Welcome Back to School!!!
8th Grade Black Bear English
Mrs. Owens
503
Agenda
Grading, Homework, and Late Work
Expectations
 Major Units Covered
 Ongoing Units

Grading
Point system
 All assignments receive at least 2 points.
 Grade updates are available on the online
portal

Homework
Expect occasional homework.
Projects given over a period of time.
 If absent students may see their homework
posted on my website:
http://www.scasd.org/parkforestmiddle
 Quizzes, Tests and other due dates are also
posted on the webpage.


Team Homework Policy
If you miss a homework assignment, you must
attend the Black Bear HW that day.
 If you miss 3 homework assignments total: you
are required to attend homework club for a day.
 You then start over at: none
 Miss HW Club-you are assigned a lunch
detention.

Late Work Policy





Work is expected to be turned in on time.
Late homework receives 1/2 credit.
Late projects and major writings receive one
letter grade lower for each day late.
“One Day Extensions”
Exceptions to the rule.
Major Units Covered:
All units fall under the title “In Search Of…”
• Themes focus on Making Choices
• The following are the units which may be taught
throughout the 8th grade year.
•
Who am i?

Main focus: defining the real
you

Required reading:Various short
stories, poems and essays.
“Flowers for Algernon” by
Daniel Keyes
Major writing: poem,
Expository Essay


Teenage Brain: What’s going on up
there
Focus: General information
about brain development,
sleep, multitasking, stress,
stereotypes, and decision
making
Required Reading: Non-Fiction
articles
Major Writing: Responses on
the areas of the study &
the literature selection
Billy Joel Project
Interdisciplinary with
social studies
 Based on Billy Joel’s
“We Didn’t Start the
Fire”
 Research based
 Will read a novel of
their time period
 Group work for most
to create a time period
blog..

The main event
Main focus: value of
teams
 Required reading:
choice sports novel
 Major writing: news
article; expository
essay

Mysteries




Focus: Genre Study and
searching for answers
Required Reading: And then
there were none by agatha
christie; down the rabbit hole
by peter abrahams
Additional reading: short
stories; short plays
Major writing: Literary analysis
Beyond Me
Focus: looking beyond
yourself; giving
Required Reading: A
Christmas Carol by
Charles Dickens
Major Writing: Persuasive
essay
heroes
Main focus: who
should be our heroes?
 Required reading:
Short Stories, poems,
essays, a choice
biography
 Major Writing:
Expository essay on a
hero

Perfect Worlds
Focus: Can there be perfect
societies? Making choices
Required Reading: The Hunger
Games by suzanne collins; The
Giver by Lois Lowery; Animal
Farm by George Orwell
Major Writing: Utopian
Community
Tolerance & Acceptance
Focus: Tolerance;
Required Reading: To Kill a Mockingbird
Major Writing: Reflective Journals/Research writings
Extra Units

The following are units we will do if we
have time this year!!
Decisions, Decisions




Focus: Decision making
Required reading:Various
short stories, poems and
essays.
Touching Spirit Bear by
Ben Mikealsen
Major Writing: Journal
responses
Justice
Focus: accepting responsibility
Required Reading: “Twelve
Angry Men” by Reginald
Rose
Major Writing:
Compare/Contrast
Who are you?
Focus-defining yourself as a person; a
learner; a reader & a writer
choice Reading: Finding Forrester;
Flipped; Drums, Girls & Danergous
Pie
Major Writing: Personality profile;
moment in time
Grammar & Vocabulary
•
•
On going throughout the year.
Topics include: review 8 parts
of speech; parts of the
sentence; subjects &
predicates; fragments and runons; prepositional phrases;
participial phrases; and
sentence combining.
•
•
•
•
On going throughout the
year.
A couple of weeks “on” a
couple “off.”
Exercises include: synonyms
& antonyms; analogies; using
the word correctly.
Texts:Vocabulary from latin
and greek roots