This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 8th Grade ELA. 

In this lesson, students solve unknown words using context clues, select and generate words for semantic gradients, and develop new semantic gradients and contexts.

In the magazine article, “The Story of an Eyewitness,” Jack London describes the effects of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. His account describes its immediate aftermath and utter destruction of the city by the ensuing fire. The National Archives article provides a brief third-person account of the San Francisco Earthquake that can be used to compare and contrast first- versus third-person accounts of the same event. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this history through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

In this lesson, students will learn strategies and activities for learning about economics, civics and government, and U.S. history text through reading, taking notes, and composing a response about capitalism through a claims and evidence based approach.

In this lesson, students will become familiar with analyzing events and ideas using primary and secondary sources. Tasks involve evaluating text for author’s point of view; determining central ideas, reviewing information for cause and effect relationships, as well as distinguishing fact from opinion using political cartoons.

In this lesson, students read an article that describes the orbital path, or trajectory, of Dione, one of Saturn's many moons. Students will use a graphic organizer that includes a definition, examples, synonyms, and pictures of the word "trajectory."

In this lesson, students read an article that describes the process scientists use to observe and collect evidence about the life cycle of a star. As they read, they will focus on vocabulary skills. Students will benefit from opportunities to hear and use precise scientific words while engaging with text.

Students are presented with a paired critical reading activity uses excertps from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and a New York Times article "˜History of Lynchings in the South Documents Nearly 4,000 Names"™ to exlplore the deep and painful history of racial injustice in the south. Included are close fiction/non-fiction analysis, varied media resources, and writing assignments.

In this resource from the New York Times, a paired critical reading activity uses excertps from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and a New York Times article ‘History of Lynchings in the South Documents Nearly 4,000 Names’ to exlplore the deep and painful history of racial injustice in the south. Included are close fiction/non-fiction analysis, varied media resources, and writing assignments.

In this activity, students complete a primary source worksheet focused on close reading skills. Students are asked to read and analyze Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789.

This lesson from the New York Times offers suggestions for making TheTimes a low-stress part of your classroom routine, followed by literacy strategies to help address the Standards before, during, and after reading Times content with your students.

Suggestions for making TheTimes a low-stress part of your classroom routine, followed by literacy strategies to help address the Standards before, during, and after reading Times content with your students.

This lesson focuses on the concept of the afterlife and the importance of pleasing the gods and goddesses, the significance of tombs and tomb building, and the burial customs and traditions of the ancient Egyptians. After learning about all of these concepts, students will design a tomb, create a model of it, and complete a short written assignment explaining the design and contents of the tomb.

Worksheets and activities with answer keys to help students of differing levels identify the tone used in selected passages.

This lesson focuses on the importance of geographic features and the abundance of natural resources that helped ancient Egypt become the world's first superpower. Students will learn about the geography and resources available to the ancient Egyptians and create a multimedia tour that demonstrates this learning to others.

In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this history through these stories with text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

The Researching to Deepen Understanding units lay out an inquiry process through which students learn how to deepen their understanding of topics. Students pose and refine inquiry questions, exploring areas they wish to investigate. They find and assess sources and organize researched material in ways that will support their analysis and integration of information. As their inquiry progresses, they evaluate and extend their research, synthesize their information, and eventually express their evolving evidence-based perspective.

In this lesson, students use previewing to activate their prior knowledge and set a purpose for reading. Using a strategy called THIEVES, which is an acronym for title, headings, introduction, every first sentence in a paragraph, visuals and vocabulary, end-of-chapter questions, and summary, students are guided through a preview of a nonfiction text. After guided practice, partners work together to use the strategy to preview a chapter from a textbook.

In Lesson 1, students focus on the first stave of the novel as they identify the meanings of words and phrases that may be unfamiliar to them. This activity facilitates close examination of and immersion in the text and leads to an understanding of Scrooge before his ghostly experiences. In Lesson 2, students examine Scrooge’s experiences with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future and discover how Dickens used both direct and indirect characterization to create a protagonist who is more than just a stereotype. In Lesson 3, students focus on stave 5 as they identify and articulate themes that permeate the story.

This cross-curricular ELA/science module consists of three units. In Unit 1, students build background knowledge about the central role that water plays in all life. In Unit 2, students use the US Environmental Protection Agency My WATERS Mapper to explore major US watersheds and the USGS National Water Information System to examine their local watershed. Unit 3 provides scaffolding toward students' summative writing assessment.