Eighth Grade - ELA
1: Semester 1
Unit 1: Abigail Adams
Lesson 3
Unrest and War
The Parent Plan Skills section explicitly states that students will "use verbs in the active and passive voice and in the conditional and subjunctive mood to achieve particular effects." Multiple student activities require students to identify voice, label subjects and verb phrases, and rewrite passive clauses in active voice (Option 1 and Option 2). Writing tasks (describing the Boston Massacre or Tea Party) require students to produce paragraphs using primarily active voice.
Lesson 4
Continental Congress
Students read explicit explanations of the five moods (indicative, interrogative, imperative, conditional, subjunctive) in the "Things to Know" and Activity 1 sections. Students identify the mood of given sentences (indicative, interrogative, imperative, conditional, subjunctive) and are instructed to underline the words that signal conditional or subjunctive moods. Students correct verb forms in a paragraph (Part 2), with answer keys showing changes for subjunctive and conditional uses (e.g., change "continued" to "continue," "was" to "had been" or "were").
Lesson 6
Separation
The Parent Plan explicitly lists as a skill: "Form and use verbs in the indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive mood." Activity 1 directs students to "look especially for problems related to voice and mood," and the Paragraph Editing student page includes a listed "subjective [subjunctive] mood verb error." The answer key shows a specific correction to a subjunctive form (change "that they were" to "that they be").
Lesson 10
Presidential Politics
Students are directed to find examples of the subjunctive mood (Task 4: "Subjunctive Mood") and the imperative mood (Task 5: "Identify a clause in the imperative mood") on the Grammatical Scavenger Hunt activity page. The provided answer key gives explicit instances students can identify: a subjunctive example "Madison was to request, on Jeffersons behalf, that John Adams be preferred," imperative examples such as "Look steadfastly at them" and "be not dismayed," and an interrogative example "Pray, has the boy misbehaved?". The reading passages and comprehension Q&A contain numerous indicative statements (e.g., "He feared that the quest for equality would lead to mass violence."), which students read and analyze.
Lesson 11
Later Life
The Parent Plan and Skills sections explicitly state that students should "Form and use verbs in the indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive mood." The activity instructions tell students to "Use active and passive voice and appropriate moods (indicative, interrogative, imperative, subjunctive, or conditional) to write sentences." The student activity includes tasks that require students to write indicative (active/passive) sentences and specific prompts for conditional and subjunctive sentences with examples and an answer key.
Lesson 12
Remembering Abigail Adams
The Parent Plan explicitly lists "Form and use verbs in the indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive mood." The Voice and Mood Summary page defines indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive moods and gives example sentences for each. The Identifying Mood and Voice activities require students to find, underline, circle, or choose sentences that exemplify each mood, and the provided answer key maps specific example sentences to each mood.
Final Project
A One-Person Play
Students are prompted to review the five moods (indicative, interrogative, imperative, conditional, and subjunctive) in the study-guide top-right box labeled "Moods: indicative, interrogative, imperative, conditional, and subjunctive." The materials reference Lesson 4, Activity 1 (which describes the 5 verb moods) and Lesson 12, Activity 2 (a "Voice and Mood Summary" with explanations and examples). The unit test (Part 4: Mood) asks students to identify the mood of several sentences (Exercises 14–18) and includes an item that targets the subjunctive ("He demanded that they be seated."), with answers provided in the answer key.
Unit 3: Einstein Adds a New Dimension
Lesson 4
Process Writing
Students encounter and produce imperative verbs when they write process instructions (e.g., "Cut around the avocado... Separate the two halves... Use a fork to mash the ingredients together"). Students read and respond to interrogative sentences in the comprehension questions (e.g., "What is quantum mechanics?", "How did Einstein and Bohr's ideas about light particles differ?"). Students are exposed to and read many indicative/declarative sentences that state facts or explanations (e.g., "Process writing describes how to do something or how something is accomplished.").
Lesson 9
Avoiding Plagiarism
Students encounter several sentence types that use different verb moods: factual statements using the indicative (e.g., "Plagiarism is using someone else's words or ideas..."), direct commands in the imperative (e.g., "Read Chapter 36, p. 331, and Chapters 38-39..."), and questions in the interrogative (e.g., "How do scientific discoveries from the past lead to future discoveries?"). The text also uses conditional constructions in guidance (e.g., "If you are doing research for a paper or project, write down the source...").
Lesson 10
Problem and Solution Writing
Students encounter and respond to explicit questions (QUESTION #1–#4), which model and require use of interrogative forms. The assignment text gives commands such as "Read p. 346..." and "Choose one of the following topics," which use the imperative mood. The reading and sample expository paragraphs use ordinary declarative sentences, showing the indicative mood, and the transition chart and directions include conditional phrasing (e.g., "if...then" and "you would explain").
Unit 5: Elijah of Buxton
Lesson 1
Introduction to the Novel
Students receive imperative directions throughout (e.g., "Read Chapters 1 and 2," "Write a 6-8 sentence journal entry," "Locate Ontario on a map"). Students answer interrogative comprehension questions (Question #1–#4) that require forming responses to questions. The Activity 4 prompt uses a conditional scenario: "If you were trying to convince a newly freed slave... what reasons would you give?" which asks students to produce conditional constructions in a persuasive speech.
Lesson 2
The Preacher
Students correct the sentence 'If there was a horsefly...' to 'If there were a horsefly...', explicitly addressing the subjunctive form. Students encounter conditional phrasing in that corrected sentence ('we would all be worried'), giving them exposure to conditional mood. Students are asked to identify which verb is used most often in Douglass's passage and to choose at least two verbs to show actions in their Showing Emotion paragraph, providing practice with verb choice and repetition.
Lesson 7
The Importance of Education
Students encounter sentences that illustrate multiple verb moods: narrative answers and summaries use the indicative (e.g., descriptions of events and facts). Dialogue lines prompt the imperative (e.g., "Warm yourselves by the stove.") and interrogative forms (e.g., "Were you careful coming through the yard?"). The interview prompt uses a conditional clause and question form ("If you had a chance to learn to read and write, would you take it?").
Lesson 10
Allusions and Authors
Students complete a Sentence Editing activity in which they correct verb errors (for example, changing "flyed" to the irregular past tense "flew") and adjust wording to form a conditional construction ("I wouldn't ever play..."). Students are asked to pose five interview questions for the author and write them down, which requires forming interrogative sentences. The allusions section also includes a direct instruction—"Ask an adult to help you research..."—which presents an imperative form that students are directed to follow.
2: Semester 2
Unit 1: The House of the Scorpion
Lesson 1
Cloning
Students are asked to "Write a sentence using each of the persuasive strategies below," including an item labeled "Stories and questions," which requires them to produce interrogative sentences. Model persuasive paragraphs in the lesson include conditional/subjunctive-style phrasing (for example, "If the task of learning cursive typing were to replace cursive handwriting…"), and students read and mimic those examples. The rubric and conventions sections require correct grammar and syntax, so students will be composing mainly indicative sentences in their essays.
Unit 3: The Book Thief
Lesson 4
The Value of Books
Students follow direct imperative commands in the Five Senses Writing activity (e.g., "Hold the wrapped candy," "Unwrap the candy," "Put the candy in your mouth"), which models and requires responding to imperative verbs. Students answer explicit interrogative questions in the Reading and Questions section (e.g., "Why was Liesel avoiding visiting the mayor's house?"), showing engagement with interrogative forms. Students read narrative passages and write descriptive answers and paragraphs, which expose them to and require use of indicative verb forms in their reading and writing.
Lesson 12
The Teddy Bear
Students are asked to conduct an interview (Option 1) and use the provided interview questions, so they will formulate and ask questions using the interrogative mood. Students answer comprehension questions about the text and write descriptions of journeys and events, which requires forming verbs in the indicative mood. The activity directions ask students to write notes and create maps/diagrams, which will produce written statements using indicative verb forms.
