7th Grade- What We're Reading
May 7-11
Students are continuing to read Love That Dog and writing their own poetry after analyzing the structure and meaning of the famous poems within the novel.
May 7- "The Tiger"
May 8- "Street Music"
May 9- Independent reading
May 10- Shape poems
May 11- No class- SIP Day
April 30-May 4
Students are beginning the novel Love That Dog. Students define what poetry is and write their own poetry based off of famous poems within the novel.
April 30- "The Red Wheelbarrow"
May 1- Independent reading
May 2- "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening"
May 3- Love That Dog
May 4- "The Tiger"
April 23-27
Students are having a Socratic Seminar about issues presented in the novel The Outsiders. Students are doing three days of preparation by answering 10 questions, finding textual evidence to support their answers, and referring to their personal experiences to connect with the novel's themes.
April 23- Socratic Seminar preparation
April 24- Socratic Seminar preparation
April 25- Socratic Seminar preparation
April 26- Socratic Seminar- observing and speaking
April 27- Independent reading
April 16-20
Students are finishing The Outsiders. This week, we are analyzing the themes in the novel by citing evidence to support an analysis of the author's message.
April 16- Chapter 10
April 17- Independent reading
April 18- Chapters 11-12
April 19- Chapter 10-12 quiz
April 20- Socratic Seminar preparation
April 9-13
Students are continuing to read The Outsiders. This week, we are reading a news article about whether murder is justified in order to come to our own conclusions about this issue from the novel. Students are also analyzing the development of theme by discussing the significance of important passages.
April 9- Finish chapter 7
April 10- "Can Murder Be Justified?" article and discussion
April 11- Chapter 8 and analysis
April 12- Chapter 9 and comprehension questions
April 13- SIP Day- Watch 2nd half of The Giver movie
April 2-6
Students are continuing to read and analyze The Outsiders. We are focusing on analysis of a poem that is mentioned in the novel. We are comparing the themes of the poem to the themes of the novel to find connections.
April 2- NO SCHOOL
April 3- "Nothing Gold Can Stay" poem analysis
April 4- Chapter 6
April 5- Chapter 7
April 6- Independent reading
March 19-23
Students are reading The Outsiders. This week, we are focusing on summarizing plot and understanding the setting and characters in greater depth.
March 19- Chapters 3-4
March 20- Chapter 4 storyboard
March 21- Independent reading
March 22- Chapter 5
March 23- Watch 1st half of The Giver movie
March 12-16
PARCC Testing
March 5-9
Students are engaging in pre-reading activities for our next novel, The Outsiders. Students will familiarize themselves with the unconventional vocabulary, read short stories with related themes and topics, and research historical information about the novel's setting.
March 5- Outsiders slang vocabulary
March 6- 1960s scavenger hunt
March 7- Independent reading presentations
March 8- Read aloud
March 9- Library visit
February 26- March 2
Students gave presentations about their utopias. They also finished their independent reading books. Students engaged in a discussion about the themes and issues that our next novel brings up.
February 19-23
Students are working on their final project for The Giver. They are creating their own utopias in small groups. Students write a document that details the specific elements of the community, and they create a flag and map to illustrate what the community will look like. Next week, they will create a Google Slides presentation in order to present their utopias to the rest of the class in a formal presentation.
February 19- No School
February 20- Writing portion of project
February 21- Writing portion of project
February 22- Independent reading
February 23- Flag and map design
February 12-16
Students finished The Giver on Monday. Then they began working on their final project by brainstorming their ideas to create the perfect world, their own utopian community.
February 12- Chapters 22-23
February 13- Independent reading and project assignment
February 14- Brainstorming project ideas
February 15- Half Day- No Class
February 16- Institute Day- No School
February 5-9
This week, students are nearing the end of The Giver. They will be taking a quiz on the events in the plot. They will also be assigned their final project, which is to create a utopia in a small group.
February 5- Chapters 17-18
February 6- Reading quiz and independent reading
February 7- Chapters 19-20
February 8- Chapter 21 and discussion
February 9- Introduction to final project
January 29- February 2
Students are continuing to read The Giver. They will be participating in a Socratic Seminar, where they discuss and debate issues in the novel by referring to specific text evidence to prove their ideas and arguments.
January 29- Chapter 14 and preparation for discussion
January 30- Socratic Seminar
January 31- Independent reading
February 1- Chapter 15-16
February 2- Preparation for next week's seminar
January 22-26
This week, students are continuing to read The Giver. Students are focusing on discussions regarding the themes of the novel. More specifically, we are debating whether the restriction of freedom in the society is beneficial or harmful to the citizens.
January 15-19
This week, students are continuing to read The Giver. Students are reading related texts with similar subject matter to make real-world connections. Students are also beginning their independent reading novels and received their quarter 3 assignments.
January 15- No school
January 16- "Let Teenagers Try Adulthood" article
January 17- Independent reading
January 18- The Giver chapter 9-10
January 19- Article of the week
January 8-12
This week, students are continuing to read The Giver. We will start the week by recapping important events, setting descriptions, and character descriptions to recall necessary information from before winter break. Then students will continue to analyze significant evidence in their reader's response log to answer the unit's essential questions. Students will also be participating in an activity where they are randomly assigned jobs in order to empathize with the experiences of characters at the "Ceremony of Twelves," which will take place in the chapter 7-8.
January 8- Compare and contrast The Giver and River Grove communities
January 9- Library visit and independent reading
January 10- Chapter 7-8 and discussion
January 11- Job assignment activity
January 12- SIP Day- no class
December 18-22
This week, students are continuing to read The Giver and finalize their independent reading projects and presentations, which are due on Wednesday. Students continue to analyze significant textual evidence in their reader's response log. They answer comprehension questions and create a timeline of milestones that characters in "The Community" face to better understand the book's events and theme.
December 18- Independent reading- project preparation time
December 19- Chapter 5 and 6- read with partners and pick textual evidence to analyze
December 20- Chapter 5 and 6 comprehension questions and timeline
December 21- Independent reading presentations
December 22- Game day- celebration for winter break
December 11-15
This week, students are beginning to read The Giver. Students will keep an evidence log to find textual evidence that answers our essential questions that the novel addresses, such as "How do societal structures limit or promote freedom, choice, and desire?" Students will participate in discussions, analyze quotes, and gain a firm understanding of the novel's setting.
December 11- Introduction to essential questions and chapter 1 in The Giver
December 12- Independent reading
December 13- Chapter 2 and analysis of quotes
December 14- Chapter 3 and analysis of quotes
December 15- Explaining the age-based traditions of the "Community" in The Giver
December 4-8
This week, students are participating in activities to prepare for our next novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry. Students will answer surveys, analyze photographs, engage in discussions, and read articles about utopias and dystopias. This will prepare them for the novel's main topic.
December 4- Vocabulary test
December 5- Agree/Disagree statements and discussion
December 6- Gallery walk and utopia article
December 7- Utopia vs. dystopia article and video
December 8- Independent reading
November 27- December 1
This week, students are creating a multimedia poster on the website lucidpress.com to represent the changes and development of a character in The Westing Game. Students will analyze textual evidence to figure out how and why a character changes due to plot-based events. The posters will be finished by Friday.
November 27- Planning for the project
November 28- Independent reading
November 29- Introduction to lucidpress features
November 30- Project work time
December 1- Project work time- due at end of period
November 20-21
This week, we reread the ending of The Westing Game and recorded what ended up happening to each of the 16 characters, the heirs. This was to help clarify confusions to prepare for the project that we will be doing when we return from Thanksgiving break.
November 13-17
This week, we are finishing The Westing Game. Students will be drawing conclusions and analyzing their past inferences to confirm accuracy as the final clues are revealed. Students are also continuing to read their independent novels and discovering their own interests as readers.
November 13- Chapter 24 (unfinished from last week)
November 14- Independent reading
November 15- Chapter 25-26
November 16- Chapter 27-28
November 17- Chapter 29-30
November 6-10
This week, we are continuing to read The Westing Game and beginning our new read aloud novel, All American Boys. Students will be finalizing their clues in the mystery novel as it comes to a close. Our focus while reading will be analyzing the changes in characters over the course of the novel.
