"Let the door to mind be opened that learning may enter.   For learning is the lamp which lights the way toward understanding." - anonymous

8th Grade English

Emphasis will be on developing strong writing skills. Students will practice writing clear, well-organized paragraphs.  We will use the 6-traits model for writing: ideas, word choice, voice, organization, sentence fluency, and conventions, with an emphasis on organization and sentence fluency.

Students are encouraged to become involved at all steps of the writing proces including evaluating their writing pieces and reflecting on areas for improvement.

Students will be given frequent opportunities to write in response to a variety of good literature: novels, short stories, biographies, and poems.

During the year in addition to reading stories, essays, and poems from the literature anthology, Adventures for Readers, we will also read the following novels:  A Christmas Carol, *Farewell to Manzanar, *I Have Lived a Thousand Years, and Across Five Aprils.

*autobiographies

Read Mr. Heaton's Quote of the Week.

Return to Mr. Heaton's Classroom.