Reading VIII Grade Level 8

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Reading VIII

Grade Level 8

Reading VIII introduces students to a variety of topics to enrich their reading experience including:

• understanding common misspellings

• using prefixes, suffixes, root words, and forming compounds • exploring words with Greek and Latin roots

• using context clues to find the meaning of unfamiliar words • understanding connotation and denotation

• exploring homonyms, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and homographs

• exploring common words and expressions and using vocabulary in different fields of study

• identifying the main idea of a story and recalling important details • studying cause and effect; determining what is fact and what is opinion • comparing and contrasting elements of a story

• understanding story elements such as characterization, setting, plot, point of view, conflict, climax, resolution, mood, tone, flashback, and foreshadowing

• predicting outcomes, making generalizations, and drawing conclusions • understanding the elements of different genres of literature

• summarizing and paraphrasing information • understanding the elements of newspaper writing • understanding propaganda and bias

• using figurative language, including analogies, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, personification, metaphor, simile, and alliteration

• using figures of speech, including, clichés, euphemisms, and doublespeak

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TEACHERS' GUIDE

Grade Level 8

COURSE DESCRIPTION: The Anywhere Learning System (ALS) Reading VIII course is part of the comprehensive, completely integrated courses for grades 1-8. This program directs students from beginning reading levels to more advanced reading skills. Reading I, II, and III have tutorial and instructional voice support. A sequence of eight titles provides an extensive e-learning solution ideal for schools that want to use technology to improve their instructional process.

COURSE FEATURES:

• Reading VIII is presented as a year-long course.

• All lessons contain a study guide, a practice and mastery test, and an essay or constructed response.

• Lessons include a variety of essay types such as descriptive, persuasive, expository, and letter writing.

• These courses are certified by MetaMetrics® with a Lexile® score. • The ALS program consists of an Internet-based instructional

management system with student assessment tools built in, and educators can test students on national, state, district, or local objectives because any set of standards can be added to the system.

• Some courses are enriched by Encyclopædia Britannica® Online School Edition (EB) workspaces that contain learning materials. Learning materials may contain articles, games, images, maps, and/or videos.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• The content in these courses is designed to meet and exceed the requirements of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) for the Standards of English Language Arts. In addition, it addresses the core reading skills identified by the National Reading Panel:

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patterns (phonics).

o The Word Analysis unit gives extensive tutoring and practice recognizing word families, antonyms, homophones, compound words, synonyms, phonograms, prefixes, suffixes, and root words (phonics & phonemic awareness).

o The Comprehension unit focuses on skills that teach the student to recognize main ideas and details, predict outcomes and interpret feelings, draw conclusions, recognize similarity and difference, distinguish fact from make believe and opinion, understand cause and effect and point of view, use context clues to understand the meaning of words, and to find information from charts, graphs, and diagrams.

o The Literary Skills unit provides discussion and identification of story elements (including setting, plot, and characterization) and instruction of various literary forms. These skills together with extensive practice promote the automaticity of the core skills to promote fluency.

ALS POWERPACK

The Encyclopædia Britannica® Online School Edition (EB) has teacher resources and student learning materials. The materials include a wide

range of interactive lessons, research projects, animations, and worksheets that support many ALS lessons. Each workspace may contain an article, diagram, study guide, video, or interactive media.

The launch icon for EB objects is located at the top of the ALS screen in the study guide section.

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TEACHERS' GUIDE

Grade Level 8

COURSE CONTENT

The Reading titles develop skills in practical situations by utilizing a Four-Step Approach: Study Guide, Practice Test, Mastery Test, and Essay

modules are used to define the instructional environment.

• The Study Guide module teaches the concepts and skills associated with each lesson. A number of the Study Guide pages have specific, interactive feedback that will assist the student in solving problems or understanding concepts.

• The Practice Test module allows the student to practice the skills learned in the Study Guide section. The student has instant access to the study material for reference.

• In the Mastery Test module, the student takes a scored examination, electronically submits the test, and the results are recorded in the ALS Management System.

• The Essay module allows the student to compose individual, free-form answers to a wide variety of questions and problems. Course Name Number of Lessons

Length of Course in

Semesters Grade Level Lexile Measure

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1 Consonants Quick Review

Students identify consonant-vowel patterns that help determine pronunciation; letters with

two sounds; blends, digraphs, and diphthongs Essay: Activity

2 Verbs Quick Review Identify the principle parts of verbs; action and state of being verbs; tenses; participles Essay: Narrative Writing Word Analysis

