Embedded Files
Beginning in the 2023-24 school year, BHCS will use a new curriculum for English Language Arts schoolwide. The middle school program is called Study Sync and is designed to be used with the Wonders curriculum adopted for Kindergarten-5th Grade at BHCS.
Some of the key aspects I personally appreciate about our new curriculum are highlighted below:
SHORT CONSTRUCTED RESPONSES At the conclusion of each reading lesson, students will respond to a writing prompt that challenges them to integrate their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language skills. These short constructed responses are intended to familiarize students with different types of writing, to deepen their understanding of the texts they have read, to hone the analytic reading abilities, and to heighten their appreciation of different aspects of the unit theme.
SUPPORTS FOR INDEPENDENT READING Students will keep an ongoing reading log in their notebooks or online. Study Sync highlights the importance of independent texts in addition to the ones provided and gives additional questions to direct students’ reflections while reading independently.
EXTENDED WRITING PROJECTS Each unit contains an Extended Writing Project (EWP) that focuses on one of six primary writing genres. By the end of the academic year, each student will have generated multiple full-length essays, an oral presentation project, and a research project.
Below are the class codes for student use and a brief overview of the units we will cover. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions regarding the program this year.
7th Grade ELA Units 1-6
Unit 1: Conflicts and Clashes
Unit 1: Conflicts and Clashes
Essential Question: When do differences become conflicts?
Genre Focus: Fiction
Extended Writing Project: Narrative
Unit Texts:
Unit Texts:
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (Fiction)
The Wise Old Woman (Fiction)
Woodsong (Informational Text)
Nimona (Fiction)
Stargirl (Fiction)
Seventh Grade (Fiction)
The Monsters are Due on Maple Street (Drama)
The Skin I’m In (Fiction)
Mad (Poetry)
In the Year 1974 (Informational Text)
Thank You, M’am (Fiction)
Unit 2: Highs and Lows
Unit 2: Highs and Lows
Essential Question: What do we learn from love and loss?
Genre Focus: Poetry
Extended Writing Project: Literary Analysis
Unit Texts:
Unit Texts:
Annabel Lee (Poetry)
My Mother Pieced Quilts (Poetry)
Museum Indians (Informational Text)
The Walking Dance (Fiction)
Second Estrangement (Poetry)
No Dream Too High: Simone Biles (Informational Text)
The Highwayman (Poetry)
Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy (Informational Text)
A Christmas Carol (Fiction)
Tangerine (Fiction)
My Mother Really Knew (Poetry)
Unit 3: Chasing the Impossible
Unit 3: Chasing the Impossible
Essential Question: What makes a dream worth pursuing?
Genre Focus: Argumentative Text
Extended Writing Project: Argumentative
Unit Texts:
Unit Texts:
We Beat the Street (Informational)
The First Americans (Argumentative)
Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad (Informational)
The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales (Fiction)
All Together Now (Argumentative)
Mother Jones: Fierce Fighter for Workers' Rights (Informational)
Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress-Toward (Poetry)
Letter to President Theodore Roosevelt (Argumentative)
Before We Were Free (Fiction)
Machines, not people, should be exploring the stars for now (Argumentative)
Responses to “Machines, not people, should be exploring the stars for now” (Argumentative)
Unit 1 Learning Targets
Unit 1 Learning Targets
Reading Skills:
Reading Skills:
Annotation
Context Clues
Reading Comprehension
Textual Evidence
Summary
Theme
Connotation and Denotation
Character
Generating Questions
Author’s Purpose and Point of View
Plot
Setting
Making and Confirming Predictions
Theme
Dramatic Elements and Structure
Media
Grammar Skills:
Grammar Skills:
Basic Spelling Rules I
Main and Subordinate Clauses
Simple and Compound Sentences
Writing Skills:
Writing Skills:
Text Dependent Responses
Short Constructed Response
Peer Review
Personal Response
Compare and Contrast
Analyze Genre
Organize Narrative Writing
Story Beginnings
Narrative Techniques
Descriptive Details
Narrative Sequencing
Conclusions
Narrative Writing Process: Plan
Narrative Writing Process: Draft
Narrative Writing Process: Revise
Narrative Writing Process: Edit and Publish
Unit 2 Learning Targets
Unit 2 Learning Targets
Reading Skills:
Reading Skills:
Recognize Genre
Academic Vocabulary
Central or Main Idea
Poetic Elements and Structure
Media
Plot
Figurative Language
Textual Evidence
Context Clues
Textual Evidence
Informational Text Structure
Grammar Skills:
Grammar Skills:
Adjective Clauses
Noun Clauses
Complex Sentences
Writing Skills:
Writing Skills:
Thesis Statement
Organizing Argumentative Writing
Reasons and Relevant Evidence
Introductions
Transitions
Style
Conclusions
Argumentative Writing Process: Plan
Argumentative Writing Process: Draft
Argumentative Writing Process: Revise
Argumentative Writing Process: Edit and Publish
Unit 3 Learning Targets
Unit 3 Learning Targets
Reading Skills:
Reading Skills:
Setting a Purpose for Reading
Connotation and Denotation
Summarizing
Language, Style, and Audience
Visualizing
Compare and Contrast
Arguments and Claims
Reasons and Evidence
Media
Generating Questions
Author’s Purpose and Point of View
Textual Evidence
Setting RL.7.3
Synthesizing
Technical Language
Greek and Latin Affixes and Roots
Grammar Skills:
Grammar Skills:
Adverb Clauses
Sentence Structure - Compound-Complex Sentences
Basic Spelling Rules II
Writing Skills:
Writing Skills:
Thesis Statement
Organizing Argumentative Writing
Reasons and Relevant Evidence
Introductions
Transitions
Style
Conclusions
Argumentative Writing Process: Plan
Argumentative Writing Process: Draft
Argumentative Writing Process: Revise
Argumentative Writing Process: Edit and Publish
Unit 4: Moment of Truth
Unit 4: Moment of Truth
Essential Question: How can one event change everything?
