8th Grade English Enrichment A-7th Period Assignments

Drop your complete MS Author Google Slides here.

Drop your finished MS author essays here.

Begin typing essay on your Mississippi author. Make sure you have at least 4 paragraphs: Introduction, 2 Body Paragraphs, and Conclusion.
Include information like their birth and death dates (if applicable), their early lives & family, where they are from, what type of work they write, what other writers have influenced them, how many works they have published, etc. Include any other information that you feel is interesting and important.

Today you will be working together to write some short “flash” stories (which are just short, short stories).
First, in groups of 2 or 3 choose one of these sentence starters and start writing. One person writes a sentence or two and then passes the paper to the next person. The second person will write a sentence or two to continue the story and then passes it back. Do this several times until you have a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Also, no talking while you’re writing!
After you’ve done this is in a small group, get together and the 5 of you will write a story together. Choose any of the starters I have below. Make sure your paying attention to your grammar and tense (past or present) and stay consistent with that. Most importantly, have fun and write good stories! We’ll read them in class tomorrow.
Story Starters:
“It started out as a normal morning with cereal for breakfast when the phone rang.”
“I just wanted to go to the beach for the day but I didn’t expect to find a pet octopus.”
“I saw an ad in the paper for magic jumping beans so I called to order them.”
“Well, at least I don’t have take care of a unicorn anymore.”
“Because of the incident last Thursday we will no longer serve Cheez-Its in the cafeteria.”

Submit your Google Slides and papers here.

For your Google Slide presentations, you should have at least 5 sides: a title slide, a slide describing your career, info on education/training needed, salary and best places to work, and why you want to work in this career. Make sure to include pictures on at least 3 slides.
Be mindful of spelling, grammar, & punctuation.

BW: Share the 5 jobs you researched with the class.
CW: Begin researching your final choice of career. Instructions are attached below.

No School - Labor Day Holiday

BW & CW: Students will finish rough drafts and will peer edit/revise to begin their final drafts. Students will also begin thinking about their presentations.

BW & CW: The students will begin drafting their outlines for their research projects and will transition to their rough drafts by the end of class.

BW & CW: Students will continue with research assignment by narrowing down their topic and beginning to find key information related to it.

BW & CW: Students will work on informational research projects based on potential careers. Today will focus on research skills and best websites/search engines to utilize.

BW & CW: Students will finish their "If/then" story booklets and turn them in.

BW & CW: Group sharing of "Little Brother" re-writes and discussion about the writing process.

Submit your finished re-write of "Little Brother" here.

BW & CW: Finish writing "Little Brother" copy/switch re-write and submit by the end of class today.

BW & CW: Continue working on copy/switch re-write of "Little Brother." (Due end of class on Thursday)

BW & CW: Read flash piece "Little Brother" in class and begin working on copy/switch, re-writing in new POV.

BW & CW: Discuss the main Points of View used in writing and the uses/purposes of each. Read provided samples and work re-writing exercises.

BW & CW: The students will finish their final drafts of their narrative essays to submit by the end of class today. If time allows, students will "present" their maps along with an excerpt from their essay.

BW & CW: The teacher will discuss with the students the difference between editing and revising a piece. Then students will continue the process of editing and revising their narrative essays. (Due end of class Friday 8/14)

BW & CW: Students will continue working on rough drafts and by the middle of the period will have a working rough draft that a classmate can check for grammar, spelling, punctuation, tense, and cohesiveness. Students will then begin editing/revising for a final draft.

BW & CW: The teacher will review different types of outlines/drafting with the students. Then, students will create an outline for their chosen memory/place, focusing on the details they want to include. Once this is finished, they will begin writing their rough drafts.

BW & CW: The teacher and students will discuss the different types of narratives commonly read. Students will begin making a "memory map" of a place that has special meaning/memories for them. They will draw this place and write out important events on the map.
At the end of class, students will share their memories with one another to choose one specific memory to write about.