8th Grade Language Arts Weekly Task Sheet September 16-20

Grammar and Mechanics

You have all your quizzes; you should be studying from them because I will keep quizzing you until we have at least 75% of the class score a 75% or above. This week, for Grammar Quiz 2, we did it! Sadly, only 65% of students received a 75% or above for Grammar Quiz 3. Keep studying, and well do some more drills. This week, we will continue our study of effective sentences and practice identifying and fixing fragments and run-ons using the methods we began two weeks ago as well as introducing some new ones that build upon the methods weve already learned. We will do this through Ch. 2 in Grammar for Writing. Well also continue our study of punctuation with the mighty comma. To organize your writing, you need to learn how to use the comma with transition words and phrases and direct quotations (since you will be revising your narrative and will be using dialogue.) We will do some direct instruction and small group instruction for those who need more help.

Writing This week, youll receive all three of your rubric-assessed writings, so you can begin revision. Well continue more narrative and expository/informative Do Nows. The focus this week is on crafting engaging beginnings to your narrative (youll revise Chuck Norris intro and your old superhero piece). Youll also apply what weve learned so far about commas and sentence combining. Finally, make sure your writing pieces do the following: indent paragraphs, etc., use one verb tense (either past or present), use specific action verbs and specific nouns, avoid unnecessary repetition avoid beginning sentences with The and It This weeks backchannel is now open for questions and comments for you AND your parents: http://todaysmeet.com/SJE8Septem ber16. Also, check edmodo daily. Due dates: Mini quizzes begin Tuesday on any grammar topics weve covered No big rubric-assessed writing pieces due this week (unless you still owe us the ones from last week) Rubric assessed writing pieces due on or before November 8. Spend 20-30 minutes a night studying grammar and working on revision.