Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Grade 8 Unit 1: Fiction - Character
Common Core Grade Level Standards
RL.8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development
over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting,
and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.8.3 Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama
propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
RL8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific
word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
RL.8.5 Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how
the differing structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style.
SCSD Recommended Text
Short Stories
 The Treasure of Lemon Brown,
Walter Dean Myers
 Abuela Invents the Zero, Judith Ortiz
Cofer
 The Medicine Bag, Virginia Driving
Hawk Sneve
 The Stolen Party, Liliana Heker
Poems
 Casey at Bat, Ernest Thayer
 Mother to Son, Langston Hughes
 Harlem (A Dream Deferred), Langston
Hughes
Novels:
 The House on Mango Street by Sandra
Cisneros
Curriculum Teaching Points
1.1 Readers generate ideas about the theme of a text is by asking, “What is this mostly
about? What is the author saying about this topic?”
1.2 Readers study a theme through different elements (characters, setting, plot). As readers
consider a theme, they think: In what ways does the development of the
[character/setting/action] support this theme?
1.4 Readers connect specific, relevant details in a text to the theme. They look for lines in
the text (related to any of the story elements) that support a theme.
1.5 Readers summarize key events by asking themselves, “Which events are important to
the theme?”
1.6 Readers pay attention to what the character does, says, and thinks to determine
character traits.
1.9 Readers know that authors use specific words to create a tone. They reread to note
words that evoke strong reactions.
1.11 Readers identify when an author uses figurative language by locating examples of
metaphors, similes, alliteration, and personification.
1.13 Readers use text structure to predict how information will be revealed in a literary text
Supplemental Texts and Resources for ELLs
Short Stories
 Cinder Edna, Ellen Jackson, (Bridges to
Literature III)
 The No-Guitar Blues, Gary Soto, (Bridges
Children’s Books
to Literature III)
 For teaching character development:
 The Stolen Party, Liliana Heker, (Bridges
Coming On Home Soon by Jacqueline
to Literature III)
Woodson (Read-Aloud/ Think-Aloud
 from Hoot, Carl Hiaasen, (Longman
Protocol)
Keystone A)
Drama
 Ali, Child of the Desert, Jonathan London,
 Sorry, Wrong Number
(Longman Keystone B)
 From River to Tomorrow, Ellen Levine,
* additional scaffolds, supports,
(Longman Keystone B)
resources, and tools can be found in the
Poems
district curriculum
 Desert Women, Pat Mora, (Longman
Keystone B)
 Casey at the Bat, Ernest Lawrence Thayer,
(Longman Keystone A)
Picture Books
 Coming on Home Soon, Jacqueline Woods
Grade 8, Unit 1
Drama
 The Telephone, John Murray,
(Bridges to Literature III)
Websites:
 Interactive-elements of a story
Graphic Organizers:
 Interactive-story map
Videos:
 Tone and Mood
Other:
 Song-five elements of a story
 Picture books to help with character
development
 Bilingual dictionaries and glossaries
September 2014 Grade 8 page 1
Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Grade 8 Unit 2: Informational Text - Child Labor
Common Core Grade Level Standards
RI.8.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an
objective summary of the text
Curriculum Teaching Points
2.1 Readers generate ideas about the central ideas of a text by asking, “What is this mostly
about? What is the author saying about this topic?”
RI.8.3 Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between
individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).
2.3 Readers connect specific, relevant details in a text to the central idea. Readers do this
by looking for supporting ideas that support the central idea. Readers then summarize key
events and ideas by asking themselves, “Which events are important to the central idea?”
RI.8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other
text.
2.4 Readers recognize and track connections among individuals, ideas, and events as they
read. They can do this by roadmapping and asking themselves: “How are the individuals,
ideas or events related? How do they connect? What idea do I have about what this text is
saying?”
RI.8.5 Analyze in detail the structure of a specific paragraph in a text, including
the role of a particular sentence in developing and refining a key concept.
2.9 Readers reflect on a feature of text and identify how it relates to the central idea by
asking, "Why did the author choose to include this feature in the text? How does this
feature contribute to the central idea?”
RI.8.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing
whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient;
recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced.
SCSD Recommended Text
Excerpts from:
 Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The
Triangle Fire and Its Legacy, Albert
Marrin
Non Fiction:
 Child Labor in Factories
 Child Labor
 History of Labor Day , TIME for Kids
 Illegal Child Labor Puts Food on
Tables of Americans
 Fact Sheet: A summary of the rights
under the Convention on the Rights of
the Child (UNICEF)
 Underage workers in Iowa meat
packing plant , New York Times
 China Exposes Child Labor Ring,
New York Times
 Children Toil in India’s Mines
From Glencoe:
 Coming to America, MCGowan,
Wong, Bane, and Morice
 Passing the Torch, Lisa Takeuchi
Cullen
 The Great Fire, Jim Murphy
 The March of the Mill Children, Judith
Pinkerton Josephson
Current Examples and Issues:
* additional scaffolds, supports,
resources, and tools can be found in the
district curriculum
2.11 Readers identify specific claims within a text by reviewing the supporting ideas
around the central idea.
