks, writing a humorous poem, writing an anecdote, writing a list poem, using repetition, writing a character sketch, using vivid similes, and creating images.

Language and Vocabulary: Inverted word order, homonyms, run-on sentences, dialect, spelling rhymes, context clues, precise verbs, onomatopoetic words, connotations, denotations, compound words, adjectives, abbreviated words, and word analogies.

Reading/Literature Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3a,b,c,d, 2-1, 2-2, 3-1a,b, 3-2a,b, 3-3a,b, 3-4a,b,c,d,e,f 3-5a,b,c, 4-1a,b, 4-2a,b, 4-3a,b,c, 4-4a,b,c, 5-1b,c,d, 5-2a,c,d,e

Writing/Grammar/Usage and Mechanics Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 2-4a,b,c, 2-5a,b,c, 2-6a,b, 2-7a,b,c,d, 2-10

Grammar/Usage and Mechanics Standards

1-1(all), 1-2(all), 1-3(all)

Oral Language/Listening and Speaking Standards

1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5