8th Grade ELA 2020-8-3 (periods 7-8) Assignments

Read/listen to "All Summer in a Day."   Answer comprehension questions.

Read "Born Worker" and answer comprehension questions

Read/watch "Stop the Sun" and reflect by answering the attached questions.

Read and/or listen to "The Lady or the Tiger" answer comprehension questions

Use "Piper" and "Snack Attack" to review plotting.  Fill out the plot review worksheet.


Read/listen to "The Story of an Hour" and define the plot points on the plot outline worksheet.

Watch 4D important tips and advice.  Refocus on the screenplay.  Provide the newest plot, continue screenplay development.

Read through common film mistakes, watch the video.
See dramatic, lesson teaching video.
Attempt to finish your script before filming starts. 

Watch "I'll wait for the Next One" and review with "Part 4 - Punchline Films"


Review mystery details and watch "The Last Note"


Continue drafting screenplay and submit the latest draft.

Review the three-minute video "Porcelain Unicorn" video.  Next, view the explanation between story and plot. Answer story/plot questions.


Watch the script formating film, begin writing

Read/watch "A Dream Deferred" answer comprehension questions.


Read/watch "La Luna" answer symbolism questions.


Watch "How to Write a Short Film - Part 1."  Generate ideas for a short film.

Amplify Poetry subunit 2, lesson 2.
Write a repeated refrain "Those Middle School Thursdays" based on "Why am I so black and blue."
Review sonnets 18 and 130
Answer comprehension questions
Create parts of poems

Amplify Poetry Subunit 2, lesson 1
Read background on Robert Hayden, view "Middle Passage"
Watch "The pleasure of poetic pattern"
Using examples of alliteration and assonance, give three examples of each.
AR reading.

Amplify subunit 1, lesson 3. Write a six-line example of a slowdown in action "full-court press."


Watch/read Robert Frost and Dr. Suess.  Examine the rhyming words list.  Read Langston Hughes, see the rhyming scheme.  Try a mimic poem of "Dreams."

Amplify poetry subunit 1, lesson 2.
Listen to April Rain Song by Langston Hughes
Write a mimic poem similar to April Rain Song
Complete Amplify Grammar subunit 2, lesson 3

The two lessons are a review of adjective and adverb modifiers.   In amplify Grammar, sub-unit 2, lesson 1&2, parts 2- 5.  Do not do parts 1 or 6. 
Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns: enormous, doglike, silly, yellow, fun, fast. They can also describe the number of nouns: many, few, millions, eleven.
An adverb is a word that modifies (describes) a verb (he sings loudly), an adjective (very tall), another adverb (ended too quickly), or even a whole sentence (Fortunately, I had brought an umbrella). Adverbs often end in -ly, but some (such as fast) look exactly the same as their adjective counterparts.



When complete AR read.  Finish math mate or other homework.

Intro to poetry.  Amplify Poetry, subunit 1, lesson1.  Write a haiku and submit as a google doc.

Read/listen to Langston Hughes' "Thank you, ma'am."  Answer the comprehension questions.  Rewrite the redundant sentences in the writing exercise.

Read/listen to "The Medicine Bag" answer comprehension questions.  
AR reading/testing

Read/read along with "the Scholarship Jacket."  Answer the comprehension questions.  Work the character development worksheet.

Read and listen to "The Treasure of Lemon Brown."  Answer comprehension questions.  Develop a secondary character for a new or existing story.

In amplify, complete grammar subunit 1, lesson 1.  For writing (part 6), use the sentence fragment sheet below to identify complete sentences and sentence fragments. 
When complete, read your AR book, and/or take an AR test.

Review submissions.  Watch the detail videos.  Continue writing on your prompt.

Review evidence for essay topic on the space race.

Stephen King and J. K. Rowling, both very successful authors, approach writing their plots very differently.  King allows his characters to create the story organically.  Rowling plans out everything before she starts to write.  watch the videos and take note of the different ways that they approach  developing a story. 

Identify plot points of a story through film.  Review plot elements using pixar, then identify points in the short clip "Lifted"

Take 8F The Space Race reading comprehension test.

Review chosen topic. Research topics. Develope thesis statement.

Work through the thesis statement worksheet - both constructing and de-constructing thesis statements.

Essay topics
Was animal testing necessary during the Space Race?

How did Katherine Johnson and the other women who worked with her at NASA impact the Space Race?

Who won the space race?

Using either your cosmonaut or astronaut from Friday (found in 3:1, parts 4 and 5), use the unique information that you found to write a short blog (a short first person story) imagining their experience. We will share tomorrow.
In the Amplify solo - read/listen to “You Are Here” from Pale Blue Dot and compare to the following reading of “First to Fly” from Into That Silent Sea - Yuri Gagarin's first trip to space.
If you cannot access Amplify, write your blog on a google doc and share with me at [email protected]

Determine topic, begin conducting research, determine thesis statement

First we will do our monthly AR test
Next we will use our Holocaust essay example to examine the use of a thesis statement
Watch the video
Do the exercise

Read and/or watch the short film "The Lottery"
Answer comprehension questions
Engage with the creative writing prompt on character development

Read or watch O. Henry's "The Cactus"
Answer comprehension questions.
Engage with creative writing prompt.

