7th Grade ELA Week at a Glance

 This is the last week of the 9 weeks. Students will begin a new book this week, The Duel . This book will be used to teach a wide variety of skills and standards including differing portrayals of information, historical texts vs. fictional stories, and argument. We will learn about bias, tracing arguments, and review denotation and connotation as well this week.   

 Welcome Back! This short week will be spent doing remediation and makeup work. Students will be given a chance to finish any missed assignments. If a student is up to date, then they will work on practicing skills such as writing, recognizing themes, and multiple-choice using the short story, "The Sniper." 

 The week before the holiday break has arrived!  Students will spend this week finishing up their poetry projects, taking Mini Cold Assessment 2.2, and writing an on-demand essay/workshopping it. Any student that has been out will have an opportunity to make up work and/or take the NWEA. Friday will be a 60% day where students will make sure all assignments are complete. 

 Welcome back!! We have a 3-week sprint before Christmas break.  Poetry week has arrived! Students will learn about poetry form and structure, review figurative language, and have an introduction to sonnets.  Students will have a chance to review and practice narrative skills for RWITD. Informational skills will be practiced during flex time. 

 This is the final week before Thanksgiving break. Students will demonstrate what they have learned by taking Cold Assessment 2.1 and writing a literary analysis for a test grade. They will spend 3-4 days on this writing. 

 Literary Analysis writing is the focus of this week. Students will learn about the purpose and structure of this type of writing in addition to how to write introductions and conclusions.  Theme will be reviewed from last year and new concepts related to this topic will be introduced including its development over the course of a text.  They will use "The Golden Windows," "The Scholarship Jacket," and "Sleepy Hollow" to practice these skills.  Students will take a cold quiz on a poem on Monday. 

 Students will take a practice quiz with a writing component about poetry on Monday. Then, they will finish any lessons/work from last week. The rest of the week will be divided between writing lessons and comparing literary works to their multimedia formats (movie scripts).  Prompt dissection and selected the best evidence will be the writing lessons taught. In addition, students will continue to read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and practice analyzing literary elements with it.  Finally, they will practice poetry skills in preparation for a cold quiz the following week. 

 2nd 9 Weeks is here! Lessons in class will shift from understanding narrative/ informational texts to analyzing literary/informational texts through writing in this 9 weeks.  Teachers will review analysis writing strategies for body paragraphs in addition to teaching skills associated with mood(diction/connotation) and perspective. Students will practice these skills with "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" as they begin the short story. Some poetry terms will be reviewed while reading "The Raven" as well.   On Friday, students will take a practice cold quiz on poetry. 

Christmas break starts at the end of this week! Friday is a 60% day. The final week of Term 2 will be spent finishing up assignments from The Duel and any writings not complete from last week. Students may be required to finish The Plague essay, The Duel Notice Chart, Essential Questions from The Duel or The Duel Narrative Project. Congrats to Mrs. Hardin's 3rd block for showing the most percentile growth on the ELA NWEA from Fall to Winter! They will enjoy a popcorn movie party on Wednesday.

Students will earn two test grades this week. The first will be Cold Assessment 2.2 on Monday, and the other will be an essay that requires students to be finished by Friday . They will begin the essay on Tuesday and receive guiding instruction that will allow them to write their essays throughout the week. In addition to these assignments, students will work on finishing The Duel  and all of the assignments associated with this text by Friday.

The Winter NWEA is here. Students will take the reading NWEA on Monday and Tuesday. The rest of the week will be spent reading informational texts about war and The Duel .  Using these texts, students will learn the ARCH method, practice recognizing central ideas and analyzing the interactions of ideas, people, and events. On Thursday, students will take a practice cold quiz.

The week before Thanksgiving break has arrived! Teachers will be wrapping up lessons and reviewing standards based on the needs of specific classes. Therefore, each teacher's plans will be different this week. Cycle 5 Vocab. Quiz and Cold Quiz 2.4 will be taken in every class though. Assignments and lessons that might be covered this week include the following: sonnet structure lessons, practice with informational standards related to structure, short story assignments, central idea/theme/summary practice, author study, and analyzing poetry.

Week 5  Structure, Sonnets, and Point of View The structure of a text is one focus this week. Students will learn about the text features and structures that authors use to convey their ideas. One structure that they will focus on is the sonnet. In addition to structures and sonnets, point of view will be taught.  Using texts by Edgar Allan Poe, students will grapple with an author and narrator's point of view. A practice cold quiz will be taken on Tuesday.   

On Monday , students will take Cold Assessment 2.1 followed by an o n-demand writing for a test grade on Tuesday .  The rest of the week will be spent reading and analyzing poetry by Edgar Allan Poe. Using these texts, they will practice identifying tone and understanding its development. In addition to this, students will practice the SIFT method with his poetry so that they can write about a theme in his poem, "Annabel Lee."

Poetry Week is here! OCTOBER Red and gold leaves fall, Crunchy as cornflakes beneath Feet on a crisp morn. NOVEMBER Frosty webs sparkle In the early morning sun Brightly bejeweled. Source:  https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/haiku-year Students will learn about poetry structures and forms this week. Using these lessons, students will analyze how these impact a poem's meaning.  In addition to poetry, they will practice writing engaging introductions and conclusions for essays. On Friday, students will discuss thesis statements and plan out an essay that they will finish writing.  Students will take Cold Quiz 2.1 on Tuesday and Cycle 4 Vocab. Quiz on Thursday .

The Legend of the Headless Horseman is a classic story found in the text that students will read this week, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Students will practice a variety of skills using this text including vocabulary and analyzing characters, plot, mood, and setting. On Friday , students will write an essay on this story. In addition to this text, students will practice analyzing poerty using the SIFT method. On Wednesday , a practice quiz on poerty will be given.

We hope you enjoyed Fall Break! We start the 2nd 9 weeks on Wednesday. Students will learn about legends and myths this week in preparation for reading "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. Using this story, students will practice a variety of skills like compare/contrast, inferring, and analyzing story elements. In addition to stories and informational texts, students will practice reading and analyzing narrative poetry throughout the week.

The final week before Christmas break is here! Students will spend Monday taking Cold Assessment 2.2 . Tuesday is the incentive day for students that grew on NWEA. They will get to go to Ward's. On Wednesday and Thursday students will take the district writing test . Friday is a 60% day.

NWEA testing will be conducted this week. Students will take the Reading test on Monday and Tuesday. Please make sure students are well rested and have had breakfast on those days. During the rest of the week students will present their Hidden Figures projects for an assessment grade . The final vocabulary quiz (Cycle 7)  of the term will be given on Friday .

Students have followed the journey of four amazing women in Hidden Figures . They will finish the compelling story this week. As a culminating activity, students will complete a project on the book for an assessment grade .  Students will begin the project this week and present it next week. The other half of class will be spent reviewing skills learned throughout the first semester in stations.