CURRICULUM MAP GRADE 8
BARRINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Semester One
Grade 8/Urban Setting: “It Happened in the City”/Quarter 1
Instructional Days
Essential Question: What does the urban setting contribute to these stories?
Unit Summary
Students explore characters and plots, but this unit takes a unique approach to examining how setting,
directly or indirectly, affects these story elements. Students work on citing textual evidence that reveals
the setting, analyze the effect of the setting on individuals and events, and create their own urban
setting.
This unit ends with an informative/explanatory essay in response to the essential question. “What does
the urban setting contribute to these stories?”
Skills (What Students need to be able to do)
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Compare and contrast story characters, plots, themes and settings from works about urban
America.
Distinguish between explicit and implicit ways of describing the effect of setting on characters,
plots, and themes.
Analyze the ways in which the structure of a work affects how the setting is conveyed.
Analyze different accounts of the same events.
Compare elements of (TBA) to other poetry and prose about the city of Chicago.
Write a scene of a short story that explores the effect of an urban setting.
Research urban settings and apply information to author’s craft.
Define the related words and identify their parts of speech (e.g., urban, urbanization, suburban;
city, citify; metropolitan, metropolis)
Texts
Informational Texts:
Nonfiction
Freedom Writers (Erin Gruwell)
The Building of Manhattan (Donald Mackay) (E)
Skyscraper (Lynn Curlee)
The New York Subways (Great Building Feats Series) (Lesley DuTemple)
New York (This Land is Your Land Series) (Ann Heinrichs)
September 11, 2001: Attach on New York City – Interviews and Accounts (Wilborn Hampton)
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September 11, 2001 (Cornerstones of Freedome, Second Series) (Andrew Santella)
The Great Fire (Jim Murphy) (TEACHER) (Library)
Literary Texts:
Stories
A Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories (Richard Peck)
So Yesterday ( )
Bronx Masquerade (Nikki Grimes) (TEACHER)
Individual Literary Discussion Text (ILDT)
The Outsiders (novel) (S.E. Hinton)
That Was Then, This is Now (novel) (S.E. Hinton)
The Skin I’m In (Sharon Flake)
Monster (Walter Dean Myers)
West Side Story/Romeo & Juliet
Short Stories
The Treasure of Lemon Brown (Prentice Hall grade 7 text)
The Umbrella Man and Other Stories (Roald Dahl)
America Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories (Anne Mazer, ed)
Bag in the Wind (Ted Koozer)
Poetry
Poem about Chicago, TBA to compare to The Great Fire (TEACHER)
Stone Bench in an Empty Park (Paul Janeczk)
Technically, It’s Not My Fault (John Grandits)
The Rose that Grew from Concrete (Tupac Shakur)
Locomotion (
Langston Hughes
Drama
Westside Story
Videos:
Stand and Deliver
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Technology in Society/Grade 8 /Quarter 2
Instructional Days:
Essential Question: What type of societies will emerge in the future?
Unit Summary
Like other genres studied to date, science fiction examines humanity, but often approaches characters
and experiences in a futuristic context. Science fiction involves the imagining of ideas and technologies
that haven’t yet been invented; however, many of them may comport with our current understanding of
science and technology. In addition to exploring classic and contemporary works of science fiction,
students pair fictional stories with informational texts about science, technology, and societal structure.
Students’ discussions trace the logic of various storylines, focusing on the believability of the stories
read in class. This unit ends with the students’ choice of writing an informative/explanatory essay in
response to the essential question: What makes science fiction believable?
Skills (What Students need to be able to do)
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Compare & contrast story the settings, characters, and unusual circumstances among science
fiction stories and describe the unique nature of this genre.
Analyze how a science fiction story addresses futuristic context.
Conduct research on technological innovation and present findings to class.
Compare and contrast fiction and nonfictional text and the ways in which the authors present
the topic of technology and society through his/her craft.
Compare and Contrast a radio play and a video for similarities and/or differences among
settings, characters, plots, and/or themes.
Create a setting of a believable science fiction short story.
Write a response to the essential question: How does technology impact society?
Texts:
Informational Texts:
Literary Texts:
“Classic” Science Fiction
A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Egnle) (E)
Dune (Frank Herbert)
The War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells)
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The Invisible Man (H. G. Wells)
I, Robot (Isaac Asimov)
Journey to the Center of the Earth (Enriched Classics) (Jules Verne)
Individual Literary Discussion Text (ILDT)
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm (Nancy Farmer)
The House of Scorpion (Nancy Farmer)
Giver (Lowis Lowry) - series
Among the Hidden (Shadow Children Series, #1) (Margaret Peterson Haddix)
Hunger Games (XXXX) - series
“Modern” Science Fiction
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) - series
The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury)
Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
Matched (Ally Condie) – series
The Dairy of Pelly D (L. J. Adlington)
Enclave (Ann Aguirre)
Animal Farm (George Orwell)
Short Stories/Drama
“The Pedestrian” (1951) (Ray Bradbury)
“All Summer in a Day” (Ray Bradbury) Prentice Hall grade 7 Textbook
“This Side of Paradise” (Excerpted from the play by Steven L. Layne, adapted by Michael Russo: READ
Magazine Vol. 52 No. 10, January 3, 2003
“The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” drama by Rod Serling
Videos:
War of the Worlds (Orson Welles, The Mercury Theater on Air, October 30, 1938) (updated version)
“The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” drama by Rod Serling
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
I, Robot (Isaac Asimov)
Discovery Education.com – Science fiction clip/Jules Verne
Twilight Zone – series of DVDs
Twilight Zone – “ From Agnes with Love”
Twilight Zone - “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” by Rod Serling
Poetry:
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Semester Two
Characters with Character/Grade 8/Quarter 3
Instructional Days
Essential Question: What makes characters in historical fiction believable?