November 6- Chapter 21- Adding final characters to our web connections charts
November 7- Chapter 22- Making inferences while reading aloud
November 8- Chapter 23- Analysis of the changes in the titles of heirs from chapters 7 to 23
November 9- Chapter 24- Discussion questions while citing textual evidence
November 10- Independent reading
October 30- November 3
This week, we are returning to The Westing Game. We are beginning a new log, which is a "characters' connections" log. Students will design a web to show how each heir is connected to Samuel Westing, the man who left his money to the 16 main characters. We will use a character's clues and findings as it is revealed to us in order to create this web.
October 30- Chapter 15-16
October 31- Chapter 17- Beginning the web
November 1- Chapter 18- Adding to the web
November 2- Chapter 19-20- Continuing the connection web
November 3- Article of the week
October 23-27
We took a break from reading our novel this week in order to write the Patriot's Pen essay. Students selected new independent reading books for Quarter 2. We will resume our reading next week.
October 16-20
This week, we are continuing to read The Westing Game. We are continuing to solve clues in our detective's log and putting the clues together to draw conclusions. We are also learning to cite evidence to support explanations of events.
October 16- Read chapter 12 and 13
October 17- Discussion questions for chapters 12 and 13
October 18- Chapter 14 and "America, the Beautiful" analysis
October 19- We read our "read aloud" novel and discussed its ending
October 20- Chapter 14 comprehension questions and independent reading
October 10-13
This week, we are continuing to read The Westing Game. We are continuing to solve clues in our detective's log. Students are also providing objective summaries of the text and citing evidence to support their explanations of events from the text.
October 10- Presentations for independent reading
October 11- Read chapters 9-10
October 12- Read chapter 11 and comprehension questions on 10-11
October 13- Writing as a detective about the novel's events
October 2-6
This week, we are continuing to read The Westing Game. We are starting to solve clues in our detective's log as the characters have been paired up to solve the crime in this mystery novel. Students are also finalizing their independent reading projects and writing book reviews.
October 2- Chapter 7 in The Westing Game
October 3- Independent reading
October 4- Chapter 8 in The Westing Game
October 5- Chapter 8 discussion- solving clues
October 6- Article of the week and book reviews
September 25-29
This week, we are continuing to read The Westing Game. We are continuing to create character logs to record information about each character. We are also beginning a detective's log to keep track of clues in the mystery novel.
September 25- Chapter 4 in The Westing Game
September 26- Independent reading
September 27- Summarizing chapters 1-4 in The Westing Game
September 28- Chapter 5 in The Westing Game
September 29- Article of the week
September 18-22
This week, we are continuing to read The Westing Game. We are focusing on creating character logs in order to record important information about each character that we come across in the beginning chapters.
September 18- Chapter 2 in The Westing Game
September 19- Chapter 3 in The Westing Game
September 20- Independent reading
September 21- Article of the week- Hispanic Heritage Month
September 11-15
This week, students are beginning their first novel of the year. It is a mystery called The Westing Game.
September 11- "The Scholarship Jacket" by Marta Salinas
September 12- Pre-reading strategies (making predictions) for The Westing Game
September 13- Continuing to make predictions for The Westing Game
September 14- Chapter 1 in The Westing Game
September 15- Independent reading
September 5-8
This week, students are learning to identify parts of a plot while citing evidence from the story to prove their claims.
September 5- "Geraldo No Last Name" by Sandra Cisneros
September 6- "Geraldo No Last Name" by Sandra Cisneros
September 7- "The Scholarship Jacket" by Marta Salinas
September 8- "Article of the week" -based on current news- and independent reading
August 28- September 1
This week, students are exploring their interests in independent reading by determining their preferred genre of literature and finding new literature that meets their preferences.
August 21-25
Last week, we read short stories to better understand plot and the traditional story arc.
August 21- "Seventh Grade" by Gary Soto
August 22- "The Jacket" by Gary Soto
August 23- "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros