= Partner Site8th Grade Worksheets & Activities
Welcome to our 8th grade worksheets! As eighth grade learners prepare for the first year of high school, they polish the skills they have and enjoy learning experiences that offer a different kind of flexibility than they are likely to face in high school.
Eighth graders require developed skills in informative and argument style writing, confident reading skills across genres, and skills in presentation and discussion. They are also asked to synthesize more often by gathering ideas and finding the connections. The demands of this age, across content areas, depend heavily on well-rounded literacy skills. Beyond this, these learners will likely be looking to the future and need to fine-tune their skills in executive functioning.
Dr. Dian Fossey, founder of the Karisoke Research Center in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda, initiated groundbreaking studies of mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. She was considered one of the world’s foremost primatologists and animal conservationists. Along with primatologists Jane Goodall and Birutė Galdikas, she was known as one…
This passage is from Act V, Scene 5 of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. The title character Macbeth is a Scottish general who receives a prophecy that he would one day be King of Scotland. He becomes ambitious and eager to make the prophecy come true. He is encouraged by his wife,…
This poem appears at the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. The opening is comparing the statue to the ancient Colossus of Rhodes. ——————————————- Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates…
The main character in A Christmas Carol is Ebenezer Scrooge. While he is quite wealthy, he is also greedy, selfish, unkind, and mean-spirited. He despises Christmas and all those who enjoy the kindness and generosity Christmas brings. Late one Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his business…
Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is about two cities — London and Paris — during the French Revolution. This passage is about the time when the guillotine, a killing machine developed to efficiently behead people, was in steady use by the new government in France. ——————————— There was…
Edgar Allan Poe wrote several poems that contained a secret. An Enigma is one of those poems. Enigma means puzzle or mystery. There is a woman’s name hidden in the text. To find her name, use the first letter of the first line, the second letter of the second line,…
John Muir (1838 – 1914) was an American naturalist and conservationist. Shortly after he arrived in California in 1868, he was hired to oversee shepherds taking a flock of sheep to summer pasture in the Sierra Nevada mountains. He kept a diary of his trip, and he published it in…
In 1879 famed Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson traveled by ship across the Atlantic to New York, then by train to San Francisco. He wrote of his travels in his book Across the Plains. In this passage he reflects on the other passengers on the train. ———————————————– I had by…
This editorial from The (New York City) Sun was first published in 1897. It is in response to a real letter received by the newspaper. —————————————- Is There a Santa Claus? We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our…
RMS Titanic was an ocean liner built in 1912. One of the largest liners of the time, it had many modern design elements and luxury features. The Titanic began its maiden voyage, or first trip, on April 10, 1912 carrying over 2,300 passengers and crew. The ship was to travel…
