Unit 1: Find Your Own Path

Unit Overview:

The first unit in our Language Arts program this year is called Find Your Own Path.  Students will explore the unit question "How do our experiences shape us?"  They will read stories about how people react to what happens in their lives.

The learning goals for this unit include:

Reading (R):

Students will practise and apply the comprehension strategies: make connections, predict, infer, analyze, and summarize.

Writing (W):

Students will learn about the short story text form.  They will write their own short stories.

Oral Communication (O): 

Students will practise skills and strategies for telling a personal anecdote.

Media Literacy (M):

Students will analyze movie posters.  They will examine the design techniques used to present movie posters and how images are used.

At the end of the unit, students will show what they have learned by creating an Alpha Biography/Identity Poster.  This autobiography will be divided by the letters of the alphabet and demonstrate some of the important events in each student's life.



Unit Assignments: 



1) Reading Comprehension Activities (R,W,O))
2) "Inspire Me" Profile (W)
3) Personal Anecdote (O)
4) Alpha Biography (R,W,M)

Grade 7 Language Arts: Overview

Overview:

The language curriculum for Grades 7 and 8 is designed to engage students in tasks that they see as meaningful in order to motivate them to analyse, evaluate, and create texts out of interest as well as to meet curriculum expectations. The expectations encourage students to explore issues related to personal identity and community concerns as they interact with increasingly complex and/or challenging texts; to critically analyse and evaluate perspectives in texts and the influence of media on their lives; and to write about and discuss topics of relevance that matter in their daily lives. The expectations also promote the use of language knowledge, skills, and strategies to facilitate learning in other subjects, such as science, mathematics, history, and geography, and as a tool to help students understand and participate in society beyond the school.

Strands in the Language Curriculum:

The expectations in the language curriculum are organized into four strands: Oral Communication, Reading, Writing, and Media Literacy. The program in all grades is designed to develop a range of essential skills in these four interrelated areas, built on a solid foundation of knowledge of the conventions of standard English and incorporating the use of analytical, critical, and metacognitive thinking skills. Students learn best when they are encouraged to consciously monitor their thinking as they learn, and each strand includes expectations that call for such reflection.

The knowledge and skills described in the expectations in the four strands of the language curriculum will enable students to understand, respond to, create, and appreciate a full range of literary, informational, and media texts.

Our study of Language Arts will be divided into 6 thematic units which will be covered over the span of two terms.  The six units of study will follow the following basic structure:

                  Term 1                                                                           Term 2         

                 Unit 1: Find Your Own Path                                          Unit 4: Biographies

                 Unit 2: Short Stories                                                      Unit 5: Literature Circles

                 Unit 3: Novel Study (The Giver)                                    Unit 6: Popular Culture