This book, from the Center for Gifted Education at William & Mary, provides gifted and advanced learners challenging activities to master and engage with the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts through four mini units. Each mini unit is packed with activities that enrich and extend grade-level ELA content for grade 8. Included texts have messages and characters that are developmentally suitable for students. Through higher order reasoning questions, resulting discussions, and student-created products associated with these texts, gifted and advanced students’ needs are met while still maintaining messages and characters to which students can relate. Students will be exposed to themes such as “life is what you make it,” “don't judge a book by its cover,” nature and vulnerability, and respect. Each theme was chosen with advanced eighth-grade students in mind and their emerging need to learn more about themselves, their world, and how to work through adversity to accomplish their goals.

Grade 8

I love the connection to the science and history curriculum and the variety of text options used. The themes connect well to the state curriculum.