Unit Summary
Skills (What Students need to be able to do)
 Compare & contrast story characters, plots, themes, & settings from stories about American
history.
 Analyze on how historical fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from
myths or traditional stories.
 Determine author’s point of view in two texts about the same topic and discuss the effect it has
on the work.
 Conduct research on a historical event of choice, followed by a multimedia report that includes
insights from historical fiction.
Texts:
Informational Texts:
Nonfiction
Medieval Europe
Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction (David Macaulay) (E)
The Medieval World (Philip Steele)
Manners and Customs in the Middle Ages(Marsha Groves)
Joan of Arc (Diane Stanley)
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (Mark Twain)
Outrageous Women of the Middle Ages (Vickie Leon)
The Horrible, Miserable Middle Ages: The Disgusting Details of Life During Medieval Times (Fact Finder:
Disgusting History Series) (Kathy Allen)
The Middle Ages: An Illustrated History (Oxford Illustrated Histories) (Barbara Hanawalt)
How Would You Survive in the Middle Ages(How Would You Survive … Stories) (Fiona MacDonald, David
Salariya, and Mark Peppe)
Eyewitness Books: Medieval Life (Andrew Langley)
Literary Texts:
Stories
Medieval Europe
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village (Laura Amy Schlitz)(TEACHER)
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Favorite Medieval Tales (Mary Pope Osborne)
The World of King Author and His Court: People, Places, Legend, and Lore (Kevin Crossley-Holland)
Anna of the Byzantium (Tracey Barrett)
Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess (Richard Platt and Chris Riddell)
The Seeing Stone (Arthur Trilogy, Book One) (Kevin Crossley-Holland)
Old English Riddle: From The Exeter Book (Michael Alexander)
Individual Literary Discussion Text (ILDT)
Adam of the Road (Elizabeth Janet Gray)
The Midwife’s Apprentice (Karen Cushman)
Crispin: the Cross of Lead (Avi)
Catherine Called Birdie (Karen Cushman)
A Single Shard (Linda Sue Park)
The Book of the Lion (Michael Cadnum)
Short Stories
Poetry
Videos
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The Road Not Taken/Grade 8/Quarter 4
Instructional Days
Essential Question: Can literature help us to define the greater good?
Unit Summary
The stage is set by Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.” Although students read from classic and
contemporary literature, writing and class discussion focus on how literature helps us define the tension
between the needs of the individual and the greater good of society. The goal of this unit is for student
not only to apply the reading, writing, speaking, and listening strategies and skills they have learned up
to this point in the year, but also to analyze how authors use allegory, symbolism, and satire to affect
the reader.
Skills (What Students need to be able to do)
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Read and discuss a variety of novels that reveal, explicity or implicty, “the greater good.”
Experiment with performing poetry in a variety of styles and discuss how these changes affect
its interpretation.
Compare and contrast characters, plots, themes, settings, and literary techniques used in the
stories read.
Analyze how writing styles and literary techniques, such as symbolism or satire, are used and
how their use affects meaning and reader engagement.
Write a variety of responses to literature and informational text.
