Curriculum Night Handout With Belief Statements

Mrs.
Christina Nakazaki
Matthews Middle School
Welcome to 8th Grade Literature and Language Arts
Objectives:
The Literature and Language Arts curriculum is based on the Illinois State Standards and has been designed to
emphasize the connection between reading and writing. In order to help students develop better communication
skills through reading, writing, speaking, and listening, a variety of techniques are used throughout the year to
guide students in the practice of these different forms of communication.
Required Materials:
Students are required to have reading and writing materials with them at all times when they come to class.
They should have a binder, which we organized and labeled the second week of school. Novels are issued to
students during different units are the responsibility of the student.
Literature Curriculum Language Arts Curriculum

Novel Units: Writing Units:
• The Shadow Club • The Writing Process
• That was Then, This is Now • 6+1 Traits of Writing
• Where the Red Fern Grows • Narrative Writing
• The Pigman • Expository Writing
• Speak • Persuasive Writing
• Poetry & Literary Devices
Literature Units:
• Reading Strategies and Story Elements Grammar Units:
• Short Stories • Parts of Speech
• Poetry • Punctuation
• Drama • Sentence Structure
• Fiction and Nonfiction
Spelling Units:
• Literature Circles
• Affixes
• Extended Response & ISAT Prep Unit
• Spelling Rules & Study Strategies
Class Wiki: http://wikizaki.wikispaces.com/

In order inspire reading, writing, and learning beyond the walls of the classroom, I have set up a class wiki.
Students will be improving their media literacy skills through a variety of projects, some of which will be created
and posted online. Access to extra copies of work, additional resources and helpful links can also be found on the
class wiki – this will be a very important and helpful site!
Evaluation:
• Practice………………….5%
• Application..………..35%
• Assessment…………60%
Various forms of assessment will be used throughout the year. Both the teacher and the students will take part in
the evaluation process so that in the future, the students will be able to analyze their writing. The process of
writing will be as important in the assessment and grading as the quality of the final piece.
Parents are encouraged to take some time this year to check what their children are reading and to read what
their children have written. There are some great storytellers in class!
Illinois State Standards
STATE GOAL 1: Read with understanding and fluency.
STATE GOAL 2: Read and understand literature representative of various societies, eras and ideas.
STATE GOAL 3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.
STATE GOAL 4: Listen and speak effectively in a variety of situations.
STATE GOAL 5: Use the language arts to acquire, assess and communicate information.
Belief Statements
We believe:
• Students need to apply critical and creative thinking skills while comprehending what they have read. This
should be used in both fiction and non-fiction reading.
• Independent reading is paramount to creating a confident and proficient reader, writer, and learner.
• Teachers create an environment that promotes appreciation for reading and writing.
• Students need time to practice reading and writing to truly reach their potential.
• The facilitation of reading and writing instruction should be differentiated to meet the needs and learning
styles of all students.
• Students need to be exposed to a wide variety of genre and authors. This literature should derive from
diverse authentic and cultural backgrounds.
• Students should be reading material that relates to a middle school student’s life experiences and that it
might provide solutions to situations they may encounter.
• A variety of curriculum related resources, as well as independent self-selected novels, are used to provide
valuable literary experiences.
• In the exploration of literary elements and devices. These meta-cognitive skills should be taught using a
variety of reading strategies. Opportunities should be afforded to the students to explore these elements
and devices while reading both independently and in cooperative groups.
• Students should interact through various forms of the English Language Arts including: Reading, writing,
listening, speaking, thinking and viewing. Group activities and discussions should reflect comprehension;
higher-level thinking and connections should be made textually, personally, and globally.
• Students should be familiar with writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. Students should compose
well-written teacher modeled persuasive, expository, and narrative writing. Students should use
appropriate spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and punctuation. Students should also write with a
focus on creativity, elaboration, audience, and intent.

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Mrs.

Welcome to 8th Grade Literature and Language Arts

Literature Curriculum Language Arts Curriculum

Class Wiki: http://wikizaki.wikispaces.com/

STATE GOAL 1: Read with understanding and fluency.

STATE GOAL 3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.

STATE GOAL 4: Listen and speak effectively in a variety of situations.

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