year8

=**__Year 8__**=

In your second year at Heartlands, we will build on the key skills you have developed in Year 7. Your objective for this year is to achieve a Level above what you achieved in your end of Year 7 Test in both Reading and Writing in your 'End of Year 8 exams'.

You will practise **Writing** in a range of different ways and develop your **Reading** skills. There will be good opportunities to develop **Speaking and Listening** and you will become familiar with **ICT** resources at the school. Your progress will again be judged by a range of assessments throughout the year (APPLE)

You should still be working independently on [|'Grammar Games'] to improve your key skills throughout the year. By now you should be using many of the key skills developed in English to help you to continue to improve to read capably and write competently in other areas of the curriculum! **Improve your reading and writing skills by completing activities below:**

**IMPROVE MY READING SKILLS** **IMPROVE MY WRITING SKILLS**

**IMPROVE MY SPL AND DRAMA SKILLS**
 * You can also get ideas to boost your speaking and listening AND drama skills:**

=**__Assessing Progress in a Personalised Learning Environment (APPLE)__**=

At the end of Year 8, you will complete exams in Reading and Writing and these will allow your teachers to judge how much progress you have made in Year 8 and set you targets to help you improve further in Year 9 in preparation for your end of KS3 exams.

In your Year 8 exam, you should ideally achieve between 2 sub-levels and a whole level above what you achieved in your Year 7 exam! You can learn more about the different skill areas in both Reading and Writing by downloading the Assessment Focus (AF) document below:



You will complete a written task or a reading exercise each half term which will be assessed and awarded a **National Curriculum Level**. You must record this on the **Progress Log** in your English folder. If you do not have one, download one by clicking below or ask your teacher. This allows you to record and recognise which areas of reading/writing you are strong in, and which areas you need to practise further in preparation for the important end of KS3 exam at the end of Year 9.


 * __English Learning Conversation:__** ]

When you come back after a half-term holiday, during the second week, you will have a Learning Conversation. During this lesson, you will receive your APPLE Task completed with feedback from your teacher. It will be corrected and you canm see what you need to improve on. You will then need to fill in your Progress Log which is in your 'Progress and Independent Learning' mini-folder in a plastic wallet in your English folder.

The most important bit: YOU MUST THEN WORK INDEPENDENTLY to try to improve in the skill areas (Assessment Focuses) you didn't do so well in! You will have a lesson to explore how to do this more and learn a bit more more about the different assessed areas and what you can do to improve in each area each half-term to help you to improve independently.


 * __Making Progress:__**

The skills developed in Year 8 are aimed at helping pupils move to and consolidate the required Level 4/5 depending on prior KS2 SATS scores and enable them to make strides towards achieving 2 levels of progress by the end of Year 9. At the end of Year 8, pupils will complete the **'Optional Tests'** which assess both Reading and Writing. This will allow us to judge how much progress you have made in your first year at Heartlands in Reading and Writing. You can also find out how to develop the different skills you are tested on in Reading and Writing.

=**__Literacy Activities in Form Time__**=

Your form tutor will give you regular **writing tasks** linked to the theme of your assembly to develop your writing skills and you will also complete activities from Literacy Booklet 2 and continue to enjoy **reading independently** and complete regular book reviews for your Record of Achievement folders. These activities will be completed in Tutor time and they help you to practise skills required to succeed in English - and other areas of the curriculum too!


 * __Developing Literacy In Form Time__**

- Literacy Booklet 2 work - Independent Reading**
 * - Writing

Your tutor will encourage you to develop your literacy skills by **improving your writing with regular tasks and encouraging you to complete literacy activities from your booklet as well as reading independently and complete book reviews for your Record of Achievement.**



=**__Competitions__**=


 * Short Story Competition** - Spring/Summer Term - this competition will come in the form of an Interactive Story on the website. The Year group will be invited to submit a paragraph to continue a story. There is a prize at the end of the year for the best paragraph.

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 * Inter-Form Debate** - Autumn Term - members of each form will compete against each other either FOR or AGAINST a variety of topics in front of the rest of the year during assembly. The winning form representative will go through to the next round until only two are left to battle it out in the final!

