The lessons in this Guide cover author’s purpose, setting, vivid language in poetry, writing about culture, details in writing, character development, figurative language, conflict, symbolism, humor, meter in poetry, and writing a literary analysis. Mini-lessons cover taking notes, rewriting in your own words, free verse and ballad, rewriting your own words, citing sources, bibliography, fun poems, genre fiction, sentence structure, and more. The workpages give students the chance to practice the skills and concepts learned in the lessons along with composition skills (writing from note cards, rewriting in your own words, etc.), thinking skills (e.g., differentiating fact from opinion, identifying bias), and grammar review (e.g., capitalization, pronouns and antecedents)

The Student Book includes instructional text, shorter works (i.e. poetry, excerpts), author background, discussion questions (comprehension, thought, literary), and writing exercises.

There are required literature resources to use with each course. While you may be able to locate some or all of the books at a library, we also offer the Grade 8 Pack that include the necessary books plus the student and teacher books. This pack is available either with or without the Stories and Poems book that is also used in the 7th grade course.

Grade 8 literature selections include: Hobbit, To Kill a Mockingbird, Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw, My Family and Other Animals, Christmas Carol, Treasure Island,and Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages.