7-8 Grade Span

Grade 7

English Language Arts & Literacy

California Common Core State Standards

Reading Literature

Key Ideas and Details

• Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

• Determine a theme or central idea of a text, analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.

• Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact.

Craft and Structure

• Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.

• Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure contributes to its meaning.

• Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

• 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 (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).

• Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

• By the end of the year, 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.

Reading Informational Text

Key Ideas and Details

• Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences.

• Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.

• Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).

Craft and Structure

• Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.

• Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to the development of the ideas. (Analyze the use of text features (e.g., graphics, headers, captions) in public documents.)

• Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a

• text and analyze how the author distriguished his or her position from that of others.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

• Compare and contrast a text to an audio, video, or multimedia version of the text, analyzing each medium’s portrayal of the subject (e.g., how the delivery of a speech affects the impact of the words).

• Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims.

• 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.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

• By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Writing

Text Types and Purposes

1) Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

2) Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

3) Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

Production and Distribution of Writing

• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

  • With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.

  • Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

• Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation.

  • Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

  • Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Range of Writing

Grade 8

English Language Arts & Literacy

California Common Core State Standards

Reading Literature

Key Ideas and Details

• Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

• Determine a theme or central idea of a text, analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.

• Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.

Craft and Structure

• Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

• Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts, analyze how the differing structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style.

• Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

• Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors.

• Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

• By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of grades 6–8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Reading Informational Text

Key Ideas and Details

• Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences.

• Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.

• Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).

Craft and Structure

• Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

• Analyze in detail the structure of a specific paragraph in a text, including the role of particular sentences in developing and refining a key concept. (Analyze the use of text features (e.g., graphics, headers, captions) in consumer materials.)

• Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

• Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.

• Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced.

• Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

• By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 6–8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Writing

Text Types and Purposes

1) Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

2) Write informative/explanatory texts, including career development documents (e.g., simple business letters and job applications), to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

3) Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

Production and Distribution of Writing

• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

• With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.

• Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

• Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.

• Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

• Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Range of Writing

• Write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Listening and Speaking

Comprehension and Collaboration

• Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

• Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.

• Delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and relevance and sufficiency of the evidence and identifying when irrelevant evidence is introduced.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

• Present claims and findings (e.g., argument, narrative, response to literature presentations), emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-chosen details.

• Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest.

• Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Language

Conventions of Standard English

• Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. (Function of

• function of verbals, Passive and active verbs, Verbs in the indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive mood, Correct inappropriate shifts in verb voice and mood)

• Demonstrate command of the conventions of

• standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. (Use punctuation to indicate a pause or break, Ellipsis to indicate an omission, Spell correctly)

Knowledge of Language

• • Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. (Verbs in the active and passive voice and conditional and subjunctive mood, Use knowledge of language and its conventions)

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

• Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown andmultiple-meaning words or phrases based ongrade 8 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. (Use context clues, Common, grade-appropriate Greek orLatin affixes and roots as clues, Consult general and specialized reference materials print and digital to find thepronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech or trace the etymology of words, Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase)

• Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. (Interpret figures of speech in context, Use the relationship between particular words to better understand each of the words, Distinguish among the connotations of words with similar denotations)

• Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate

• general academic and domain-specific wordsand phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Math

California Common Core State Standards

• The Number System

• - Rational and Irrational Numbers

• Expressions and Equations

• - Radical and Integer Exponents

• - Connections Between Proportional Relationships, Lines and Linear Equations (relate equation to graph, y = mx + b)

• - Linear Equations and Systems of Linear Equations

• Functions

• Geometry

• - Congruence, Rotations, Reflections, and Translations

• - Pythagorean Theorem

• Statistics and Probability

• - Volume of Cylinders, Cones, and Spheres

Science

Next Generation Science Standards

• Earth Science

• - Universe and Stars - Patterns of apparent motion of moon and stars, Earth is in the Milky Way galaxy.

• - Earth and Solar System - Solar System consists of sun, planets, moons, asteroids and are held together by gravity. Formation of Solar System. Eclipses. Earth's tilted spin axis leads to seasons

• - History of Planet Earth - Geologic time scale is based on rock/fossil record.

• - Human Impact on Earth System - More people, more consumption of natural resources, more negative impacts.

• Life Science

• - Inheritance of Traits - Genes are located in chromosomes of cells. Each chromosome contains 2 variants of many genes. Each gene controls a protein necessary for the organism to function.

• - Variation of Traits - Besides genetic variation from sexual reproduction, genetic information can be altered by mutations which can be harmful, beneficial, or neutral.

• - Evidence of Common Ancestry & Diversity - Fossil record. Anatomical similarities between organisms living today and the fossil record enable reconstruction of evolutionary history. Same is true for embryological development.

• - Natural Selection - Predominance and suppression of certain traits, artificial selection

• - Adaptation - Natural selection, adaptation in order to survive

• Physical Science

• - Forces and Motion - Newton's 3 laws. Motion of object is determined by sum of forces acting on that object.