Genre Focus: Informational Text
Extended Writing Project: Informative
Unit Texts:
Unit Texts:
Casey at the Bat (Poetry)
Hitting big league fastball ‘clearly impossible’ (Informational)
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Informational)
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 (Informational)
Fever 1793 (Fiction)
Harrison Bergeron (Fiction)
The Last Human Light (from What If?) (Informational)
The Power of Student Peer Leaders (Informational)
The Three Questions (Fiction)
The Tequila Worm (Fiction)
Barrio Boy (Informational)
Unit 5: Test of Time
Unit 5: Test of Time
Essential Question: Why do we still read myths and folktales?
Genre Focus: Traditional Stories (Myths, Folktales, Fairy tales)
Extended Writing Project: Research
Unit Texts:
Unit Texts:
Aesop’s Fables (Fiction)
The Hunger Games (Fiction)
The Classical Roots of The Hunger Games (Informational)
The Cruel Tribute (from Old Greek Stories) (Fiction)
The Invisible One (Algonquin Cinderella) (Fiction)
The Other Side of the Sky (Informational)
The Story of Anniko (Fiction)
Icarus and Daedalus (Fiction)
Perseus (Poetry)
The Third Elevator (Fiction)
The New Colossus (Poetry)
Unit 6: Power of One
Unit 6: Power of One
Essential Question: How do we stand out from the crowd?
Genre Focus: Drama
Extended Oral Project: Oral Presentation
Unit Texts:
Unit Texts:
The Giver (Fiction)
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (Informational)
A Thousand Cranes (Drama)
Remarks at the UNESCO Education for All Week Luncheon (Informational)
Hidden Figures (Informational)
Miami Dancer Follows Dreams while Planning for the Future (Informational)
Reality TV and Society (Argumentative)
The Matsuyama Mirror (Drama)
New Directions (Fiction)
Choices (Poetry)
Cuentos de Josefina (Josephine’s Tales) (Drama)
Unit 4 Learning Targets
Unit 4 Learning Targets
Reading Skills:
Reading Skills:
Figurative Language
Media
Compare and Contrast
Textual Evidence
Point of View
Evaluating Details
Informational Text Structure
Connotation and Denotation
Character
Central or Main Idea
Informational Text Elements
Word Patterns and Relationships
Word Meaning
Technical Language
Grammar Skills:
Grammar Skills:
Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
Commas Between Coordinate Adjectives
Commonly Misspelled Words
Writing Skills:
Writing Skills:
Thesis Statement
Organizing Informational Writing
Supporting Details
Introductions
Transitions
Conclusions
Style
Precise Language
Informational Writing Process: Plan
Informational Writing Process: Draft
Informational Writing Process: Revise
Informational Writing Process: Edit and Publish
Unit 5 Learning Targets
Unit 5 Learning Targets
Reading Skills:
Reading Skills:
Theme
Textual Evidence
Summarizing
Word Patterns and Relationships
Connotation and Denotation
Poetic Elements and Structures
Character
Plot
Setting
Figurative Language
Grammar Skills:
Grammar Skills:
Participial Phrases
Gerund and Gerund Phrases
Infinitive Phrases
Writing Skills:
Writing Skills:
Planning Research
Research and Note-taking
Critiquing Research
Paraphrasing
Sources and Citations
Print and Graphic Features
Research Writing Process: Plan
Research Writing Process: Draft
Research Writing Process: Revise
Research Writing Process: Edit and Publish
Unit 6 Learning Targets
Unit 6 Learning Targets
Reading Skills:
Reading Skills:
Character
Dramatic Elements
Reasons and Evidence
Technical Language
Author’s Purpose and Point of View
Informational Text Elements
Media
Arguments and Claims
Compare and Contrast
Word Meaning
Poetic Structure
Grammar Skills:
Grammar Skills:
Economy of Language
Noun Clauses
Writing Skills:
Writing Skills:
Oral Project Writing Process: Plan
Evaluating Sources
Oral Project Writing Process: Draft
Reasons and Relevant Evidence
Sources and Citations
Oral Project Writing Process: Revise
Oral Project Writing Process: Edit and Present
8th Grade ELA Units 1-6
Unit 1: Everyone Loves a Mystery
Unit 1: Everyone Loves a Mystery
Essential Question: What attracts us to the mysterious?
