Language Arts
Grade 8: Reading |
Planning: Term # Tracking: Ach. Level |
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Overall Expectations |
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1.
read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary, graphic, and
informational texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning; |
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2.
recognize a variety of text forms, text features, and stylistic elements and
demonstrate understanding of how they help communicate meaning; |
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3.
use knowledge of words and cueing systems to read fluently; |
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4.
reflect on and identify their strengths as readers, areas for improvement,
and the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading. |
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Specific Expectations
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1.
Reading for Meaning |
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Variety
of Texts: 1.1 read a wide variety of increasingly complex or difficult texts
from diverse cultures, including literary texts (e.g., short stories, novels,
poetry, essays, science fiction, memoirs, scripts, satire), graphic texts
(e.g., graphs and graphic organizers, charts and tables, surveys, maps,
spreadsheets), and informational texts (e.g., essays, Canadian and global
print and online sources, electronic texts, textbooks, dictionaries, thesauri,
websites, transcripts) |
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Purpose:
1.2 identify a variety of purposes for reading and choose increasingly
complex or difficult reading materials appropriate for those purposes (e.g.,
several online or print articles by the same author to identify consistency or
change in the author 's point of view; websites for information on a topic
from different sources; stories from different cultures, including Aboriginal
cultures, to compare treatments of similar themes) |
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Comprehension
Strategies: 1.3 identify a variety of reading comprehension strategies and
use them appropriately before, during, and after reading to understand
increasingly complex or difficult texts (e.g., activate prior knowledge on a
topic through dialogue or by developing mind maps; use visualization and
comparisons with images in other texts or media to clarify impressions of
characters, scenes, or concepts; ask questions to monitor and clarify
understand ing; identify important ideas; synthesize ideas to broaden
understanding) |
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Demonstrating
Understanding: 1.4 demonstrate understanding of increasingly complex and
difficult texts by summarizing important ideas and explaining how the details
support the main idea (e.g.,
theme or argument and supporting evidence in reviews, essays, plays, poems;
key information and related data in public documents, online and print
reference articles, manuals, surveys, graphs, tables and charts, websites,
transcripts) |
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Making
Inferences/Interpreting Texts: 1.5 develop and explain interpretations of
increasingly complex or difficult texts using stated and implied ideas from
the texts to support their interpretations Teacher
prompt: "How do the stated and unstated messages in the dialogue between
these characters complicate the plot of this story? What details in the
dialogue support your interpretation?” |
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Extending
Understanding: 1.6 extend understanding of texts, including increasingly
complex or difficult texts, by connecting the ideas in them to their own
knowledge, experience, and insights, to other texts, and to the world around
them. Teacher prompts: "Do you have knowledge or experiences that affect
the way you interpret the author's message?" "How does the author's
approach differ from the approach in other articles you have read on this
topic?" |
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Analysing
Texts: 1.7
analyse a variety of texts, including complex or difficult texts, and explain
how the various elements in them contribute to meaning and influence the
reader's reaction (e.g., narrative: rising action holds attention and creates
suspense; report on an investigation: the opening paragraph tells the reader
about the purpose, goals, and audience for the report). Teacher prompts:
"Why does the author spend so much time describing the preparation for
the race?" "How does the information in the opening paragraph help
you understand the rest of the report?" |
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Responding
to and Evaluating Texts: 1.8 evaluate the effectiveness of a text based on
evidence taken from that text. Teacher prompts: "Were the instructions
for doing the experiment clear and easy to follow? Why or why not?"
"Were the author's arguments well supported by credible evidence? Did
the arguments make sense? Why, or why not?" "Identify three uses of
imagery in the poem and explain how they help the poet communicate the theme
effectively." |
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Point
of View: 1.9 identify the point of view presented in texts, including
increasingly complex or difficult texts; give evidence of any biases they may
contain; and suggest other possible perspectives (e.g., determine whether an
environmental argument should include an economic perspective or an economic
argument should include an environmental perspective). Teacher prompt:
"How will the addition of another perspective affect the impact or
appeal of the text?" |
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2.