3 Sight Vocabulary High frequency words that students recognize on sight Study: EB Learning Material

Essay: Written Response

4 Common Misspellings Understanding changes with plurals; verbs; vowel sounds; rules for spelling tricky words;

exceptions to spelling rules Essay: Activity

5 Root Words Root words without spelling changes; root words with spelling changes Essay: Written Response

6 Prefixes Correctly use the prefixes pre-, en-, non-, mis-, non-, in- and im-, dis-, anti-, sub-, re-, etc.;

meanings of prefixes Essay: Written Response

7 Suffixes Definition and examples of suffixes; meaning of various suffixes; correct use of the

suffixes -ible, -able, -ful, -ment, -y, -ly and -ily Essay: Activity

8 Greek and Latin

Words Examples and definitions of root words with Greek and Latin derivatives

9 Compound Words Definition and examples of compound words; students identify compound words Essay: Illustration

10 Synonyms Definition of synonyms; students practice finding synonyms for words; using the

thesaurus as a source for synonyms Essay: Written Response

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SCOPE & SEQUENCE

Grade Level 8

Lesson Name Lesson Description Activities 12 Homophones Definition of homophones; looking for clues in a sentence that indicate which homophone

should be used Essay: Expository

13 Word Similarities Review of homographs; using context to determine meaning and word pronunciation Essay: Written Response 14 Contractions Contractions by verb groups: has, will, us, are, would, and have; negative contractions Essay: Activity

15 Word Families Changing the first letter or letters to form word families Essay: Activity

16 Analogies Discovering the commonality that creates an analogy; analogies on standardized tests Essay: Activity

17 Connotation & Denotation

Recognize the definition of a word in a sentence; recognize the exact definition of a word

in a sentence; make an inference based on feelings and motives Essay: Written Response

18 Multiple Meanings Increasing reading comprehension by understanding words with multiple meanings; using

context clues to determine word meaning Essay: Written Response

19 Alphabetization Tips for alphabetizing; alphabetizing abbreviations Essay: Written Response

20 Core Subject Words Definition and examples of core subject words, including: math, science, language arts,

computer, social studies, art, and drama Essay: Research

21 Order and Sequence Students determine order of events; students read clues and decide what could happen next in a story

Study: EB Learning Material Essay: Narrative Writing

22 Main Ideas and Details Identify main idea and details; recognize the title as a source of the main idea; determine

the key words and topic sentence; the position of the topic sentence in a paragraph Essay: Descriptive Writing

23 Fact and Opinion

Identify facts and opinions, idioms, and sense words; choose significant details which do or do not support the main idea; identify information which gives support for opinions; verifying facts

Study: EB Learning Material Essay: Written Response

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24 Cause and Effect Definitions of cause and effect; students identify various causes and effects by reading

clues; short and long term effects Essay: Narrative Writing

25 Compare and Contrast Definition and examples of comparing and contrasting ideas, events, characters, etc.; the

thesis statement; similarities and differences Essay: Written Response

26 Classifying Information Definition of classifying; students classify various groups of items Essay: Written Response

27 Characterization Identifying clues about character traits Essay: Narrative Writing

28 Summarizing

Definition and examples of summary; students read a story and identify points to be included in a summary; the process of going from a specific account to general statements; students will retell a story in their own words; paraphrasing; avoiding plagiarism; generalizations

Essay: Written Response

29 Predicting Outcomes Make an inference based on drawing conclusions; logic and character’s actions in making

inferences Essay: Written Response

30 Common Expressions Everyday humorous sayings, proverbs, and common abbreviations; using euphemisms in

informal language Essay: Illustrations

31 Newspaper Writing

Elements of newspaper reporting; answer the who, what, when, where, why and how questions in a reading; identify propaganda and bias; headlines, bylines, and datelines; propaganda techniques including: loaded words, transfer, and unreliable testimonials

32 Elements of Fiction Categories of fiction; elements of fiction including: rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, characters, setting, and theme; historical science and realistic fiction

33 Purpose in Writing Distinguish the author’s purpose; writing for a specific or a general purpose Study: EB Learning Material Essay: Written Response

34 Nonfiction Identify elements of nonfictional writing; biography, autobiography, essay, newspaper, and historical accounts

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SCOPE & SEQUENCE

Grade Level 8

Lesson Name Lesson Description Activities

35 Point of View

Recognizing point of view; first person, second person, third person, and narrator; understand elements of nonfiction; third person omniscient narrator and third person limited narrator

Essay: Activity

Literary Skills

36 Folklore Definition and examples of fables, folktales, and tall tales; tricksters; symbols Essay: Narrative Writing

37 Poetry 1 Poetry; ballad; sonnet; lyric; narrative; limerick; free verse; identify the elements of a farce and satire; irony and parody; oxymorons; rhythm patterns in poetry

38 Poetry 2 Characteristics of narrative poetry; heroic adventures; importance of rhyming in narrative poetry

Study: EB Learning Material Essay: Narrative Writing

39 Plays Identify the elements of a drama, tragedy, and comedy; scenes and acts Study: EB Learning Material

Essay: Letter writing

40 Literary Devices Identify elements of mood and tone; identify flashback as a literary tool; identify foreshadowing and imagery as literary tools; mood and tone

41 Figurative Language Identifying and correctly using metaphors and similes; identifying and correctly using similes, hyperbole, and personification; using alliteration and onomatopoeia

Study: EB Learning Material Essay: Activity

42 Figure of Speech Review

Review of overstatement and understatement; analogy; irony, hyperbole, personification, clichés, euphemisms, and doublespeak

Study: EB Learning Material Essay: Activity