8th Grade Grammar and Mechanics

Mrs. Monibidor
kmonibidor@d59.k12.id.us
kmonibidor.weebly.com
Course Materials
Every student is expected to have a composition notebook, which you will use daily in and out of. You
will be able to buy these from the Middle School Office for 88 cents. These notebooks, which will contain the
bulk of your work for this class, will be due every two weeks.
Course Outcomes
Students will be able to use proper grammar and mechanics when writing in the English language
Students will be able to identify and/or classify: sentence parts, sentence types, parts of speech, phrases
and clauses, etc.
Students will understand how to properly break the rules of grammar
Students will understand how to use MLA and Chicago Style format
Course Overview
Welcome to your second semester of English 8! If we work hard throughout the semester, all of us can
be successful at using correct grammar and knowing when to break the rules :). We will also develop skills like
presenting, organizing our ideas, researching, and asking important questions. This course will focus on the
mechanics and history of the English language. I hope you will begin to see the complexity and the beauty of
language, and I hope you grow in your ability to work as a team.
Grading and Recurring Assignments
Letter Grade Percentage
A
93%-100%
A90%-92.9%
B+
87%-89.9%
B
83%-86.9%
B80%-82.9%
C+
77%-79.9%
C
73%-76.9%
C70%-72.9%
D+
67%-69.9%
D
63%-66.9%
D60%-62.9%
F
0%-59.9%
Newspaper
The main focus of this class will be producing a class newspaper every other week. The goal is to help
students get exposure to group work and editing skills. There will be several student roles used to create this
newspaper, which will rotate with each edition giving as many students as possible the opportunity to
participate in the role they wish. Here is a list of the different roles to make our paper a success (we will be
creating the different departments as a class):
Editor in chief
Department editor for __________________
Department editor for __________________

Department editor for __________________

Department editor for __________________
Department editor for __________________
Chief layout designer
Assistant layout designer 1
Assistant layout designer 2
Head of photography
Photographer #1
Photographer #2
Photographer #3
Photographer #4
Reporters 1-41

Newspaper Articles
You will all have the opportunity to write for our class newspaper. If you fail to meet a deadline, or fail
to make editorial changes on your article, it may be rejected from being published. You will still have the
opportunity to publish an article in the coming editions, but you will lose partial credit each time you fail to
publish. Each article written will be worth 25 points and graded using a common core writing rubric.
Class participation
You will be given 50 points for class participation at the beginning of the semester. To keep all your
participation points you must follow classroom procedures, be respectful, participate in class discussions, and
complete in-class assignments. You will lose points if you fail to do these things.
In-class work
You will be given in-class assignments throughout the week. These will usually be worksheets designed
to help you deepen you understanding of new concepts. There will be two worksheets per week; instead of
turning them in throughout the week, these worksheets will be due along with your notebooks, every two
weeks. This means you are responsible for holding on to them until they are due.
Research Paper
The final project for this class will be a research paper about an English dialect spoken anywhere in the
world. You will choose a specific dialect and learn about it. You will describe how that dialect is different from
the dialect you speak, and you will give the history of the dialect you chose. Why are those differences there?
Emigration, war, conquered lands, translation of certain texts, etc.
DOL (Daily Oral Language, or grammar practice)
If you have correctly completed the DOL grammar assignment for each day, you will receive 4 points
for the week. This adds up to 68 points throughout the semester. As we get closer to our research paper, we may
substitute our DOL for MLA citing practice.
Journal Entries
Journal entries will not be graded the same as other writing assignments, as they are personal and
informal. In order to get full credit for your journal entries you must write 3 times per week. This is one time I
will give you some kind of length requirement, since I can't grade based on content. You need to have written at
least page per entry.

