Eighth Grade Language Arts
Curriculum Presentation
South Charlotte Middle School
September 11, 2014
Growth Expectations for Eighth
Graders
•To make routine decisions concerning materials
necessary for class
•To prepare for the transition to ninth grade and
beyond
•To recognize the difference between a quality product
and one that is mediocre
•To accept responsibility for the learning process and
behavior
Eighth Grade Academic
Expectations
All S.C.M.S. eighth graders are expected to:
• Meet local promotion requirements
• Score at grade level or above on end-of-year assessments.
Ninth Grade Recommendations:
• Recommendations above current level are only
given to students who have consistently
maintained a grade of “B” or better in the class.
Tutoring:
• We are preparing your child to be successful at the
high school level and with the ELA Common Core
State Standards. In the event your child requires
additional instruction, tutoring is available on a
weekly basis.
Weekly Tutoring
Opportunities
Your child can attend any of the following
tutoring sessions:
•Mondays at 7:30 a.m. with Mrs. Yasurek
•Tuesdays at 7:30 a.m. with Mr. Gross
•Thursdays at 7:30 a.m. with Mrs. Estro
Please make sure your child knows why he or
she is attending tutorial.
Professional Learning Community
We work as a team – a true Professional Learning Community. As a
department and grade level, we meet frequently to plan lessons that challenge
your child to think critically about text. We collaborate to create assessments
that measure student comprehension and determine when to provide
remediation and/or enrichment.
To achieve our shared goal of ensuring ALL students succeed at South
Charlotte Middle School, we have a common planning period that fosters a
more collaborative learning environment. While our teaching styles may differ,
we have the same expectations for our students.
As the parent of an eighth grader, you should expect to find the following
happening regularly in your child’s language arts class:
-vocabulary instruction
-outside research
-"Article of the Week" assignments
-daily grammar practice
-novel studies
-lots of writing
"Article of the Week" Assignment
Students are assigned a new article each Monday.
They have until Friday to complete the following
tasks:
1) Students must perform a close read of the
article. We have already taught your child how
to perform a close read. They have a handout
(in their binder / notebook) that outlines the
strategies.
2) If included, students must also respond to the
text-dependent (comprehension) questions.
3) Students must reflect on the topic by
responding to one of the post-reading
questions provided. (Minimum length = one
page)
Daily Grammar Practice (D.G.P.)
Grammar instruction in the eighth grade classroom occurs daily.
All students at South Charlotte have been provided with a
composition book for their daily grammar practice (D.G.P.),
responses to literature (writing), and grammar notes.
A week of D.G.P. typically looks like this:
Day 1: Identify the part of speech for all the words in this week’s
sentence.
Day 2: Identify the word functions (subject, predicate, phrases,
objects).
Day 3: Identify sentence kind and type. Then, add capitalization
and
punctuation—as necessary—to the sentence.
Day 4: Diagram this week’s sentence.
Sample sentence:
“good readers compare and contrast the structure of two or
more texts and then they analyze the structure of each text for
meaning and style”
The sentences are never random. They generally pertain to the
8th Grade Novels
Select "Dystopian" Novels (All classes will begin literature circles
in September.)
Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different by Karen Blumenthal
(We will start this text with all classes in October.)
Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson (All classes)
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (Yasurek 1, Estro 1 and
3, Gross 3 and 4)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Yasurek 3 and 4, Estro 4,
Gross 1)
*All novels are available for purchase tonight at the
South Charlotte Book Fair.
Did you know?
Video Games: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/
The average boy spends ~13 hours a week playing video games. When a child
plays more than six hours a week, academic achievement suffers. Most are
sleep deprived. Video games also promote short attention spans. (*Sleep
deprivation mimics ADHD perfectly.)
Online Websites:
Programs such as Webroot and CyberPatrol (http://www.cyberpatrol.com/)
allow parents to track the amount of time a child spends on sites such as
Facebook.
Cell Phones:
Mymobilewatchdog.com allows parents to monitor the photographs sent and
received on a child’s cell phone. Have you considered a cell phone curfew?
Source: Dr. Leonard Sax
Communication
Email:
francesj.estro@cms.k12.nc.us
sharon.furr@cms.k12.nc.us
williamb.gross@cms.k12.nc.us
alisa.wright@cms.k12.nc.us
Edmodo:
www.edmodo.com
Teacher Websites:
http://schools.cms.k12.nc.us/southcharlotteMS/Pages/FacultyAnd
Staff.aspx
Thank You for
Coming!
We are looking forward to working
with you and your child this year!