8th GRADE

During 8th grade Literary Arts, students are prepared for the expectations of high school while continuing to develop their own voice and refine their writing ability in all forms. They will be expected to produce longer and more challenging works and higher standards will be placed on spelling and grammatical ability.

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Our 8th grade Literary Arts program meets all Common Core standards. Those standards can be found here.

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In addition to Common Core standards, our students will be expected to meet the following goals and expectations:

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- Practice 30 minutes of vocabulary each week.

- Practice 30 minutes of technical writing skills each week.

- Read two challenging chapter books each trimester with a 2 - 4 page book report.

- Write a three page (minimum) creative writing story each trimester.

- Read one chapter book each trimester for class discussion.

- Write (2) research papers. Each three pages (minimum) in length.

- Write two journalism articles per trimester.

- Field trips to newspapers or magazines.

- How to write proper emails and compelling texts.

- Write (3) news story summaries each trimester.

- Type 40 - 60 wpm by the end of the year.

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Texts will continue to be thematic in nature with a greater expectation of analysis and subjective understanding. 8th grade Literary Arts emphasizes on journalism and technical writing.

Students will read texts from many conflicting voices and respectfully debate the merits of each work. They will study the effects of propaganda and it's negative effects on society (especially concerning social media). They will be expected to write from many different viewpoints and challenge themselves to look beyond their peer group and internal prejudices to gain a deeper understanding of complex societal and cultural issues.

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