Read or watch Poe's The Cask of Amontillado. Answer the attached questions to analyze the short story. Work through the creative writing exercises.

Read or watch the video of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi." Look for character description.
Answer the related six questions on a google doc. Make sure your name is on the doc. Share with Mr. B.

Look at the character photos. Choose on to describe and give life to. Follow the prompts to create a scene. Share with Mr.B.

Essay Prompt:
The Holocaust did not happen overnight. As the Nazis laid the groundwork for what would eventually become known as the Holocaust, they used a number of strategies to isolate, oppress, and control the Jewish population of Europe, and to convince others to go along with their plan.

Choose at least two of the strategies that stood out to you as you explored this unit. Using examples from the texts and images you analyzed, describe each strategy and the impact it had.

This is an informational essay - so we need no counter-argument. Three body paragraphs, an introduction and conclusion.

End of unit play (optional)

At the end of each Amplify unit, we write an essay. You can (if you chose) write a play instead. You can work in groups of up to three people. It would be due at the same time as the essay final. It does not have to be Shakespearian in any way.

Remember that plays are heavily dependent on dialogue. Except for minimal stage direction (like Enter Romeo), scripts are exclusively speaking parts.

Goals for the play would be at least five minutes of performance time, there must be a plot, and some sort of theme would be nice.

Amplify 8E, sub unit 1, lesson 1

Reading comprehension and essay questions
You will have the entire class period. Please have your AR reading for when the assessment is complete.

Develop an argumentative essay on the following prompt:
Did the power of love contribute more to Romeo’s death or were the forces of hatred more of an influence on Romeo’s death, or both?
We will be looking for two supporting paragraphs and one paragraph anticipating the opposing argument, plus intro and conclusion.

Turn in a rough draft of your essay

The attached sample essay is just quotes which I have picked for my sample essay. Feel free to use these as evidence.

Scene 1 Amplify 10/6/1, 11/3, 11/4, 11/5, 12/3, 12/7 (start line 74)

Answer the following questions
1. In Act II Scene ii, Romeo and Juliet profess their love for one another. Juliet is to contact Romeo (through a servant) the next day. Why?
2. Why does Friar Laurence agree to marry Romeo and Juliet?
3. What message does Nurse take to Juliet?
4. What warning does Friar Laurence give Romeo foreshadowing future events of the play?

Review and answer plot questions 1 - 6 in a google doc.

In a google doc, answer the following questions

1. Why do Sampson and Gregory fight with Montague's men?
2. Benvolio and Tybalt come upon the servants fighting. Contrast their reactions to the fight.
3. When Montague and Capulet enter and see the disturbance, they want to fight, too. What do their wives say?
4. What ended the opening skirmish?
5. Why is Romeo so sad?

Chose to do either the three paragraph essay OR the suspense story. The three body paragraphs (no intro or conclusion) require evidence - but several pieces of evidence are provided. The short story is an original short suspense story with a minimum of 500 words (about one page single spaced).
Submit your work by Monday 1/11/2021 as a google doc shared with me at [email protected]

Examine your characters. Consider the characters from your short story or the story read in class today. Flesh out your character by answering 4 short questions.

Monday we will be trying out asynchronous learning. I wanted to keep it simple to start. So, please watch the attached video on writing suspense and write a short suspenseful story. Make sure that you share it with me at [email protected]. At it’s most basic, suspense writing entails the author’s control of information. Giving just the right amount of detail and information to the reader to keep the reader guessing what might happen next? First-person narration (I, my, we, our) keeps the information limited to the teller of the story.
If you click on the link on the writing prompts page - you will see writing samples for those specific prompts. You do not have to use these specific prompts. Do some AR reading if you have time.
See the attached sheet for further information on suspense writing. (Scroll down - there are 4 attachments)

Amplify 8C, subunit 1, lesson 2
Sections & (writing) and 10 (solo)

Reading comprehension Amplify unit assessment

We will be doing the final edits and adding the concluding paragraph

We will be editing our three body paragraphs and writing the introduction

Do the vocabulary section for 10 minutes. We will work together. Finish the solo. Read you AR book and log it when we are done with Amplify.

Do the vocabulary section for 10 minutes. We will work together. Finish the solo. Do the writing prompt when we are done with Amplify.

Amplify unit 2, sub unit 3 "Show your emotion"

We will be spending about 10 minutes on the vocabulary section, and then move on as a class. Yesterday we found the library and looked at books for accelerated reading. We will read at the end of class on Mondays, Wednesdays , and Fridays. Remember that AR tests and meeting point goals are 10% of your ELA grade, so don't forget to read.
Tuesdays and Thursdays we will be writing. Writing?!? Yes, how do you get better at anything? You practice. So, we are going to practice writing. These initial writings will be fiction writing prompts (which matches our Amplify chapter).

Solo

Follow the link to amplify

Follow the link to explore Amplify