Upcoming Units and Assignments

Welcome back! It's hard to believe it's the fourth quarter already!

In language arts, students will be researching, outlining, writing, and revising an argumentative essay over the next few weeks.

In history, students will be writing narratives based on facts about westward expansion. We've been learning about the various westward journeys Americans took during the 1800s. Here's a link to the assignment overview.

Here are some links to additional resources for the project:
The Oregon Trail
The Mormon Trail
The Santa Fe Trail

After students write their historical fiction stories, we'll be getting into a unit studying slavery and the approach of the Civil War, drawing from a variety of sources in addition to the eighth grade textbook.

Upcoming Units and Assignments

In language arts, we'll be launching into our unit on persuasion. We'll examine various strategies of rhetoric (ethos, logos, pathos), discuss and debate a variety of issues, and read some example of persuasive writing. Students will compose argumentative essays. Here's a link to the packet that will guide students through this Argumentative Essay.

On Wednesday March 9th through Friday, March 11th, students will have an opportunity to visit the Alaska State Legislature. I'm so excited for this opportunity for students; it's a great way to cap off our recent in-depth study of the United States Constitution. Different advisories will visit the capitol building each day; my advisory will visit on Friday, March 11th. In addition, we'll be taking a trip to the skating rink on Wednesday, March 9th. Look for permission slips to come home this weekend!

In history, we'll be moving into an examination of how industrialization and westward expansion affected various groups of people. We'll read a chapter in Adventure Tales of America and answer these questions. We'll study the Trail of Tears and begin the work for this project.