Supplemental Texts and Resources for ELLs
Short Stories
 Ancient Kids, (Longman Keystone A)
Non Fiction
 Deadly factory collapse calls into
question the cost of cheap clothes, Max
Fox, News ELA
 A hard fight to end child labor abuse on
the West African cocoa farms,
McClatchy-Tribune, News ELA
 One Million Children Labor in Africa's
Goldmines, Larry Price, PBS
 A History of Child Labor, Scholastic
 Young Fishermen Labor on Isolated
Wooden Piers, Scholastic News
 Voices from the Field: Mexico, Scholastic
News
 Working Kids in Turkey, Scholastic News
 Grolier Research and Reference: Child
Labor, Scholastic
Template for analysis
 P.O.S.E.R.S
 History Place-Child labor in America
 Pictures of Child Labor
Video Clips
 Labor Movement Videos
 Child Labor Video
Websites
 Free the Children
 Child info-UNICEF
Other: Bilingual dictionary and glossaries
September 2014 Grade 8 page 2
Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Grade 8 Unit 3: Literary and Informational Texts - Life Lessons
Common Core Grade Level Standards
RL.8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development
over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and
plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
RI. 8.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an
objective summary of the text.
RL.8.3 Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama
propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
RI. 8.3 Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between
individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).
RL .8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word
choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
RI.8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to
other text.
RL.8.5 Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how
the differing structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style.
Curriculum Teaching Points
3.2 Readers can connect specific, relevant details in a text to the theme or central idea.
They do this by looking for lines in the text that support a theme or central idea.
3.3 Readers can summarize key events by asking themselves, “Which events are
important to the theme or central idea?”
3.4a Readers can track changes in a character by looking closely at the character’s actions
and reactions.
3.6 Readers can explain how authors use specific words to create a tone. They reread to
note words that evoke strong reactions. They think to themselves, “How does the author
feel about this topic?” and “What evidence do I have from the text to support this?
3.8 Readers can identify when an author uses figurative language by locating examples of
metaphors, similes, idioms, alliteration, and personification.
3.10 Readers can explain what affect certain words and phrases have on the central idea
by asking, “Why does the author use these words or phrases?” (Teacher questions: Some
words are more important than others. Which words feel important? What do they
suggest? Why does the author choose certain words?)
3.12 Readers can look for particular structures within a paragraph that develop or refine a
key concept (central idea). They ask themselves, “What role do these sentences play in
developing the concept or idea? How does this specific structure add to the meaning of the
central idea?
RI .8.5 Analyze in detail the structure of a specific paragraph in a text, including
the role of a particular sentence in developing and refining a key concept.
RI.8.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how
the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence
or viewpoints
RI.8.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing
whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize
when irrelevant evidence is introduced.
RI 8.9 Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the
same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation
September 2014 Grade 8 page 3
SCSD Recommended Text
Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Supplemental Texts and Resources for ELLs
Novel:
 Monster, Walter Dean Myers
Non Fiction:
 Why Children Are Killing Children, Joy Bennett Kinnon
 Reducing Youth Incarceration, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
 Teenage Criminals Should Not be Tried as Adults, Lisa Young
 Criminal Youth Should Be Imprisoned, James Backstrom
Poetry:
 The 6th Sense, Dominique Belanger
 Regret, Brooke Hoffer
 The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost
Picture Books:
 Just One Flick of a Finger, Marybeth Lorbiecki and David Diaz
 Harlem, Walter Dean Myers
* additional scaffolds, supports, resources, and tools can be found in the district
curriculum
Short Stories
 from The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung, Laurence Yep, (Longman Keystone B)
 The Marble Champ, Gary Soto, (Longman Keystone B)
Fable /Myth:
 The Hare and the Tortoise, Aesop, (Longman Keystone A)
 Orpheus and Eurydice, (Longman Keystone A)
Poems:
 My Man Blue, Nikki Grimes, (Bridges to Literature II)
Non Fiction:
 Little things are Big, Jesus Colon, (Bridges to Literature II)
Graphic Organizers:
 Central Idea and Patterns
 Central Idea
 Character Traits and Evidence
Other:
 Figurative Language Examples
 Figurative Language Chart and Examples
 Bilingual dictionaries and glossaries
Grade 8, Unit 3
September 2014 Grade 8 page 4
Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Grade 8 Unit 5: Reading and Writing Integrated Research
Common Core Grade Level Standards
RI.8.1, RI.8.2, RI. 8.4 Researchers collect important ideas and vocabulary about a
topic.
RI. 8.6 Researchers collect and analyze information from multiple sources in
order to learn about similarities and differences in the POV represented by
different authors.
RI.8.7 Researchers collect and analyze information from multiple sources in
order to learn about a topic.
Curriculum Teaching Points
5.1 Readers identify, track, and analyze text evidence by creating a roadmap. They
roadmap for theme/central idea, patterns, character motivations, author’s perspective, and
the interaction of story elements.
