1 - 3-inch 3-ring notebook
10 dividers
2 - packages 3/5 note cards
1 - large package loose leaf paper
1 - zipper pouch
2 - ink pens (blue or black ink)
1 - red pen
4 - different colors of hi-liters
3 - packages of small sticky notes
2 - pencils

ORGANIZE YOUR DIVIDERS THIS WAY:

Drama
Essays/Essay Writing
Handouts & Notes
Literary Terms (Rhetorical Devices)
Reader's Notebook
Research
STAAR Review
Vocabulary Notebook
Word Study
Writer's Notebook

LATE WORK GUIDELINES

3 Strikes Rule:

Strike 1 - 1 day late = -10
Strike 2 - 2 days late = -20
Strike 3 - 3 days late = -30
*If not turned in on 3rd day = 0

MAKING UP WORK = 1 day for every day absent

*ACCELERATED READING
--Students are required to take 1 AR test a 6 weeks.
--Students may take several AR tests each 6 weeks.
--One grade will be given for AR tests, based on the percentage of questions right on AR tests.
--AR points will be amassed for AR store after the 3rd and 6th weeks of the 6 weeks and for the end-of-year field trip.

FIRST SIX WEEKS--CSCOPE CURRICULUM

ANALYZING FICTION AND DRAMA

--Exploring Short Fiction

--Exploring Drama

--Exploring the Novel

The ELA class period will be divided into several things throughout the six weeks:

SSR--Silent Sustained Reading

GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE--Grammar review & study

WORD STUDY--Vocabulary study - Vocabulary Notebook; origins of words; Latin & Greek roots and affixes; analogies; using context clues

WRITING--Writer's Notebook

LITERATURE--Reader's Notebook

LITERARY CONCEPTS COVERED THE FIRST SIX WEEKS:

--Plot = what the story is about, from beginning to end
--Setting = when & where the story takes place
--Characters = who is the story about; major & minor characters
--Theme = what lesson about life is learned
--Conflict = problems
--Rising Action = what happens leading up to the most exciting part of the story
--Climax = the high point of the story
--Falling action = what happens leading from the climax to the conclusion
--Resolution = conclusion; denouement
--Dialogue = what the characters say
--Point of View = perspective = from whose point of view is the story told
--First Person Point of View = the narrator is in the story & is telling the story; advantages of
--Third Person Point of View = the narrator is telling the story but he/she is not in the story; advantages of
--Omnisicent Point of View - the narrator knows all & sees into the minds & lives of all characters; advantages of
--Limited Point of View -- the narrator restricts his knowledge to one character's view or behavior; advantages of
--Tone = the writer's or narrator's attitude
--Protagonist = the story's main character
--Antagonist = opposition to the main character
--Subjective writing = the writer gives his/her opinions on a subject
--Objective writing = action and words are revealed but not the writer's opinions about them
--Literal, Interpretive, evaluative & universal questions of text
--Summarizing & synthesizing; making textual, personal & world connections: creating sensory images
--Making complex inferences about text & using textual evidence to support understanding
--Staging
--Types of Conflict -- Man vs. self, Man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. machine, man vs society
--Similes & extended metaphors & their effects in literary text

--WRITING

--planning a first draft, choosing an appropriate organizational strategy (the pattern an author constructs as he organizes his or her ideas & provides supporting details)
--using appropriate voice (articulation or expression in coherent form)
--revising drafts to clarify meaning, enhance style, use effective transitions, use variety in sentence structures & diction, to form consistent points of view, & to ensure vivid images
--editing drafts for grammar, mechanics & spelling
--reviewing & using a range of literary strategies--hyperbole (exaggeration), irony (things turning out differently than what is expected), oxymoron (opposites placed next to each other (jumbo shrimp)
--Style -- the way something is written, in contrast to its content; the manner of expression of the writer produced by choice of words, grammatical structures, use of literary devices & all of the possible parts of language use; style is more about how it is written than what is written.

GRAMMAR

--Phrase--a group of related words that does not include a subject or verb
--Clause--a group of related words that contains a subject and a verb
--Adjectival phrase--a prepositional or participial phrase that acts like an adjective & modifies a noun or a pronoun
--Adjectival clause--a group of words with a subject and a verb that acts as an adjective by describing a noun or pronoun
--Relative pronouns--who, whom, whose, which, that)--usually introduce the adjectival clause but they may also begin with relative adverbs (when, where, why)
--Adverbial phrase--a prepositional phrase that modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb
--Adverbial clause--a dependent clause beginning with a subordinate conjunction that acts as an adverb by modifying a verb, adjective or other adverb
--Subordinating conjunctions--conjunctions that introduce a depedent clause and connects it to an independent clause
--Complex sentences --sentences with one independent clause & at least one dependent clause
--Independent clause--a clause containing a subject and a verb that can stand alone as a complete sentence; also called a main clause
--Subordinate clause--a clause that has a subject and ver but cannot stand alone to make sense as a sentence; it needs to be attached to an independent clause to make sense; also called a dependent clause
--Pronoun antecedents--a noun that a pronoun refers to

NOTE: The CSCOPE curriculum for 8th graders is the same for all 8th graders. Through the use of CSCOPE, it has been determined that students will be prepared for the new STAAR tests. Differentiation takes place with the use of different pieces of literature & different activities used.