COURSE: 8th Grade English – Mr. Buerkle
WEB
SITE: mrb127.tripod.com
TEXTS: Prentice Hall Literature (Brown) and Houghton Mifflin English (Green)
CLASSROOM RULES
1. Accelerated Reader will be a part of your grade, so you must bring a book to read every day.
2. No food, pop, or candy. Gum is allowed if chewed properly. (I can’t see it or hear it.)
3. Come to class prepared. There are no trips to the hallway unless
it’s an “emergency.”
4.
Assignments not turned in at the beginning of class the day they are due are zeros. All late work is due on Fridays.
If the work is not done, you will stay after school on Friday until your work is done. If you do not
stay after school Friday, you will have one hour of detention on Monday - No exceptions. If
an assignment is never handed in, you will receive an incomplete for the quarter grade. After two weeks, incompletes
turn to failures. If you are absent (band lesson/sick), it is your responsibility to get the assignment for the next day.
I allow one day to turn in an assignment for each day you are absent. If
you are going to be gone the
day of a test, you should take the test before leaving if possible. Otherwise,
you get one week to make up
the test.
5. Store materials in a notebook and folder. Do
not put papers in your new textbooks!
6. You will not put away materials until I tell you. (One minute
before class is dismissed.)
7.
Loud quizzes will be given upon one or two warnings. The point value depends
on the extent of noise the
class is making. This is a punishment so the questions are difficult to answer correctly.
GRADING
I will use the following scale of percents
in determining your grades.
100 A+
87-89 B+
77-79 C+
67-69 D+
Below 60 F
93-99
A 83-86 B
73-76 C
63-66 D
90-92
A- 80-82 B-
70-72 C-
60-62 D-
When figuring your grades, all points will be grouped together for one grade.
MISCELLANEOUS
*You will have the opportunity to enter writing contests throughout the year.
*We will participate in the Spelling Bee this year; the elementary teachers will run it.
ACCELERATED READER
Accelerated Reader is a computerized test taking program for
reading. After you read an Accelerated Reader book you will take a test on the
computer. The number of points you earn is based on how many questions you answer
correctly. If you don’t pass the test (6/10 or 13/20), you don’t
get any points.
I will put you into teams for the Accelerated
Reader program. The winning team at the end of the year will get a pizza party. Throughout the year I will also give treats to individual readers who reach certain
point levels and who are the top readers on each team.
Your Accelerated Reader points will be
a part of your grade this year. However, you may only take tests on books with
a reading level of 5.0 or above. The following is the conversion for AR points
to grades (The first number is the amount of AR points in the quarter; the second number is the amount of points out of 40
that will go in the grade book.):
8.0=40 7.0=35 6.0=30
5.0=25 4.0=20 3.0=15
2.0=10 1.0=5
7.8=39 6.8=34 5.8=29
4.8=24 3.8=19 2.8=14
1.8=9 .8=4
7.6=38 6.6=33 5.6=28
4.6=23 3.6=18 2.6=13
1.6=8 .6=3
7.4=37 6.4=32 5.4=27
4.4=22 3.4=17 2.4=12
1.4=7 .4=2
7.2=36 6.2=31 5.2=26
4.2=21 3.2=16 2.2=11
1.2=6 .2=1
TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE
Greek and Latin roots throughout
the entire year.
Spelling/vocabulary during the first semester.
First Quarter (September 1-November 4)
Coming
of Age (September 1-16)
Drama
Unit - The Diary of Anne Frank (September 19-October 21)
Meeting
Challenges (October 24-November 4)
Second Quarter (November 8-January 19)
Reading Workbook (November 7-November 18)
Research Paper (November 21-January 13)
Practice State Reading Test (January 16-18)
Semester Test
Third Quarter (January 23-March 24)
Quest
for Justice (January 23-February 3)
Novel
– The Pearl (February 6-February 22)
Poetry
(February 23-March 10)
Short
Story (March 13-March 24)
Fourth Quarter (March 27-May 26)
Grammar
Unit (March 27-May 24)
Semester Test
