Language Arts

Sixth Grade | Seventh Grade

In 7th grade, the students will again focus on Language Arts skills through the divisions of reading, writing, listening and speaking. As they continue to strengthen their computer skills, these will be integrated more and more in their work by doing projects that incorporate different programs and websites with the skills and units they are developing.

The major units in 7th grade Language Arts are The Middle Ages (Integrated with all subjects across the curriculum - culminating in a Medieval Faire), poetry, and a mystery unit where students not only read but also write mystery stories.

Reading

Students will be introduced to the following:

• Analyze words through context and word origins
• Clarify word meaning through definition or example
• Analyze for cause and effect/compare and contrast/ and writer's purpose
• Identify author's purpose, bias and stereotypes
• Identify different types of literature
• Analyze texts for theme, point of view
• Continue working with fluency, comprehension and vocabulary development

Students will build on these skills through novels such as Catherine Called Birdy, Walk Two Moons, The Westing Game, and Witness. 7th Grade also has an anthology that is a book of short stories that specifically focus on literature skills and build reading comprehension. Students also spend time developing an extended vocabulary based on their reading and through vocabulary designed for the 7th grade level.

Writing

Narrative, Persuasive, Expository writing

5 paragraph essays

Support all statements with anecdotal evidence from reading

Organize and transition effectively

Respond to literature

Although students will develop some of their writing into larger pieces of work, the idea of middle school students being able to craft a flawless paragraph is very important. They do this many times a week and are given teacher and peer feedback on this work. Both original and literature-based writing are stressed.

Listening

Directions

Group work

Restate instructions

Summarize stories

Main idea

Speaking

Oral reading

Persuasive Speech given as a newscast

Daily opportunities for explanations

Problem solving

Listening and speaking opportunities happen in various ways. Group and partner work is encouraged so that students have more opportunity to share their ideas and their work. This collaborative system allows students to more time and opportunity for expression in a non-threatening atmosphere where teacher guidance is available. Also, students are given a chance to share in a large group either speaking freely or narrating a project (often technology based).