Hi MS 118 Class of 2021! Let’s get ready for your 8th grade year. MS 118 students are expected to complete summer assignments in their four content areas (English Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science). These assignments will be your first grades of the new school year.
Take a look at the assignments and make a plan to complete the work this summer. It’s not a lot of work if you complete some each week. But if you leave it for the last few days before school starts in September – you’ll never get it all done.
8th Grade English Language Arts
Students must read 2-4 books this summer. Please complete this form for every book you read. There will be prizes this fall for students, classes and grades that read the most books – 2-4 books is just a minimum! Challenge yourself to read at least a book a week this summer for a total of 10 books.
Here’s a book to get you started: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Find more books from the NY Public Library online:
If you have an Android device
If you have an Apple device
Need book ideas?
NYPL 2020 Book Lists for Kids Age 8-12
8th Grade Math
Students will complete one packet a week (10 questions) for eight weeks by completing the forms below as well as a packet of short answer questions on separate paper to be turned in on the first day of school:
8th Grade Short answer questions
8th Grade Social Studies
In Part 1 students must complete one book review from the following list of books. The book review should be typed and two pages in length: a one-page summary of the book and a one-page critique of the book where you discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the book. Use the Part 1 form to turn it in.
Book List
- Jungle by Upton Sinclair
- Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Native Son by Richard Wright
In Part 2 students are to identify two important United States Supreme Court cases from the list below and for each:
- Describe the historical circumstances surrounding the case
- Explain the Supreme Court’s decision
- Discuss the impact of the Court’s decision on the United States
Use the Part 2 form to turn it in.
The cases:
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
Worcester v. Georgia (1832
Schenck v. United States (1919)
Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
Roe v. Wade (1973)
New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985).
In Part 3 students will research two topics related to their upcoming Social Studies course (United States History) and write a one-paragraph newspaper article for each. Here is the form. The students in the Regents United States History course will do the same for all seventeen topics listed. Here is the form.
8th Grade Social Studies Assignment Forms
The links for the assignments are below. Please click “send me a copy of my responses” before you submit your work.