Understanding Form and Style |
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Text
Forms: 2.1 analyse a variety of text forms and explain how their particular
characteristics help communicate meaning, with a focus on literary texts such
as a memoir (e.g., the author's personality and/or special experience of the
subject are an important part of the narrative, even if the author is not the
subject of the narrative), graphic texts such as a map (e.g., the different
colours for land and water help readers understand what geographical features
they are looking at), and informational texts such as a magazine article
(e.g., sidebars allow minor themes to be developed in detail without
interrupting the main narrative) |
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Text
Patterns: 2.2 analyse increasingly complex texts to identify different types
of organizational patterns used in them and explain how the patterns help
communicate meaning (e.g., a "before-and-after"comparison in an
advertisement; time order and cause and effect in an online magazine or
newspaper article) |
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Text
Features: 2.3 identify a variety of text features and explain how they help
communicate meaning (e.g., tree diagrams, tables, endnotes, and "Works
Cited"or "References" lists help readers locate information
and understand its context). Teacher prompt: "What do the types of
sources in the 'References' list tell you about the author's research?" |
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Elements
of Style: 2.4 identify a range of elements of style - including symbolism,
irony, analogy, metaphor, and other rhetorical devices - and explain how they
help communicate meaning and enhance the effectiveness of texts (e.g., the
use of dramatic irony, in which the audience understands the implications of
words or actions better than the characters do themselves, can create humour
or a sense of foreboding) |
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3.
Reading with Fluency |
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Reading
Familiar Words: 3.1 automatically read and understand most words in a wide
range of reading contexts (e.g., words from grade-level texts; terminology
used in discussions and posted in the classroom; words from shared-, guided-,
and independent- reading texts, electronic texts, and resource material used
in the curriculum subject areas) |
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Reading
Unfamiliar Words: 3.2 predict the meaning of and rapidly solve unfamiliar
words using different types of cues, including: •
semantic (meaning) cues (e.g., base words, prefixes, suffixes, phrases,
sentences, and visuals that activate existing knowledge of oral and written
language); •
syntactic (language structure) cues (e.g., word order and the relationship
between words, language patterns, punctuation); •
graphophonic (phonological and graphic) cues (e.g., familiar words within
larger words, syllables within larger words, similarities between words with
known spelling patterns and unknown words) Teacher
prompt: "Read to the end of the paragraph and see if the context will
help you solve the word. Is the word essential to your understanding? If so,
reread and see if you can solve the word by..." |
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Reading
Fluently: 3.3 read appropriate texts with expression and confidence,
adjusting reading strategies and reading rate to match the form and purpose
(e.g., orally read to entertain a younger class, using suitable emphasis,
intonation, and phrasing) |
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4.
Reflecting on Reading Skills and Strategies |
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Metacognition:
4.1 identify the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after
reading and explain, in conversation with the teacher and/or peers or in a
reader's notebook/reflective journal, how they can use these and other strategies
to improve as readers. Teacher prompts: "What strategies do you use most
consistently to help you understand a new text?" "What types of
questions do you ask yourself to help you monitor your reading?"
"What 'fix-up' strategies do you use when you don't understand?"
"What strategies do you use confidently and effectively?" |
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Interconnected
Skills: 4.2 explain, in conversation with the teacher and/or peers or in a
reader's notebook/reflective journal, how their skills in listening,
speaking, writing, viewing, and representing help them make sense of what
they read. Teacher prompts: "Did watching the television program about
space exploration help you when you were reading the newspaper reports of the
space probe?" "How does creating online texts help you read
electronic texts?" "What lessons have you learned as a writer/listener
that will make you a better reader?" |
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Expectations: Copyright The Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2006. Format: Copyright B.Phillips, 1998.