Texts:
Informational Texts:
Nonfiction
Literary Criticim
“Robert Frost, Poet of Action” (James McBride Dabbs)
Literary Texts:
Stories
I, Juan de Pareja (Elizabeth Borton de Trevino)
Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift)
The Sea-Wolf (Jack London) (Oxford World’s Clasics Edition)
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Stargirl (Jerry Spinelli)
The Color of My Words (Lynn Joseph)
The Chocolate War Robert Comier
Individual Literary Discussion Text (ILDT) – Nonfiction
Students will choose their own nonfiction text (bibiliography, memoir) about a person who has
somehow contributed to the greater good in society. For example:
Righteous Gentile: The Story of Raoul Wallenberg, Missing hero of the Holocaust
I am a Seal Team Six Warrior: Memories of an American Soldier (Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen
Templin)
Let for Dead (Pete Nelson)
Free the Children: A Young Man Fights aAgainst Child Labor and Proves That Children Can Change the
World (Craig Kielberger)
Gloria Steinen: Feminsist ExtrodaordinaireI (Caroline Lazo)
Claudette Clovin (Phillip Hoose)
Short Stories
Poetry
“The Road Not Taken” (Robert Frost) (E)
“Nothing Gold Can Stay” (Robert Frost) (E)
Things I have to Tell You: Poems and Writing by Teenage GirlsI (Betsy Franco)
Art, Music, and Media
Art – Diego Velazques, Juan de Pareja (1650)
Art – Artiemisia Gentileschi, Self-Portriat as the Allegory of Painting (1638-1639)
Film – Charles Sturridge, dir., Gulliver’s Travels (1996)
Film – Michael Curiz, dir., The Sea Wolf (1941)
Film – The Chocolate War
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CURRICULUM MAP GRADE 8
BARRINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS
COMMON CORE CLUSTERS AND STANDARDS
Curriculum ELA grade8 Barrington.docx
Semester One
READING INFORMATIONAL
 Cite text evidence. RI.8.1
 Determine, analyze and summarize a central idea of a text. RI.8.2
 Analyze how a text makes connections and distinctions among individuals, ideas, or
events RI.8.3
 Determine word meaning as it is used in a text. RI.8.3
 Analyze text structure. RI.8.5
 Determine and analyze the author’s point of view. RI.8.6
 Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums to present an
idea. RI.8.7
 Delineate and evaluate the argument and claims in a text. RI.8.8
 Analyze two or more texts that provides conflicting information. RI.8.9
 Read and comprehend literary nonfiction with 955-1155 lexile band. RI.8.10
QUARTER ASSESSMENT
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Q1 On demand –
response to text
Q1 Quarterly
assessment
Response to
scientific text
WRITING
 Write arguments to support claims on a nonfiction topic. W.8.1
 Write informative text. W.8.2
 Produce writing appropriate to task. W.8.4
 Plan revise, edit and rewrite. W.8.5
 Use technology to produce, publish, and link writing collaboratively. W.8.6
 Conduct research to answer a focused question using several sources. W.8.7
 Gather, cite, quote, paraphrase information following a standard format. W.8.8
 Draw evidence from informational texts to support research. W.8.9
 Write for a variety of tasks, purposes and audiences W.8.10 (Complete two ondemand and one portfolio piece (argument)
SPEAKING AND LISTENING
 Analyze the purpose and evaluate motives of information in diverse media. SL.8.2
 Delineate speaker’s argument, claims, soundness, relevance and sufficiency. SL.8.3
 Present claims with focus, evidence, reasoning, and details using effective delivery.
SL.8.4
 Integrate multimedia and visual displays in presentations. SL.8.5
 Adopt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks. SL.8.6
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Midterm
Assessment of
Learning
Q2 On demand
report of personal
knowledge
Q2 Argument
LANGUAGE
 Demonstrate command of the conventions standard English and grammar and
usage. L.8.1
 Demonstrate command of the convention of standard English capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling when writing. L.8.2
 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or
listening. L.8.3
 Determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words. L.8.4
 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances
in word meaning. L.8.5
 Acquire general academic and domain specific vocabulary. L.8.6
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COMMON CORE CLUSTERS AND STANDARDS
Curriculum ELA grade8 Barrington.docx
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READING LITERARY
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QUARTER ASSESSMENT
Cite text evidence. RL.8.1
Determine and analyze theme; summarize text. RL.8.2
Analyze how dialogue or events propel action, reveal characters; or provoke
decisions. RL.8.3
Determine word meaning and analyze the impact of word choice. RL.8.4
Compare and contrast the structure of two or more text. RL.8.5
Analyze how points of view create effects such as suspense or humor. RL.8.6
Analyze how much a film/live productions stays faithful or departs from text.
Evaluate choices made by director. RL.8.7
Analyze how modern text draws from text of the past. RL.8.8
Read and comprehend literature in the 955-1155 lexile band. RL.8.9
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Q3 Quarterly
assessment of
learning
Q3 On-demand
narrative
Semester Two
WRITING
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Write arguments to support claims on a literary topic. W.8.1
Write personal narrative. W.8.3
Produce writing appropriate to task. W.8.4
Plan revise, edit and rewrite. W.8.5
Use technology to produce, publish and link writing collaboratively. W.8.6
Draw evidence from literary text support analysis and reflection. W.8.9
Write for a variety of tasks, purposes and audiences W.8.10 (Complete two
on-demand and two portfolio piece (personal narrative and literary
argument)
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SPEAKING AND LISTENING
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Engage in effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. SL.8.1
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LANGUAGE
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Demonstrate command of the conventions standard English and grammar
and usage. L.8.1
Demonstrate command of the convention of standard English capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling when writing. L.8.2
Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking,
reading, ir listening. L.8.3
Determine the meaning if unknown and multiple-meaning words. L.8.4
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and
nuances in word meaning. L.8.5
Acquire general academic and domain specific vocabulary. L.8.6
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Final assessment of
learning
Q4 On-demand
argument – literary
Q4 Mathematical
argument
10