Language & Literature Year 1 Overview

The Power of Stories

• 1st Nine Weeks: Exploring Asian Stories

  • Student Required Reading: Front Desk by Kelly Yang

  • Read Aloud: When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

Students will explore Asian culture and identity in this unit. Topics covered will be culture, community, perspectives, and immigration. Reading skills we will focus on are characterization, character development, and theme. We will ponder questions about how stories are passed down in families through time, and why difficult stories are important to hear, even if they cause pain and sadness.

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• 2nd Nine Weeks: Stories of Family and Identity

  • Student Required Reading: From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks

  • Read Aloud: Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Students will explore how stories (truths and lies) and histories can impact families and identities of individuals within families. Topics covered will be relationships and communication. Reading skills we will focus on are genre, point of view, plot, and conflict. We will ponder questions about how culture and circumstances can impact our identities, and how life changing events impact identity.

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• 3rd Nine Weeks: Survival Stories

  • Student Required Reading: Refugee by Alan Gratz

  • Read Aloud: Alone by Megan E. Freeman

Students will explore the human instinct to survive against impossible odds in this unit. Topics covered will be connections, change, global interactions, and the tendency for history to repeat itself as we examine similarities of stories throughout time. Reading skills we will focus on are structure, author's craft, writing styles, and context. We will ponder questions about migration and displacement and barriers people face as they move around seeking safety.

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• 4th Nine Weeks: The Big Book Project

  • Student Required Reading: Student-selected novel, TBD

  • Read Aloud: Multi-genre readings linked to the theme, "Be the Good"

In this unit, students will choose a novel to read that focuses on the theme, "Be the Good." Topics covered will be creativity, perspectives, communities, and aesthetics. Reading skills we will focus on are intertextuality and poetry and informational text analysis. We will ponder questions about who has the power to create positive change, and how we can create positive change in our communities.

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*In addition to these units, students will also be assessed on novels of their choice that they must complete on their own during independent reading time and outside of class.

**Almost all of the novels we have selected come from past Texas Lone Star lists. These novels are read by librarians across the state and are selected based on their literary merit and appropriateness for middle grades students. If you have concerns about the readings, please talk to me.