Genre Focus: Fiction
Extended Writing Project: Narrative
Unit Texts:
Unit Texts:
The Tell-Tale Heart (Fiction)
Monster (Fiction/Drama)
Let ’Em Play God (Informational)
Sympathy (Poetry)
Ten Days in a Mad-House (Chapter IV) (Informational)
The Lottery (Fiction)
The Graveyard Book (Fiction)
The Conjure-Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem (Fiction)
The Monkey’s Paw (Fiction)
Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science (Informational)
Unit 2: Past and Present
Unit 2: Past and Present
Essential Question: What makes you, you?
Genre Focus: Poetry
Extended Writing Project: Literary Analysis
Unit Texts:
Unit Texts:
I’m Nobody! Who are you? (Poetry)
Commencement Address to the Santa Fe Indian School (Argumentative Text)
Curtain Call (Informational Text)
So where are you from? (Informational Text)
The Outsiders (Fiction)
Slam, Dunk, & Hook (Poetry)
Abuela Invents the Zero (Fiction)
Inside Out and Back Again (Fiction)
Theories of Time and Space (Poetry)
The Road Not Taken (Poetry)
The House on Mango Street (Fiction)
Unit 3: No Risk, No Reward
Unit 3: No Risk, No Reward
Essential Question: Why do we take chances?
Genre Focus: Informational Text
Extended Writing Project: Informative
Unit Texts:
Unit Texts:
The Vanishing Island (Informational Text)
A Night to Remember (Informational Text)
Address to the Nation on the Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger (Argumentative Text)
A Kenyan Teen’s Discovery: Let There Be Lights to Save Lions
Lions (Informational Text)
Mother to Son (Poetry)
Learning to Read (Poetry)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (Informational Text)
The Day I Saved a Life (Informational Text)
The Call of the Wild (Fiction)
Cocoon (Poetry)
Unit 1 Learning Targets
Unit 1 Learning Targets
Reading Skills:
Reading Skills:
Annotation
Context Clues
Reading Comprehension
Textual Evidence
Language, Style, and Audience
Character
Generating Questions
Author’s Purpose and Point of View
Making and Confirming Predictions
Theme
Allusion
Plot
Story Structure
Central or Main Idea
Grammar Skills:
Grammar Skills:
Basic Spelling Rules I
Dashes and Hyphens - Dashes
Commas after Transitions
Writing Skills:
Writing Skills:
Text Dependent Responses
Short Constructed Responses
Peer Review
Personal Response
Compare and Contrast
Organizing Narrative Writing
Story Beginnings
Narrative Techniques
Descriptive Details
Transitions
Conclusions
Narrative Writing Process: Plan
Narrative Writing Process: Draft
Narrative Writing Process: Revise
Narrative Writing Process: Edit and Publish
Unit 2 Learning Targets
Unit 2 Learning Targets
Reading Skills:
Reading Skills:
Poetic Elements and Structure
Making Inferences
Arguments and Claims
Visualizing
Central or Main Idea
Character
Textual Evidence
Allusion
Plot
Theme
Figurative Language
Summarizing
Grammar Skills:
Grammar Skills:
Active and Passive Voice
Verb Moods
Consistent Verb Voice and Mood
Writing Skills:
Writing Skills:
Organizing Argumentative Writing
Thesis Statement
Reasons and Relevant Evidence
Introductions
Transitions
Style
Conclusions
Literary Analysis Writing Process: Plan
Literary Analysis Writing Process: Draft
Literary Analysis Writing Process: Revise
Literary Analysis Writing Process: Edit and Publish
Unit 3 Learning Targets
Unit 3 Learning Targets
Reading Skills:
Reading Skills:
Evaluating Details
Greek and Latin Affixes and Roots
Media
Summarizing
Informational Text Structure
Synthesizing
Word Patterns and Relationships
Informational Text Elements
Figurative Language
Context Clues
Technical Language
Language, Style, and Audience
Connotation and Denotation
Grammar Skills:
Grammar Skills:
Participles
Gerunds
Infinitives
Writing Skills:
Writing Skills:
Thesis Statement
Organizing Informative Writing
Supporting Details
Introductions
Transitions
Precise Language
Style
Conclusions
Informative Writing Process: Plan
Informative Writing Process: Draft
Informative Writing Process: Revise
Informative Writing Process: Edit and Publish
Unit 4: Hear Me Out
Unit 4: Hear Me Out
Essential Question: How do you choose the right words?
