Materials Needed

Syllabus

Mrs. VanSchepen

8th Grade Reading

Course Description

· 1 - One Inch Notebook Binder (used for reading only!)

· Set of 5 Dividers

· College-Ruled Notebook Paper

Reading and Literature

· Read and analyze a variety of literary texts such as poetry, drama, short stories, and novels to acquire an understanding of the conventions of each form.

· Read and analyze a variety of informational texts to develop an understanding of organizational structures, such as cause and effect or comparison-contrast and graphic features, such as diagrams and illustrations that are typically found in nonfiction.

· Acquire new vocabulary and use it effectively in reading and writing.

· Read aloud accurately (in the range of 95%) familiar material with a rhythm and flow that sounds like everyday speech.

· Use information from a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents to solve a problem or make a decision.

Reading Across the Curriculum

Read the equivalent of 1 million words per year from a variety of subject areas which is approximately 20 books at students' lexile level.

· Participate in effective oral interaction with the teacher and with other students.

· Interpret and evaluate the way visual image makers (e.g., graphic artists, news photographers) communicate information.

· Paraphrase a speaker's purpose and point of view.

Listening, Speaking and Viewing

This course may be your last chance for learning reading strategies that will improve your reading and thinking skills as well as increase vocabulary needed on the SAT and in adult life. By the end of 8th Grade, you should be able to use reading skills with varied content, apply reading strategies consistently before, during, and after reading for active comprehension, and select the most appropriate strategy to use while reading challenging text.

Course Objectives

Grading Policy

· Guided Reading and Reading Strategies Activities:
50% of total grade

· Vocabulary Activities: 25% of total grade

· Independent Reading Activities: 25% of total grade

Grading Policy

· NTI - The student DID NOT TURN the assignment and will be attending mandatory work sessions until completed and turn in for grade of no less than 50 depending on when work it completed

· 0 - The student was absent and NEEDS TO MAKE UP the assignment

· EXC - The student is excused from the assignment

Special Codes Used on Parent Connect

Students will be expected to read approximately twenty (20) books at their personal lexile level (lexile level can be found on 7th grade CRCT summary sheet to parents). Approximately every 2 weeks, each student will completely read a book. These may be of any genre (mystery, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, biography, autobiography, etc) of book as long as a variety of genres is read. A series may be read if the student chooses. Students are encouraged to coordinate reading selections with the requirements in other courses, but may not count books on tape or not read by self. Students will complete assignments to show comprehension, summarize, and build student interest in their reading selection. Book "projects" (project style selected from my approved list) will be completed by the student as a way to show accountability of having read the book. Previous student samples will be provided. Students should pace themselves accordingly to ensure credit for their work.

Independent Reading

Make up work (following an absence) will be allowed with one day for each day absent. It is the student's responsibility to obtain and complete make up assignments during the mornings...8:00 to 8:45...by coming to Mrs. VanSchepen's classroom. Class time will NOT be used for discussing or completing make up work. Full credit will be received if the deadline is met. Exception to this rule is pre-assigned book projects and they will be due the day the student returns to my classroom if student is absent on day the project is due.

Make-Up Work

Late work (not due to a verified excused absence) will be turned in up to 5 days with a loss of 10 points for each successive day late; or by a mandatory attendance at a work session. Late work completed in this manner will earn a grade of no less than 50, depending on when the work is completed. 

· Classroom policies: I have only one rule: Follow directions and school policies! Students making inappropriate choices in my classroom may earn a private detention for minor infractions or public detentions that are handled through the school for major infractions or repeated minor infractions.

· Three tardies (posted time) to my classroom will result in two detentions.

· This school is a "no gum" school...students caught with gum will earn a detention.

· Restroom breaks will not be accessible during my teaching time and class work time.

· Library visits will occur every two weeks...students not following directions by renewing and returning books MUST immediately pay fines they earn or pay for lost books (money returned when book found). Students not having an independent reading book may receive a private detention since accessing and using the library on a bi-weekly basis is part of my reading curriculum. Fines should not be earned if students check out books, renew, and return books at my regular visits to the library. 

· Replacement Cost of Books: Change and Challenge, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston ($15); Literacy Handbook, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston ($44); Selected novels ($10 for defacing and/or loss)

The following is Fulton County's "8th Grade Reading Course Description": Eighth Grade Reading is a course that reinforces the strategies that good readers use before, during, and after reading. Students will read a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction. They will study the features that characterize narratives when reading stories, novels, and personal experience essays. The reading of informational texts will be an important component of this course. Through the study of exposition, students will build background knowledge, analyze organizational structures, and increase their ability to comprehend and use what they have read.