English 8 (Period 2) Assignments

Good morning,

The 8th graders should be halfway through their research report today. We worked in class all last week and will finish this Friday. I've checked and scored their electronic notecards and prewriting organizers, so if there is a score missing, your child needs to have that competed by tomorrow. This week we are typing and editing our drafts and correcting them to final draft quality with a Works Cited page which lists at least 3 sources. 

 

Next week we will start our final novel in which students will select one of the titles I offer. We will read and work in literature circles for this and have a final test on it by mid May. 

 

Have a terrific week!

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

 

 

Good morning,

This week 8th graders are working on informational reading in ELA and using articles from Commonlit.org. Today and tomorrow they are reading 4 different articles about the teenage brain to identify nonfiction signposts and textual elements. They will work in small groups to discuss articles after working on them independently today. 

 

This is our last unit before the KS ELA Assessment which is next week on April 3 & 4. IXL is a great website we've been using to reinforce ELA concepts if you'd like your child to practice in his/her free time at home.

 

Following the assessment, we'll start working on the research paper.

V/R,

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

The 8th graders have been working hard all week on a poetry partner project which they will present on Monday. They've been identifying all the poetic elements, speaker & tone/mood, figurative language, central idea/message, and creating an activity with which the class will respond to their presentations.

 

Tomorrow they have a quiz on poetry vocab. Next week they will take a short quiz on the poetry lesson on which they studied and presented.

 

We will wrap up before spring break reviewing text structure and text features to continue into reading for information.

 

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

English 8 students are finishing their argument essays today and doing final edits tomorrow. They should all have a completed essay before coming into class tomorrow. The topics were given 2 weeks ago before the long weekend and all the snow days, so we actually have spent only 2 1/2 class periods working on it together.

 

We are moving forward into informational reading with a focus on text structure & features as well as central idea and supporting details and making inferences.

Dear Parents, 

We finished reading the drama of Anne Frank's diary today, and there are some wrap-up activities due this week: Act II questions/SIFT chart; plot diagram/character contrast chart.  Last week I collected the Act I questions/SIFT chart. 

Tomorrow is the vocabulary retake quiz which they were handed back today.

Wednesday is a library lesson and students should bring back their books to check in or renew, especially their book report book.

Today we attached our book reports to the Google Classroom assignment, and we'll begin presenting them a few each day until we're finished with the Anne Frank unit at which time we'll finish the remaining reports.

Friday morning is Parent/Teacher Conferences from 7:30-11:30! Please come by if you can.

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

 

8th Graders are reading the play of Anne Frank's diary this week. They have several graphic organizer handouts that will be due as we finish Act I and then Act II. A plot diagram, character contrast chart, and figurative language (SIFT) chart with comprehension questions. 

They have the Anne Frank vocab quiz this Friday which they received last Thursday. 

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

ELA 8 students are starting their Holocaust unit with a research activity to build background before reading the drama of Anne Frank next week.  They partnered with a classmate and chose topics to create a slides presentation, which they should be able to present by Thursday or Friday.

 

Some students did rather poorly on the clause test today, so we will review tomorrow and retake (if needed) on Thursday. The will have their test and old homework to use to study.

 

 

Our first unit for 2nd Semester is on sentence clauses. This is a short unit to improve their sentence structure when writing. We have ws 506/508 evens today, 510/514 evens tomorrow, and review on Friday. 

 

Monday we continue with noun clauses and ws 516 with a review on Tuesday and TEST on Wednesday.

 

Reminder - The "survivor" book report is due on January 29 for which students have the information on Google Classroom. It was assigned and books were checked out the last week of 2nd quarter.

 

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

The Johnny Tremain test is tomorrow! Students have turned in all homework and had a plot diagram study guide yesterday. Today we are playing a Kahoot to review. We have done a lot of work writing relating to and analyzing the plot and characters. 

 

I attached the 3rd Quarter book report to their Google Classroom, and it is due January 29. We spent some time in the library today to check out books and to turn in Johnny Tremain. Our book report is to be about a survivor or group that survivors and tell the story of triumph. It should be non-fiction, but I've decided to accept historical fiction as well for this topic.

 

Have a wonderful holiday!

Celene Pallesen

We have finished reading Johnny Tremain! All chapter questions are now due up to Unit 12. They are still posted to the Google Classroom if a student needs to print any of them. This week we are writing a theme essay which will be due on Friday, and on Thursday they are taking the vocabulary quiz. 

 

Next Monday there will be a TEST on the book, and the rest of that week we will do concluding activities.

 

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

Johnny Tremain Units 9 & 10 are due tomorrow (Thursday). We have been reading those since Monday. We will read Unit 11 tomorrow and Friday. We'll read Unit 12 on Monday Dec 4.

We're reading Units 5 & 6 in Johnny Tremain the next three days with questions due on Thursday. Thursday and Friday we'll read Unit 7 with questions.

 

The worksheets are uploaded to the Google Classroom in case students lose theirs; they may print new copies.

 

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

A quiz on the first half of the Johnny Tremain book is scheduled for Thursday. Their Unit 5 & 6 worksheet questions are due then as well. Many students are not doing the assigned reading to finish units and are lost during class discussion and for the journal writings. Please encourage your child to read the 5-10 pages assigned almost daily.