Genre Focus: Argumentative Text
Extended Writing Project: Argumentative
Unit Texts:
Unit Texts:
/HUG (Fiction)
Gaming Communities (Informational Text)
Denee Benton: Broadway Princess (Informational Text)
Cover Letter to LucasArts (Informational Text)
Speech to the Ohio Women’s Conference: Ain’t I a Woman? (Argumentative Text)
Across Five Aprils (Fiction)
To America (Poetry)
Letters of a Civil War Nurse (Informational Text)
The Gettysburg Address (Argumentative Text)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Chapter Two) (Fiction)
Blind (Fiction)
Unit 5: Trying Times
Unit 5: Trying Times
Essential Question: Who are you in a crisis?
Genre Focus: Drama
Extended Oral Project: Argumentative Oral Presentation
Unit Texts:
Unit Texts:
Teen Mogul (Drama)
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (Informational Text)
The Diary of Anne Frank: A Play (Drama)
Parallel Journeys (Informational Text)
Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat (Argumentative Text)
Farewell to Manzanar (Informational Text)
Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (Argumentative Text)
Refugee (Fiction)
America (Poetry)
Gandhi the Man: How One Man Changed Himself to Change the World (Informational Text)
Long Walk to Freedom (Informational Text)
Unit 6: Beyond Reality
Unit 6: Beyond Reality
Essential Question: What do other worlds teach us about our own?
Genre Focus: Science Fiction and Fantasy
Extended Writing Project: Research
Unit Texts:
Unit Texts:
Manuel and the Magic Fox (Fiction)
The Dark Is Rising (Fantasy)
There Will Come Soft Rains (Poetry)
There Will Come Soft Rains (Science Fiction)
The War of the Worlds (Science Fiction)
Everybody Out (from What If?) (Informational Text)
Spaceships (Poetry)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Informational Text)
How Hare Drank Boiling Water and Married the Beautiful Princess (Fiction)
Children of Blood and Bone (Fantasy)
Unit 4 Learning Targets
Unit 4 Learning Targets
Reading Skills:
Reading Skills:
Making Connections
Character
Theme
Arguments and Claims
Reasons and Evidence
Compare and Contrast
Word Meaning
Technical Language
Language, Style, and Audience
Media
Point of View
Setting a Purpose for Reading
Connotation and Denotation
Figurative Language
Allusion
Word Patterns and Relationships
Grammar Skills:
Grammar Skills:
Ellipses for Omission
Commas for Pause or Separation
Basic Spelling Rules II
Writing Skills:
Writing Skills:
Organizing Argumentative Writing
Thesis Statement
Reasons and Relevant Evidence
Introductions
Transitions
Style
Conclusions
Argumentative Writing Process: Plan
Argumentative Writing Process: Draft
Argumentative Writing Process: Revise
Argumentative Writing Process: Edit and Publish
Unit 5 Learning Targets
Unit 5 Learning Targets
Reading Skills:
Reading Skills:
Plot
Dramatic Elements and Structure
Making Connections
Word Meaning
Informational Text Elements
Informational Text Structure
Textual Evidence
Reasons and Evidence
Monitoring Comprehension
Language, Style, and Audience
Author’s Purpose and Point of View
Grammar Skills:
Grammar Skills:
Writing for Effect
Participial Phrases
Gerund Phrases
Run-On Sentences
Writing Skills:
Writing Skills:
Evaluating Sources
Reasons and Relevant Evidence
Sources and Citations
Oral Project Writing Process: Plan
Oral Project Writing Process: Draft
Oral Project Writing Process: Revise
Oral Project Writing Process: Edit and Present
Unit 6 Learning Targets
Unit 6 Learning Targets
Reading Skills:
Reading Skills:
Making Inferences
Theme
Story Structure
Language, Style, and Audience
Greek and Latin Affixes and Roots
Generating Questions
Technical Language
Summarizing
Context Clues
Central or Main Idea
Point of View
Grammar Skills:
Grammar Skills:
Infinitive Phrases
Commonly Misspelled Words
Ellipses for Pause or Separation
Sentence Fragments
Writing Skills:
Writing Skills:
Planning Research
Evaluating Sources
Research and Note-Taking
Critiquing Research
Paraphrasing
Sources and Citations
Print and Graphic Features
Research Writing Process: Plan
Research Writing Process: Draft
Research Writing Process: Revise
Research Writing Process: Edit and Publish
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