=**__Topics You Will Study in Year 8:__**=

Throughout the year, you will practise your skills by doing work around different topics. These topics are:


 * Half Term 1 - Myths, Legends and Monsters - Writing To Imagine and Entertain

Half Term 2 - War - Writing To Comment

Half Term 3 - Mobile Phones - Writing To Argue**


 * Half Term 4 - Animals - Writing To Explore

Half Term 5 - Holes - Writing To Inform**


 * Half Term 6 - Travel Writing - Year 8 Progress Tests**

=__**Skills you will develop in Year 8:**__=

Students will learn to:

__**General Skills**__

- Review and revise spelling of key terms and new words from across the curriculum and devising your own strategies to help you think about how words are formed - Recognising and combining clauses to create complex sentences - Explore the impact of sentence structure/length (longer and shorter sentences) - Choosing adjectives and adverbs for particular effect - Develop different ways of linking paragraphs through a variety of connectives - Explore how to use sentences for effect within a paragraph (for comparison) - Revise how and when to paragraph effectively - Using punctuation effectively including semi-colons and colons - Explore the effects of changes in tense (past to present) - Use direct and repoorted speech effectively - Understand the difference between formal/informal language - Draw on your knowledge of other languages to identify how words are formed - Understand different text types and how they relate to writing in different subjects across the curriculum


 * __Reading__

You will read a range of fiction/non-fiction in lessons in Year 8 and we will encourage you to use the Library to research around topics across the curriculum and to read fiction independently.**

Students will learn to:


 * Research and Study Skills:**

- Combine information from various sources into one text - Undertake independent research using a range of different sources (print and ICT) - Make clear notes in different ways that pick out key points for later use (diagrams, notes for speed etc) - Acknowledge sources


 * Reading For Meaning Skills:**

- Identify the main points and sequences of a text - Identify the themes, values or ideas in a text and how they are conveyed (irony, satire) - Investigate how meanings are changed when texts are in different forms or different media - Read between the lines and recognise how writers use language to make meaning - Recognise the difference between the views of the writer and the views of others in the text - Identify how media texts are shaped by the technology they use (the use of sound, moving images)


 * Understanding the Author's Craft:**

- Comment on how writers create setting, character and mood through their choices of words or structure of sentences - Recognise how writers' language choices can enhance meaning, e.g. //repetition, emotive vocabulary// - investigate the different ways familiar themes are explored and presented by different writers;


 * Study of Literary Texts:**

- record and review the development of independent reading, and identify ways of increasing its challenge and range - recognise the conventions of some common literary forms, identifying genre - identify links between literary heritage texts and their times - recognise how texts refer to and reflect the culture in which they were produced

=**__Writing - You will complete 6 assessments__**=

You will be learning how to:

- experiment with different approaches to planning thinking about content and style - develop a fluent, legible handwriting style which can be maintained under pressure - plan, draft and redraft effectively with an audience in mind


 * You will be assessed in six different ways of writing this year. One of these assessments will be completed each half term:

1) __Writing To Imagine, Explore and Entertain__**

- structure a story with an opening, a development and a satisfying ending - experiment with figurative language to describe character and setting - create characters through their descriptions, speech and actions - experiment with presenting material in different forms and develop an imaginative tratement of familiar materials (updating traditional tales)


 * __2) Writing To Inform__**

- organise your text appropriately using paragraphs/sub-headings - present information using examples - organise and present information, selecting appropriate material and guiding the reader clearly through the text, e.g. //an information leaflet//


 * __3) Writing To Describe__**

- describe objects, people or settings in a way that includes lots of details and figurative language - describe an event, process or situation, using appropriate language, e.g. //a school prospectus//


 * __4) Writing To Argue__**

- present a case persuasively, making use of evidence, using appropriate rhetorical devices and anticipating responses and objections;
 * -** develop arguments in ways that make the logic clear to the reader;


 * __5) Writing To Advise__**

- give written advice which offers alternatives and takes account of the possible consequences, e.g. //money management for young people;//


 * __6) Writing To Analyse, Comment - Essay about Mobile Phones__**

- **weigh different viewpoints and present a balanced analysis of an event or issue, e.g. //an environmental issue or historical investigation//**

You will also need to **Write To Review** about one text that you have :

Download your **Independent Reading Project** here to help you to complete your assessed **Book Review

**

=**__Speaking and Listening__**=

Students will learn to:


 * Speaking:**

- tell a story, recount an experience or develop an idea, choosing and changing the mood, tone and pace of delivery for particular effect - make a formal presentation in standard English, using appropriate rhetorical devices; - provide an explanation or commentary which links words with actions or images, e.g. //a sports commentary or talking to a sequence of images//; - ask questions to clarify understanding and refine ideas;


 * Listening:**

- listen for a specific purpose, paying sustained attention - recognise the range of ways messages are expressed


 * Group Discussion:

-** reflect on individual strengths as contributors to group - recognise and build on other people's contributions; - take different roles in discussion, helping to develop ideas, and report the main ideas;


 * Drama:**

- explore and develop ideas, issues and relationships through work in role; - reflect on participation in drama and identify areas for development of dramatic techniques