The Office of English Language Arts continues to guide and support the work of our schools. Our goal is to support student achievement and create high-quality learning experiences throughout the district. The office believes that educating our students requires children to pursue learning in ways that are culturally engaging and academically rigorous. Therefore, we have designed culturally responsive curricula that embody intentional best practices, interventions, and assessments. With guidance and support, educators will engage in professional development that is driven by authentic student work and analysis of data. The teacher will, then, consistently engage in conversation with the curriculum as informed by; pedagogical research and research-based best practices, student voice, needs, strengths, culture, interests, and the world. We are committed to ensuring students become lifelong learners and are positioned for success.
NTU_Update_2.9.24 (1).pdfNTU_Update_2.23.24 (1).pdf2024-Summer-Reading-Poster-en.pdf2024-Summer-Reading-Poster-es.pdfEnglish Language Arts Department
Check out what students are currently learning!
In this four-week unit, students will read a variety of poems, where they will decode words, explore rhyme, rhyme patterns, rhythm, and repetition. In each poem, students will bring their imagination to life with the use of imagery, movement, sounds, and feelings. They will begin to dive deep into the characteristics of poems and compare and contrast them to fictional stories.
Cautionary tales are folktales told to warn of danger. These tales have been told for many years. In this 7-week unit, students meet Red Riding Hood, Shang, Salma, and Roja. Retelling fairy tales, discussing and writing about characters, plot details, and theme, sequencing events, comparing stories, and offering a written opinion are all parts of this unit. A writing matrix is included at the end of the unit.
In this 4-week unit, students will learn about the United States Constitution with an emphasis on the three branches of government and the 1st and 19th Amendments. Students will read and view media to learn: The different parts of the US Government and how each part functions; The rights and responsibilities of U.S.citizens specifically the 1st, 15th, and 19th amendments.
In this unit, students will read the chapter book, “The Stories Julian Tells”. Students will analyze the characters through different situations and teach readers about how motivations, feelings, and a person’s actions affect events and other people. Students will use inference to discuss and write about the events in the story. Students will use the writing revolution strategies to explain and correctly write sentences and paragraphs.
In this 15-lesson unit students read and discuss the novel, Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin. Students write in seven responses to literature focusing on questioning a character’s motives; making a personal connection that focuses on how a character is feeling; analyzing characters; writing about character as symbol; examining book themes, and; writing an explanatory essay about the theme.
In this unit, students explore how plastic pollution is choking the world’s oceans. Students learn about the history of plastic, how plastic ends up in the ocean, how plastic in the ocean impacts the ecosystem, and why it’s so hard to remove plastic from the ocean once it’s there. In the second half of the unit, students explore a variety of solutions for reducing plastic waste and reducing the amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean. Students will learn about large policy-based changes that can be made and also explore smaller voluntary actions they can take that will make a difference. Finally, students end the unit doing a research project aimed at educating others about the dangers of plastic and its impact on the environment.
In this unit, students will read about characters/people who overcome great obstacles to survive truly difficult situations.. The goal of the unit is for students to analyze, respond to adversity around them and realize what it takes to survive these situations. By the end of the unit, students will be able to answer the essential question through writing their own narrative about an event in their lives or someone they know that shows what it takes to be a survivor.
In this 16-lesson unit of study, students will learn and apply specific strategies to assist when reading poetry. In addition, students will have the opportunity to formally write 3 comparative essays and track progress. Students will read and analyze 9 poems and poets throughout this Unit. They will learn specific strategies to use in poetry such as alliteration, visualizing, identifying the three S’: Speaker, Situation, and Subject, Annotating, focus on structure, puns, metaphors, and rereading. Their culminating tasks consist of writing a comparative essay.
In this unit, students will explore several themes such as change, maturing, love and inner conflict. Students will learn to summarize the author’s central idea to build understanding of the ways people change over time. Students will read a variety of information texts and will analyze these in order to build background knowledge about the Holocaust and Anne Frank’s experiences. Students will collaborate with their peers to examine Anne Frank’s diary as both a historical and literary text, and will understand how the Holocaust affected the lives of the Frank family. These reading selections and activities will also help the readers to understand social injustices and how movements, such as Courage in Denmark and The Sit-In Movement can and do make a difference.
In this unit, students will explore the craft and purpose of storytelling. The unit is anchored around the study of Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi and supporting mentor texts that highlight themes of identity, survival, bonds and faith. Throughout the unit students will analyze literary elements that authors use to develop strong narratives using the mentor text to author their own narratives. The unit concludes with students constructing a narrative in the likeness of Pi to include unreal elements, such as the animals or the island, in their account of a personal experience /event.
In this 30-day unit, students will read the fantasy fiction novel Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. Over the course of this novel unit, students will consider the themes of how those who rule a society can abuse their power to oppress certain subgroups within that society in order to consolidate their control. They will also be presented with the universal conflict of maturing as an individual where a person has to reconcile the inherent conflict between their responsibilities and duties to their family and their duty to themselves as an individual with their own beliefs and value systems.
In this unit. students will use the analysis of This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada and other literary works to guide their understanding of the science fiction genre characteristics to: draw & make connections to real life, explore the connection amongst other fiction genres, extrapolate scientific principles and the impact on human life and, ultimately, to guide their writing. The unit concludes with students writing, and potentially sharing (writing, performing, etc), a seamless continuation (sequel) of the original text using everything they have previously learned.
In this 24-Day Unit, students learn will analyze literary elements used in the Octavia Butler novel through discussions, writing all while learning new vocabulary. The narrative structure and ethical dilemmas make a close reading of the novel, through multiple critical lenses, which are very accessible to students. Students should be encouraged to examine Kindred as a work of fiction for its postmodern structural experimentation; to consider the novel’s contribution to the slave narrative genre or to examine the text through the lens of Postcolonial Theory.
The Saturday School curriculum is carefully designed to provide students with access to released items and additional high-quality texts, enabling them to understand and work through tests successfully. The curriculum aims to offer sustained reading and writing opportunities, fostering a comprehensive understanding of the texts and standards covered. By incorporating a variety of resources, students are given the chance to engage with the content in a meaningful way, enhancing their learning experience and preparing them for academic success.
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