8th Grade Reading: Literature

For eighth graders, this Common Core area helps students gain mastery of the deeper tasks involved in reading a fictional text. No matter what they are reading, the standards require students to increase the complexity in the texts they read and deepen their understanding of the connections within and between texts. Among the complete standards for this grade, eighth graders will be asked to: support a textual analysis with direct textual evidence and explicit inferences, determine the theme of a text and how it develops within the text, be able to give an objective summary of a text, be able to analyze complex word and phrase choices in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings, as well as analogies and allusions to other texts, dramatic irony, suspense and humor, analyze how stories change when presented in audio, staged or filmed forms, and to understand the choices of actors and directors when adapting the work for a new medium, read text appropriate to grade level while increasing in the level of text complexity throughout the year.

Character Traits Worksheet – Black Beauty

In this passage from Black Beauty, students will read an excerpt from Chapter 7 and list 10 character traits of Greer.

Classic Literature: Captains Courageous

Help your students improve their reading skills with this activity set about Rudyard Kipling’s Captains Courageous.

Edgar Allan Poe – Annabel Lee: Lost Love

Students read from Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee” and answer questions.

Find it: Indirect Characterization

Learn about indirect characterization with this printable worksheet on making inferences and understanding character traits. This classroom activity is great for students looking to practice their reading and inferencing skills. Download and print for use both at home or in the classroom.

Narrator’s Point of View Flow Chart

This flowchart helps students identify the correct point of view. They answer “yes” and “no” questions to identify the correct point of view.

Robert Burns Poetry: A Red, Red Rose

Students rewrite the Scots spellings of words into Standard English from Robert Burns poem/song, “Auld Lang Syne.”

Alliteration in Literature and Rhetoric

Whether in lovely literature or rollicking rhetoric, alliterations are admirable!

Analyzing O! Pioneers

A passage from the classic novel “O! Pioneers” is the focus of this worksheet on citing text examples.

Character Development in The Tell-Tale Heart

This worksheet uses Poe’s classic, “The Tell-Tale Heart” to help the student analyze aspects of a character.

Character Traits Worksheet – Jane Eyre

Students will read a passage from Jane Eyre and list 10 character traits of John Reed.

Character Traits Worksheet – The Time Machine

With this worksheet, students will read a passage from “The Time Machine” and list character traits from one of the characters.

Charles Dickens: David Copperfield and His Aunt

Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, published in 1849, is one of his most famous works. Students read the passage and answer questions.

Classic Literature: If

Help your students improve their reading skills with this activity set about Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If”.

Discuss the Verbal Irony

Time to discuss verbal irony in three situations!

Draw a Conclusion: Visual Details

Your student will use visual clues to make inferences about a group of pictures in this worksheet.

Edgar Allan Poe and the Fall of the House of Usher

In this activity, students read a passage from Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and write what they think the underlined words mean.

Edgar Allan Poe: The Oval Portrait

In this activity, students read a passage from Edgar Allan Poe’s 1842 short story “The Oval Portrait” and answer questions.