The students are currently working on the following standards, skills, and activities. This list can take several days or weeks to complete. The students' learning pace and mastery of the skills determine how long standards/skills and activities are taught. The majority of the language arts standards/skills are taught in a prerequisite manner. Prerequisite simply means that a student must master/learn certain skills before they can move on to master others.
STANDARD(S)
-See 8th Grade Language Arts Georgia Performance Standards http://www.georgiastandards.org/index.aspx
-CRCT Practice Site: WWW.linkstolearning (user name: ga, password: temp)
WRITING
During the next few months, the class will be learning to write expository and persuasive writing pieces. Students will take a writing test in January. Your student will write a persuasive or expository essay that either meets or exceeds expectations. Learning to write correctly takes practice and time. Most assignments will be completed in class; however, they may occasionally have a homework assignment. (See also grammar)
The following writing activities are used to teach, enhance, and prepare students for writing.
Writing Activity #1: "A Strong Vocabulary Builds Writing Skills” is an idea geared toward increasing students' writing skills and writing test scores. The lack of a strong and varied vocabulary can have a profound affect on how well the student can communicate at his or her expected grade level. Students are assigned fifteen spelling words on Monday; the student is required to use at least eight of the fifteen assigned spelling words to complete writing prompt. The student may change the form of the words by using prefixes and suffixes.
Writing Activity #2: Students will practice writing a three or five paragraph essay to include a thesis statement and supportive sentences, sub-topic, or points.
-Spelling words are issued every Monday, unless other wised announced in class (NO EXCEPTIONS). If school is closed on a Monday, then the word list will be distributed on Tuesday. The spelling test will be given every Friday (ALWAYS, UNLESS ANNOUNCED during CLASS). Students will also be tested on the definition of each word. Students who are absent on the day of the test, should be prepared to take the spelling and vocabulary test on the day they return to school. THE STUDENT MUST LEARN TO SPELL EACH WORD AND ITS DEFINITION.
********Students will not be issued spelling words on Monday, October 19th or the 26th. Students will be issued a list of prepositions on Oct. 19th and a list of trasitional words on Oct. 26th. Students should learn each list and be prepared to take tests on both list.
***** The preposition test will be given on Monday, October 26th and the transitional word test will be gven on Friday, October 30th.
CHAPTER 1, 2, and 3
(1)Parts of Speech: noun, pronoun, adjective, and (3) Parts of Speech: verbs, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection
******Additional Grammar, Literature or Reading Skills being taught
Students are learning to combine short choppy sentences to make sentences that are more complex.
Reading Skills being taught
Comprehension and vocabulary development is enhanced through the AR (Accelerated Reading) Program and Literature stories and activities
LITERATURE Lessons
Stories from the literature book are read as a whole class and independently. All literature activities are evaluated using several post testing instruments.
On-going Story: Check with your student as to the story being read in class. Students may be assigned to read the story in advance.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
-Homework is assigned to assist students in preparing for tests and developing skills. Spelling homework is due no later than Thursday. Any Spelling homework submitted on Friday, will receive a grade of 50%. All other homework is due on the day announced in class. Students are encouraged to complete their spelling homework on the day the words are distributed. The homework is designed to help the student prepare for the spelling vocabulary test on Friday.
***Weekly Spelling Assignment...Write three synonyms (words that mean the same) for each spelling word and at least two-three antonyms (opposite word) for each word. Spelling homework is due the following day (Tues). The homework will not be accepted after Friday of that week.
2. GRAMMAR HOMEWORK
A. Grammar homework will be assigned throughout the week. I cannot give you or the student a specific date for the assignment. Grammar homework is assigned after a skill(s) has been introduced, taught, and practiced in class. Grammar workbook pages are distributed sporadically or when the direct teaching of a skill is completed. Asking your student if he/she has more than spelling homework to study or complete will ensure that the student completes the assigned homework
Task...Grammar Homework may include but is not limited to pages from the grammar workbook and writing activities. Students who do not complete the assigned grammar book pages should bring the assignment to class. Failing to bring the incomplete grammar homework to class results in the student not being able to practice the assigned skill. Practice is necessary.
GRADING Policy
The Muscogee County School System is Grading Policy: A=100-90, B=89-80, C=79-70, F=69-0
Grades are weighted according to the following scale.
-Grammar Assignments/Activities: 20%
-Writing Assignments/Activities: 15%
-Literature Assignment/Activities: 20%
-Spelling Assignment/Activities: 20%
-Homework Assignment/Activities: 10%
-AR The # of books Read 10%
-AR the % Correct 5%
Total: 100%
****Graded Papers
Students are given their graded papers as they are graded. Students are encouraged to share their papers with a parent(s)/guardian. Parents can gather a great deal of information about their child's academic ability, work habits, classroom performance, and study habits. I encourage parents to use the graded papers as a means of helping their student make better grade. Using the graded papers to punish a student before giving assistance is inappropriate and does not work in most instances. You can help your student by having him/her correct the items he /she may have missed on the graded paper. Having the student correct or redo missed items will help the parent discover their student's weaknesses and strength. The parent will discover if the student is in need of parental assistance, tutoring, positive/negative encouragement or if the student is being very irresponsible.
Students should be reading for 30-45 minutes each night. All students should have at least two AR
Books. (Please monitor your student's reading habits and make sure they are meeting the required reading goal. Students are required to read a minimum of four AR books during the 2nd Nine Week grading period. Beginning October 26th only chapeter books leveled at 5.5 and above can be used toward a student's AR goal. Sports, hip-hop, and books below 5.5 are not counted toward the student's AR goal. Students are encouraged to read AR books that satisfy the required AR goal before reading for pleasure. Books can also be checked out from the public library. If a student takes an AR test on a book that does not meet the requirements of the AR program, the book will be deleted from the student's final Nine Week AR report. AR counts 15% of the student's Language Arts grade. The student must make 80% on the AR test.
Please expect and continue to encourage your student to do his/her best in school ENCOURAGE, ENCOURAGE, ENCOURAGE, ENCOURAGE AND ENCOURAGE, ASSIST, ASSIST, ASSIST, ASSIST, AND ASSIST.
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