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8th Grade Honors English
Welcome to Honors English! This course is designed to prepare students for 9th Grade Pre-Advance Placement in English. Lessons are designed for students to understand a deeper meaning behind the literature, and writing skills are essential to communicate what a student has learned. This class is more demanding, and students are expected to devote more time and energy to it than they would to on-level English classes. 8th Grade Honors English is taught on the high school level and is the best preparation for the rigors of advanced high school English classes.
First Nine Weeks Book Project:
Nine Weeks Critical Reading Assignment
Assignment: All students are required to earn AR points over books they read - 6th grade 10 points, 7th grade - 13 points, 8th grade 15 points. This counts as a test grade each nine weeks.
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You will be able to choose whatever books you want.
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Many of you will want to read more than one book in a nine-week period. THAT’S GREAT! You will receive five bonus points for every AR point you earn above the AR test grade you receive up to 100 bonus points.
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Each week you will have to answer a critical reading question over your book. Students have an entire week to complete one question over their current book. They can turn this in at any point during the week. Critical reading questions will be posted in Google Classroom, and students will have until each Friday by the end of the day each week to turn this in. There will be NO LATE WORK accepted.
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You will be expected to bring your book to class or have your chosen book checked out digitally on your chrome book every day!
Parents: Please sign below and return this page. A digital copy is located on students’ Google Classroom accounts.
I am aware of the Nine Weeks Reading Assignment.
Parent Signature: ______________________________________________________________________
Critical Reading Introduction Page
Students must fill out at least one Introduction Page each nine weeks.
Date: Name:
Title of Book:
Author: Copyright Date:
Genre (highlight one)
Adventure Dystopian Fantasy Historical Fiction
Romance Mystery Realistic Fiction Science Fiction
Total number of pages in the book:
To set a weekly reading goal, divide the number of pages in the book by four. This is the number of pages that you will need to read each week to complete the book on time.
Number of pages per week:
Why did you choose this book? (highlight one)
liked the cover interesting title read others by the same author
genre recommended by a friend recommended by an adult
How do you think this book fits with your reading abilities? (highlight one)
easy to read just right a challenge!
Explain your choice:
Nine Weeks Reading Critical Reading and Thinking Weekly Assignments:
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A big part of reading is learning to think critically. You will complete one activity each week. Be ready to hand in your work Friday by the end of the day. There will be NO LATE WORK accepted.
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The assignment will be posted on Google Classroom, and you will complete each week’s critical thinking questions on the same document all nine weeks.
Week 1: Make a list of at least three predictions for the book - think about characters, setting, and genre. You can use the sentence frames below to help you write your predictions. Sentence Frames: “I predict that___________ because ______________.” or “Based on _______________ from the text, I predict that _____________________.”
Week 2: Write a summary using the following sequence words: First… Next… After that… Last… Finally… In the end…
Week 3: List three characters in the book so far. Describe their physical appearance, importance to the story, and character traits.
Week 4: Write a letter to a character in the book. Include your reaction to the events in the book, your feelings about the character’s choices, and what you think the character should do now.
Week 5: Visualize what you see in the book. Use this sentence frame to help you write your visualization. Sentence Frame: “While reading___(Book’s title)___, I visualize (see, imagine, smell, taste, hear feel…)”
Week 6: Choose five interesting or unusual words from the book so far. Write the definition of each of these five words.
Week 7: Style is the way an author writes a text. How do you feel about the author’s style in this book? Is it formal or informal? Do you like the way the sentences sound?
Week 8: Think about the relationship of the setting to the story. Could this story have happened in another place? Why or why not?
Week 9: Often characters change as a result of the events in a novel. Describe the changes that a character went through in this book.
End of Book Form
Students must turn in at least one End of Book form each nine weeks.
Complete this form once you have finished reading your book.
Title of book:
Author: # of pages:
Would you recommend this book to other students? Why or why not? (Be specific!)
What was your favorite part (or least favorite!) part of this book?
Links to important info:
For MLA format and other helpful research tools, use:
mlaformat.org
Click on link to watch a helpful how to format papers video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wljCiv8FX40