5.4 Readers study a central idea through its relationship to supporting ideas. As they do
this, they ask, “In what ways do these ideas support the central idea?”
5.7 Researchers gather information by reading multiple texts (print and digital) on a topic
with their research questions in mind. Then they begin to focus their research questions
into one that is relatively specific and manageable.
RI.8.9 Researchers compare and contrast information about a topic.
5.13 Research writers organize chunks of information by using boxes and bullets.
W.8.7 Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several
sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate.
W8.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and
strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a
new approach.
W.8.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as
well as to interact and collaborate with others
5.14 Researchers give credit to their sources by using quotation marks when writing down
or quoting word for word from the text.
5.15 Researchers keep careful track of their sources by keeping a running bibliography of
the author, title and page number(s) or the URL of a digital source on index cards or in a
notebook.
5.21 Researchers identify two different perspectives that have emerged from their research.
They organize the textual evidence by perspective and begin to plan how to use that
information on their product. For example, one partner may take on the perspective of a SS
soldier, while another takes on the perspective of a prisoner.
5.23 Writers create product drafts by using the organizers and plans they have created.
5.26 Writers celebrate their works by performing their two-voice poems.
September 2014 Grade 8 page 5
SCSD Recommended Text
Main Text
 Night by Elie Wiesel
Supportive Texts
 The Boys Who Fought The Nazis by
Kristen Lewis (Scholastic Scope,
April 8, 2013, Vol.16, No.9)
 The Diary of Anne Frank (Drama) by
Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
(Glencoe pgs. 758-849)
 from Anne Frank: The Diary of a
Young Girl by Anne Frank (Glencoe
pgs. 853-863)
 from Sky by Hanneke Ippisch
(Glencoe pgs. 865-870)
 Hitler Youth: Growin Up in Hitler’s
Shadow
 The Holocaust: The Fire That Raged
 Museum Quotations: You are My
Witnesses from the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum
Poetry
 At First They Came for the
Communists
 The Butterfly
 Homesick
 Fear
Children’s Books
 Benno and the Night of Broken Glass
by Meg Wiviott
 Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocenti
 Star of Fear, Star of Hope by Jo
Hoestlandt & Johanna Kang
 Terrible Things by Eve Bunting (can
be found in the old Bridges to
Literature)
 The Yellow Star: The Legend of King
Christian X of Denmark by Carmen
Agra Deedy
Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Supplemental Texts and Resources for ELLs
 Timeline
 Different examples of persecution
during the Holocaust
 The Rise of Adolf Hitler
 Timeline of Adolf Hitler’s life
 Excerpts from Hitler’s speech to the
Reichstag on the Jewish Question
Videos
 Opera Winfrey’s Interview with Elie
Wiesel:
 Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,
Part 6
 Historical Film Footage
 Concentration Camp Liberation
 Hitler’s Youth Rally Speech
 Photos
 Concentration Camp Photos (Elie
Wiesel appears in #10)
 Nazi Propaganda
 Japanese-American Internment
Camps
 General Information
 War Relocation Authority Camps in
Arizona (site includes map of
concentration camp locations in the
US)
 Internment History (This is a
resource that documents Roosevelt’s
Executive Order for JapaneseAmerican citizens to relocate to the
concentration camps, as well as other
historical documents, timeline, and
photos.)
 The Japanese and “Money Trees”
(excerpt from A Different Mirror For
Young People: A History of
Multicultural America) by Ronald
Takaki
Short Stories
 Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki,
(Bridges to Literature II)
 Terrible Things: An Allegory of the
Holocaust by Eve Bunting, (Bridges to
Literature III)
 From Hiroshima by Laurence Yep,
(Bridges to Literature III)
 From Anne Frank: Child of the
Holocaust by Gene Brown , (Bridges to
Literature III)
Poems
 Floating Lanterns XII by Iri and Toshi
Maruki, (Bridges to Literature III)
Novel
 Number The Stars by Lois Lowry
 Sadako and the Thousand Cranes by
Eleanor Coerr
 Pearl Harbor is Burning by Kathleen
Kudlinski
Picture Books
 Picture Book of Anne Frank by
David Adler
 The Bracelet by Yoshiko Uchida
 Hiroshima No Pika by Toshi
Maruki
 Faithful Elephants by Yukio
Tsuchiya
Websites
 Jews in Oswego
 Jews in Oswego Video Clip
Other
 Bilingual dictionaries and glossaries
Grade 8, Unit 5
September 2014 Grade 8 page 6
Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Websites
 United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum
 The Holocaust History Project
 World War II and America’s Ethnic
Problem (excerpt from A Different
Mirror For Young People: A History
of Multicultural America) by Ronald
Takaki
 America at War (chapter from A
Young People’s History of the United
States) by Howard Zinn
 “It Can’t Be Helped” by Jeannie
Wakatsuki Houston (from Farewell
to Manzanar)
*Additional scaffolds, supports,
resources, and tools can be found in the
district curriculum
Grade 8, Unit 5
September 2014 Grade 8 page 7