English Language Arts (ELA) Rationale:

English Language Arts is a foundational curriculum that equips students with the language and literacy skills to be successful readers and writers. The English-Language Arts curriculum for Grades 6-8 is derived using core novels as the centerpiece. These novels are chosen for their meaning, literary prowess as well as relatability and readability. The purpose of using a core novel is to teach students how to mine a text to dig for deeper understanding and to hone critical thinking skills. It provides students with the opportunity to acquire communication skills; to appreciate the power of language through texts and their impact on personal, social, and cultural life. Students are guided by teachers as they learn to develop and express their own ideas, while being able to think critically about the ideas of others.

The core novel initiative. Using a core novel as the main text of each unit students will engage in the thoughtful reading, discussion, and dissection of a novel. Additionally, through thoughtfully paired non-fiction texts students will respond to literary analysis prompts to gain a deeper understanding of the texts. Through nightly writing assignments, referred to as Night Writes, students build stamina to write routinely over an extended period of time addressing a variety of themes, preparing students for a monthly writing task as well as the ability to write across the curriculum. Through the English Language Arts curriculum students gain a collection of communication skills, including the ability to evaluate information from a variety of sources and in multiple modes; as they become effective and literate users of language, students are able to apply these and other skills to achieve their educational goals.

Units of Study, Grade 6:

Unit 1: Perseverance

Unit 2: Change

Unit 3: Choice

Unit 4: Mystery

Unit 5: Kindness and Courage

Unit 6: Poetry

Unit 7: Mythology

Units of Study, Grade 7:

Unit 1: Perseverance

Unit 2: Identity

Unit 3: Relationships

Unit 4: Cultural Divides

Unit 5: Conflict

Unit 6: Poetry

Unit 7: Mythology

Units of Study, Grade 8:

Unit 1: Perseverance

Unit 2: Identity

Unit 3: Relationships

Unit 4: Cultural Divides

Unit 5: Conflict

Unit 6: Poetry

Unit 7: Mythology