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

The month of November is all about Johnny Tremain! We read the first 3 sections of Unit 2 in class today and I assigned to read the last 2 sections (pages 39-47). They have the Unit 2 questions on the back of Unit 1 to be completed for tomorrow.  We will also read Unit 3 & 4 this week with questions for both.

 

I have uploaded the first 2 units' questions on Google Classroom and will continue to upload each unit as we get to them in class so that students may print them at home if they lose theirs.

 

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

 

In English class we wrapped up The Call of the Wild with theme presentations on Monday and Tuesday. Today we checked out the novel Johnny Tremain which gives an historical fiction account of the beginning of the Revolutionary War! Students are making a Google Drawing of a Founding Father or British supporter to share with the class tomorrow. We will begin reading Ch 1 tomorrow and Friday with chapter questions.

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

Patton Jr High

Finish reading Call of the Wild this week! Chap 6 & 7 questions were handed out for the final chapters of the book.

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

This week in 8th Grade ELA students are continuing Call of the Wild. Here are the daily assignments:

Tuesday - Read Ch 3 and answer questions and signposts

Wednesday - Read Ch 4/questions & signposts

Thursday - 2 pt quiz on Ch 3 & 4.  Read Ch 5/questions & signposts

Friday - Call of the Wild vocab quiz. Read Ch 6/questions & signposts

 

The following week is the Scholastic Book Fair in which students will be able to make purchases on Wednesday Oct 18.

Various things are due this week since we have finished reading Call of the Wild.

 

Monday - turning in Ch 6 & 7 chapter questions & signpost chart.

Tuesday - turning in plot diagram with Ch 7 cause-effect chain.

Wednesday - turning in point of view paragraph writing. Working on theme presentation with a partner.

Thursday - Test on the book.

Friday - vocab quiz for Call of the Wild. Finishing theme presentation with partner.

 

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

Parents,

Thursday is the last day of the 1st Quarter and we are making sure everything is wrapped up in our ELA 8 class! All book report corrections need to be turned in, and the WOD (writing on demand) journal document needs to be complete and uploaded to Google Classroom.

 

Today we are starting a novel by Jack London: Call of the Wild. It's a short 7 chapter book, and we'll read it through next week. We'll be adding figurative language to the signposts and chapter questions. Short quizzes will be given every 2 chapters.

 

I've attached an audio link to their Google Classroom wall so those who want to use the audio will have access to a good one.

 

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

We are writing a suspense short story this week. Students have a chart to fill in for prewriting and then should continue to their rough draft. 

Yesterday we shared book reports in small groups. Tomorrow is a library lesson, so books need to be returned or renewed.

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Yesterday we reviewed for the Suspense Literature Unit and the test is tomorrow (Thursday). Today I allowed students to work on their book reports and many of them made a lot of progress. We will share the reports in class on Monday.  

Friday is a Vocab Quiz for Greek/Latin Word Parts 3.

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

"The Monkey's Paw" in the literature book on p. 360 was assigned on Wednesday before our library day. Today students had time in class to work on it again and the homework for it is a plot diagram with vocab ws 102. They are also completing a signposts for fiction worksheet for discussion of the story on Monday.

The suspense unit test will be Wednesday September 20. It is over the plot elements, characterization, mood, and comprehension questions from the selections we read in the unit.

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

Yesterday the students filled out a compare & contrast chart for the 2 Poe selections. Nearly all were handed in before they left class.

Today we are reading a radio play "The Hitchhiker" and filling in the fiction signposts worksheet. Tomorrow they will have an assignment to hand in on Thursday:  ws 129/135 for vocab and questions.

Thursday will have a library lesson so they should bring back books to turn in or renew.

Friday is the vocabulary quiz for this literature unit on suspense. They were given the 21 words last week.

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

Yesterday we started "The Tell Tale Heart" by Poe with a fiction signpost chart to fill in as they read. Today the students are continuing the story with a worksheet for vocab and comprehension: ws 107/110/112.

The vocab quiz words this week encompass 3 of the suspense stories which we are reading, so the quiz will be next week on Friday to allow time to complete the stories.

Ms Pallesen

ELA 8

Plot Diagram and Conflict Chart worksheet for p. 27 "The Elevator" story in literature book.

A number of students have elected to retake the 8 Parts of Speech test on Tuesday to allow themselves time to study their notes and practice on the IXL program. We practiced identifying them in class yesterday as well. 

 

Students have all checked out a book for their fiction book report by this time. The essay is due on Sept 25!

 

Sincerely,

Celene Pallesen

ELA 8

Patton Jr High

We are beginning a literature unit and student are working on the intro to the textbook. They received the worksheet yesterday and it's due tomorrow: I-2.

Ms Pallesen

ELA 8

Greek/Latin roots and affixes quiz Friday.

Monday will be the 8 parts of speech assessment. We reviewed today and most work was completed in class during the last 2 weeks.

 

 Many students didn't do well on the vocabulary quiz today and are planning to study this weekend and do a retake on Monday. If a score is below 80%, they may retake it during class.

Week 1 Vocabulary quizlet for actual quiz on Friday.

(20 word list)

 Adjective/Adverb graphic organizer. Again, most students turned this in before the bell, and I've recorded grades for those.

 Noun/Pronoun graphic organizer. Nearly all students turned this in before the bell. You can check on Skyward if you want to know if your child did or to see what your child scored.