• - Types of Interactions - Electric and magnetic forces can be attractive or repulsive and size depends on magnitude. Gravitational are always attractive and depend on mass and distance. These forces can be described by fields.

• - Definition of Energy - Kinetic and Potential Energy

• - Relationship Between Energy and Forces - 2 objects interact, each exerts a force on the other, energy is transferred.

• - Wave Properties - Waves have repeating patterns of wavelength, frequency, and amplitude. Sound waves need a medium to travel through.

• - Electromagnetic Radiation - Light is reflected, transmitted, or absorbed. Light travels in straight lines. Wave model of light. Light can travel through space and is NOT a matter wave.

• - Informational Technologies & Instrumentation - Digitized signals are the most efficient way to transmit data.

Engineering

Project Lead the Way

• Magic of Electrons (Physics):

• - Electricity, atoms, and circuits

• Science of Technology (Physics, Chemistry, Nanotechnology):

• Flight and Space (Physics)

Coding

• Possible Resources

• - Udacity

Social Studies

K-8 Thematic Focus Areas based on the C3 Framework

• Civics

• Economics

• Geography

• History

• Write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Listening and Speaking

Comprehension and Collaboration

• Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

  • Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.

  • Delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims, and attitude toward the subject, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

• Present claims and findings (e.g., argument, narrative, summary presentations), emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples.

• Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and findings and emphasize salient points.

• Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Language

Conventions of Standard English

• Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. (Function of phrases and clauses, Simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences to signal differing relationships among ideas, Phrases and clauses within a sentence, Dangling modifiers)

  • Demonstrate command of the conventions of

• standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. (Comma to separate coordinate adjectives, Spell correctly)

Knowledge of Language

• Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. (Choose language that expresses ideas precisely and concisely)

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

• Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases basedon grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. (Use context clues, Common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues, Consult general and specialized reference materials print and digital to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech or trace the etymology of words, Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase)

• Demonstrate understanding of figurative

• language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. (Interpret figures of speech in context, Use synonym/antonym, analogy to better understand each of the words, Distinguish among the connotations of words with similar denotations.

  • Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate

• general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Math

California Common Core State Standards

• Ratios and Proportional Relationships

• - Proportional Relationships (unit rates, multi-step ratio and percent problems)

• The Number System

• - Apply and Extend on Previous Understanding of Operations with Fractions and Rational Numbers

• Expressions and Equations

• - Use Properties of Operations to Generate Equivalent Expressions

• - Solve Multi-step Word Problems (equations and inequalities). Use Variables to Represent Quantities in these Problems

• Geometry

• - Draw, Construct, and Describe Geometric Figures and Describe Relationships

• - Solve Problems Including Angle Measure, Area, Surface Area, and Volume for Many Shapes

• Statistics and Probability

• - Random Sampling to Make Inferences about a Population and Compare Differences about 2 Populations

• - Probability and Probability Models

Science

Next Generation Science Standards

• Earth Science

• - The History of Planet Earth - Tectonic processes continually generate new ocean floor and destroy old ones.

• - Earth's Materials and Systems - Energy flow and matter cycling cause earth processes. This energy comes form the Sun and Earth's center.

• - Plate Tectonics & Large Scale System Interactions - Maps show large plate movements that have happened over time.

• - The Roles of Water in Earth's Surface Processes - On land and underground water movements cause weathering and erosion.

• - Natural Resources - Humans depend on natural resources, which may be limited and non-renewable, from all spheres.

• - Natural Hazards - Use history of hazards to predict likelihood of future events.

• Life Science

• - Organization of Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms (+ Energy in Chemical Processes) - Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration, and breakdown of food.

• - Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems - Organisms compete for resources and depend on environment/resources for survival. More resources, more chance of survival and growth. Predatory and mutually beneficial interactions lead to population elimination and growth respectively.

• - Cycle of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems - Use food webs as models to show energy transfer between producers, consumers, and decomposers.

• - Ecosystem Dynamics - Ecosystems vary over time and affect population. Biodiversity describes the variety of species found on Earth.

• - Biodiversity & Humans - Change in biodiversity affects human resources.

• Physical Science

• - Structure & Properties of Matter - atoms and molecules, chemical and physical properties, properties of liquids/gases/solids, phase changes

• - Chemical Reactions - Products have different properties than reactants in chemical reactions, law of conservation of mass, Exothermic v. endothermic

• - Definition of Energy - Heat is energy transfer due to temperature difference between two objects.

Engineering

Project Lead the Way

• Green Architecture:

• - Efficiency

• - Sustainability

• - 3-D Modeling using Autodesk Revit

• Medical Detectives:

• - Human body systems

• - Diagnosis and Treatment

• - DNA analysis

Coding

• Possible Resources

• - Code Academy

Social Studies

K-8 Thematic Focus Areas based on the C3 Framework

• Civics

• Economics

• Geography

• History