7th Grade ELA Week at a Glance

 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. 

The Fall NWEA for ELA will be given Monday - Tuesday (24-25) of this week.  Central Idea and Summary are the focus in class on Wednesday and Thursday. Mini-lessons on these topics will be followed up by guided and individual practice so that students can practice the skills.  Chapters 3-4 of The Call of the Wild will be read and discussed. In addition, students will use this text to practice skills learned during the mini-lessons. On Friday, students will demonstrate their comprehension of the chapters they have read by completing a standard based quiz on Chapters 1-4. Finally, they will work on a mini comprehension check for Chapter 4 that is project-based. 

Monday Reread “The Interlopers.” Watch a video on suspense and notice HOW authors create suspense. Make notes on how Saki creates suspense within the text.  Tuesday  Prepare to write an ending to the short story . Their ending must include... The same omniscient point of view setting/imagery An appropriate pace Dramatic Irony A Denouement to the plot.  Writing Prompt- You have just read a short story, “The Interlopers” by Saki. This text ends with a cliffhanger. Continue the short story by writing a denouement in an omniscient point of view. Outline/plan your writing.  Wednesday and Thursday. Write to the prompt 30 min. each day.  Revise and edit your narrative writing.   Score your narratives using the following scoring system: 4, 3, 2,1, 0

Analyzing argument is a majorfocus this week. Students are practicing identifying the types of evidence and reasoning in various argument articles this week. After they identify these, they are analyzing the soundness of the reasoning and relevance/ sufficiency of  the evidence. We  are continuing to read  Hidden Figures as well . Students are using this text to practice skills such as test taking strategies and analysis writing. By the end of the week, they will have finished reading 1-12.

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 will continue practicing skills we have learned all year. This week will focus on informational texts and skills such as main idea, text structures, and finding evidence. Students will complete informational stations on Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday ,  Mini-Assessment 4.1 will be taken. The students will write an on-demand essay on Thursda y and complete stations on Friday to revise their essays. Cycle 12 vocab. quiz will be taken as well.

Evaluating reasoning in arguments and identifying / analysing literary elements in The Pearl will be the focus this week. Students will learn about different types of reasoning and practice identifying it independently in an argument.  In addition to this, students will grapple with literary concepts such as characterization, symbolism, conflict, and plot using The Pearl .

"Give me liberty or give me death!" We are going to be reading about the Revolutionary War and our founding fathers over the next few weeks. Our anchor text will be The Duel . It is an account of  the parallel lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Using this text and more we will practice recognizing text structures, analysing differing perspectives and comparing/contrasting different accounts of the same event. On Thursday, we will take a cold quiz , and on Friday we will take our Cycle 5 vocabulary quiz. 

"Oh prithee say no more; 'tis glorious!" Dialect is a fascinating literary element. It can tell us so much about a character. The previous quote is from The Prince and the Pauper, and it is a perfect example of dialect. We will read chapters 1- 9 this week. This Mark Twain book will provide us opportunities to discuss dialect, characterization, theme, and summary. In addition to these topics we will  practice with our vocabulary words, learn background information about 16th century England and read the poem, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin."