Eighth Grade Curriculum Guide
EIGHTH GRADE AT THE ORCHARD SCHOOL
English
In eighth-grade English at The Orchard School, the focus is on solidifying a strong foundation in English and language arts by covering new material while building on previous skills and concepts. Two main areas of focus are grammar and literary analysis. Students increase their understanding by writing essays and participating in class activities, projects, homework, quizzes, and tests. The English curriculum is based on Common Core Standards.
Eighth-graders grow as readers and writers by:
• Distinguishing between abstract and concrete concepts and connotation and denotation. • Demonstrating an age-appropriate mastery of basic grammatical rules and functions. • Producing a controlling thesis statement that is precise and focused. • Analyzing and comparing texts that express universal themes across time and genre. • Understanding how to scan a poem for rhythm, meter, rhyme scheme, and deep meanings. • Identifying dualities, contradictions, and parallel plot lines within texts; analyzing the intentionality of these events; and determining, as the reader, if they strengthen or detract from a text. • Questioning the author’s credibility, building their own opinion through textual evidence and thesis building.
Topics of study
• Grammar and figurative language • Poetry/poetic explication • Dramatic monologue • Short stories • Shakespeare unit • Novel studies
THE ORCHARD SCHOOL
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