Unit 4: To Kill a Mockingbird
Lesson 4
Snow and Fire
Activity 2 includes a corrected sentence that uses an inverted conditional/subjunctive construction: "Had her conduct been more friendly toward me, I would have felt sorry for her." Students are given imperative directions (e.g., "Read chapters 8 and 9...", "Complete the 'Run-Ons and Fragments' page") and asked discussion questions that are written as interrogatives (e.g., "Why does Atticus not want her to use this word..."). The run-on/fused sentence examples and rewritten paragraph practice include straightforward narrative sentences in the indicative (e.g., "Jem hopped across the front yard. I followed in his tracks.").
Lesson 5
Surprising Talent
Students diagram and label sentences that use indicative verbs (e.g., "Atticus was silent," "I followed Jem") and identify helping/linking verbs ("was reading," "seemed"). Students diagram and explain an imperative sentence with an implied subject ("Leave!" shown as (You) Leave). The activity asks students to underline simple predicates and double-underline verbs, giving practice with verb forms in declarative and command sentences.
Lesson 9
Order in the Court
Students are asked to diagram inverted-order sentences and questions (e.g., "What did your father see in the window?", "Were you paid for your services?") and to switch questions to normal word order before diagramming. The activity treats "there is/there are" constructions specially (example: "There are twelve people on a jury.") and includes indicative examples to diagram (e.g., "Judge Taylor climbed into his swivel chair."). Students complete diagramming exercises that require identifying subjects and predicates in these different sentence types.
Lesson 10
Equal Rights?
The diagramming activities ask students to mark and diagram verbs in sentences such as "There was a big cake and two little ones," "Could I please pass this note to Mr. Finch?", and "Atticus put on his hat and went to town," which provide practice with indicative and interrogative verb forms and with compound predicates. Answer keys for diagramming show students identifying subjects, verbs, and compound verbs (e.g., "put" and "went"; "hushed" and "sat"). The challenging sentences include an interrogative/modal example and an existential/indicative example that students are expected to parse and diagram.
Lesson 12
Wise Words
Students encounter and respond to imperative verbs in directions that tell them to choose, rewrite, select, memorize, and display quotes, which requires following commands. Students answer explicit interrogative prompts in the question section (for example, QUESTION #1 asks in what ways chapter 27 provides foreshadowing), showing use of interrogative forms. Students read and interpret statements and conditional language in the text and quoted passages (for example, a quoted line beginning with If there's just one kind of folks...), demonstrating exposure to indicative and conditional structures.
Final Project
Oral Book Presentation
Students identify and diagram subjects and verbs in multiple sentences (Part 4 diagrams and answer key) and review parts of speech including 'commands' in the grammar study guide. The unit test asks students to analyze and correct sentences (e.g., run-on/comma splice) and to diagram complex and compound sentences, which requires attention to verb forms in context. Directions and rubrics use imperative sentences (e.g., "Prepare the slides," "Practice your presentation"), giving students exposure to the imperative mood.
Unit 5: Great American Poets
Lesson 2
Early American Poetry
Students encounter and produce several sentence moods in context: imperative commands occur in directions (e.g., "Read the poems slowly and aloud"; "Use commas..."). Interrogative forms appear in the lesson's questions and prompts (e.g., "Why is word choice key to creating effective poems?" and other question items). Conditional structure appears in example sentences used to teach commas ("If you want to appreciate poetry, listen to poems read aloud.") and many explanatory sentences demonstrate the indicative mood.
Lesson 9
Memorizing Poetry
Students receive numerous imperative prompts (e.g., "Choose a poem...", "Practice the poem each day...", "Cut out at least 25 words...") that require action. The lesson includes many interrogative items (the numbered Questions and the Student Activity Page questions) that present and elicit question forms. The text also contains conditional constructions (e.g., "If you want more tips...", "If you get stuck...") and many indicative statements (e.g., "Elegy and villanelle are two other forms of lyric poetry.").
