ELA UNITS

Reader's Workshop

Book Blog Monday (found on Google classroom)

3 trimester book talks

Monthly reading reflections

Unit #1- Identity

Essential Question: How does one develop his/her identity?

Novel Study- Downriver by: Will Hobbs

Nonfiction-

      • Barrio Boy
      • The Other Side of The Sky
      • Apollo 13

Skill Focus:

  • Literary elements
  • Main idea & details
  • Textual evidence
  • Inferences
  • Central idea/theme
  • Summarizing

Writing:

  • Paragraphing
  • Essay formatting - Me, Myself, and I Essay
  • Identity Research Essay
  • Scary story podcast

Grammar:

  • Prepositions/Prepositional phrases
  • Complete subject(s) / predicate(s)

Unit #2- Society

Essential Question: What constitutes a just society?

Novel Study- Bronx Masquerade by: Nikki Grimes

Short Stories-

      • The Lottery
      • The Giver

Nonfiction Articles-

      • Nothing to Envy
      • Reality TV & Society

Skill Focus:

    • Figurative language
    • Connotative, denotative, and technical meanings of words
    • Text structure
    • Author's point of view & purpose

Writing:

    • Poetry
    • Compare/contrast essay
    • Persuasive speech

Grammar:

    • Verbs
    • Pronouns

Unit #3- Justice

Essential Question: How does one defend his or her own rights?

Novel Study- Uprising by: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Short Stories-

      • The People Could Fly- multiple versions

Nonfiction Articles-

    • Mother Jones: Fierce Fighter for Workers' Rights
    • About Cesar- multiple versions

Skill Focus:

    • Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium
    • Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period
    • Analyze how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentations of key information by emphasizing different evidence or advancing different interpretations of facts.

Writing:

Grammar:

    • Adjectives

Unit #4- Getting Along

Essential Question: How do humans interact with each other and how does that impact .....

Novel Study- The Outsiders by: SE Hinton

Short Stories-

      • Amigo Brothers
      • Thank You, M'am

Nonfiction Articles-

    • The Teacher Who Changed My Life
    • The Dangers of Social Media

Skill Focus:

    • Read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Writing:

Grammar:

    • Adverbs
    • Clauses and phrases
    • Simple and complex sentences