Total Semester Points

DOL68 points (4 points per week)
Research Paper50 points
Journal entries102 points (6 points per week)
Participation50 points (Freely given at beginning of semester)
In-class assignments340 points (10 points each)
Newspaper project350 points (25 points per article, and 25 points for teamwork and effort=50 points per
newspaper edition)
TOTAL: 960 points available
Policies and Procedures
Respect, Professionalism, and Effort: There are three attitudes that I expect everybody to adopt while
in my classroom: respect, professionalism, and effort. You need to have respect for yourself, your classmates,
the teacher, and the classroom. I expect professionalismmeaning I expect you to be on time to class, turn in
your work on time, and to refrain from complaining. If you have a problem, please come talk to me about it
personally, or email me about it. Lastly, I expect you to put in your best effort to class discussions, group work,
and personal assignments. Your classmates deserve your best effort, and you deserve theirs!!
Cell Phone Policy: Our classroom is a cell-phone free zone. If you are caught using your cell phone it
will be taken from you and given to the office. You can pick it up there at the end of the day.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is when you claim or imply that somebody else's words or ideas are your own.
Plagiarism is not tolerated in our classroom. It is a form of cheating and is also illegal! First offense of
plagiarism will result in failure of the assignment. Second offense will result in failure from the class. If you
ever have any doubt about whether you should cite a source or not, stay on the safe side and cite it!
Late work: Late work will be docked 10% each day that it is late. Any assignments turned in 5 or more
days late can get no higher than a 50%. (Which is still better than a zero!). Work that is late because of absences
do not apply to this rule. Each day you are absent equals two free days to make up any work that was missed.
Re-do's: In my classroom there is an open re-submission policy! This means you can redo an
assignment as many times as you want until it is the grade you want (AS LONG AS the assignment was initially
turned in on time!). (hooray!) You can resubmit work up until two weeks before finals week. This does not
apply to newspaper articles as they have a solid deadline to be printed on time.
I have read and agree to the above material:
Parent Signature_______________________________

Date_________________________

Student Signature______________________________

Date_________________________

Course Calendar*
*(Exact dates may change based on circumstances and/or student needs)

Unit/Date
UNIT 1
Jan 22Feb 5

UNIT 2
Feb 9Feb 26

UNIT 3
March 2March 19

UNIT 4
March 23April 9

UNIT 5
April 13April 30

UNIT 6
May 4May 21

Topic and Goals

What is the purpose of communication?
Topic: Sentence Parts
Outcomes:
Learn Chicago formatting style
Identify sentence parts
Understand purpose of communication
Learn how to edit
How is information organized?
Topic: Parts of Speech
Outcomes:
Learn to work as a team
Learn the most effective way to organize
information
Identify parts of speech
How do visual materials send messages?
How does word choice affect meaning?
Topic: Mechanics
Outcomes:
Learn how to choose the best word to
communicate your thoughts
Use proper punctuation
Learn how to send messages through visuals
Where do words or phrases come from?
Topic: Usage
Outcomes:
Understand the origin of words and phrases
Understand that language is a matter of
convention
Learn to cite sources using MLA format
How can we use evaluation and reflection to
improve our writing?
Topic: Vocabulary
Outcomes:
Learn ways to improve our own writing
skills
Use different methods to learn the meaning
of new words
Am I really going to use this in real life?
Topic: Breaking the Rules
Outcomes:
Learn how to adapt speech and writing
based on audience
Ace the final!

Important due dates

With your notebook:
Weekly Writings
DOLs
Journal Entries
In-class assignments
With your notebook:
Weekly Writings
DOLs
Journal Entries
In-class assignments
FEB 12: 1st newspaper ready to print
FEB 26: 2nd newspaper ready to print
With your notebook:
Weekly Writings
DOLs
Journal Entries
In-class assignments
MAR 12: 3rd newspaper ready to print
With your notebook:
Weekly Writings
DOLs
Journal Entries
In-class assignments
MAR 26: 4th newspaper ready to print
APR 9: 5th newspaper ready to print
With your notebook:
Weekly Writings
DOLs
Journal Entries
In-class assignments
APR 16: Research paper due
APR 23: 6th newspaper ready to print
With your notebook:
Weekly Writings
DOLs
Journal Entries
In-class assignments
MAY 7: 7th newspaper ready to print

MAR 21: Final

(For another copy of this syllabus or other course documents, please visit kmonibidor.weebly.com)