English/ Language Arts
English/ Language Arts is split into two different classes. One class focuses on reading. During reading, we read a variety of stories, both ficitonal and nonfiction. We work on skills while reading each one of these stories. During a typical week, we have an open book, writing test. We focus on the skills during this test and mastering the concepts.
The second class is language arts. During this class we focus on grammar, writing, speeches, and research projects. Students will use the stories that they read to guide writing papers and short-term research projects. During writing students will also be assesed on grammar and vocabulary.
7th/8th Grade Reading
7th and 8th grade reading is often combined due to numerous factors in our school district. One year students will follow the 7th grade curriculum and the next year students will focus on the 8th grade curriculum.
Both curriculums are from Prentice Hall Literature Reading Series. These are comprised of six different units: Fiction/Nonfiction, Short Stories, Types of Nonfiction, Poetry, Drama, and Themes in Oral Traditions. In each unit begins with an essential question to tie the unit together and contains multiple stories that all work towards students mastery of certain skills.
Students can expect to learn such skills as: context clues, author's purpose, making predictions and inferences, main ideas, fact and opinions, paraphrasing, reading for a purpose, and making objectives summaries. All skills and concepts align with the Common Core State Standards.
7th/8th Grade Language Arts
​7th and 8th grade language arts is often combined as well. It is also deeply rooted into our reading curriculum. Our students will research, write, and discuss many aspects of reading in the language arts classroom.
Our language arts curriculum comes from Prentice Hall reading series. In each of the six units, students will complete short-term research projects on stories that they are currently reading. They will also read two stories, fill out graphic organizers about a topic, and then complete a paper about comparing a certain skill. Students will also be introduce to the writing structure by first brainstorming, writing a rough draft, peer-editing a paper, and then rewriting the paper to publish it.
Students can be expected to write any of the following items: descriptive essay, autobiographical narrative, reponses to numerous literature pieces, short story, how-to essay, comparison-and-contrast essay, problem-solution essay, persuasive essay, multimedia report, cause-and-effect essay, business letter, and research report.
6th Grade Language Arts
6th graders will take a different approach to language arts. They will be expect to master basic grammar and sentence structure. Students will use grade-level English books to master nouns, verb, adjectives, and other areas of parts of speech. They will work on these throughout the year.
We will also begin to work on writing. Students will work on various narrative, persuasive, and explanatory prompts. They will work on these short term writing prompts at least twice a week. Students will also bring grammar into their writing and be able to apply the skills that they have been learning.
6th graders will also begin to work on various reading skills duirng language arts times. Students will focus on note-taking, summaries, and objective summaries. They will also learn about reading two different stories and being able to compare authors, characters, genres, and different story elements.
