Students are actively engaged in reading, analyzing and writing about a variety of texts. They also study the etymology of both academic and content vocabulary and practice their speaking skills through presentations and dramatic performances. There a variety of units including one on dystopian societies which students explore through novels such as George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984, Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games and Lois Lowry's The Giver. Other units explore biographical research, poetry and more!
Students build on the skills they gain in seventh grade while exploring all types of literature including titles like Daniel Keyes' heartbreaking Flowers for Algernon. Other novels include Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Jack London's Call of the Wild. Students develop their writing through persuasive, biographical and literary analysis essays. Compositions vary in length from one paragraph up to five pages and many require students to support their opinions with quotes from their novel as well as outside research. We love seeing how much progress students make from the beginning of the year to the end. They realize that their opinions are important and that they can convince others if they write or speak effectively.
