English Language Arts

Welcome to 7th grade English Language Arts! Throughout the year, we will read a wide variety of texts that help students better understand themselves, communicate with others, and make sense of the world around them. Many of our read-aloud texts will focus on diverse characters, current events, and social issues allowing us to travel the world without leaving our room!

Reading Goal

After taking the i-Ready to determine students' reading ability, students will be required to read a certain number of pages each quarter. At the end of each quarter, students will fill out a reading reflection to assess their reading. This assignment is worth 40 points each quarter.

At-Home Reading Expectations

To maintain proficiency with reading, students should read for 20 minutes at home, five nights a week (100 minutes total each week). At this point in time, students will not be required to keep a Reading Log, instead students will be documenting the current page they are on at the beginning of class every Monday.

Please hold your child accountable with completing the nightly reading by setting a timer, seeing how many pages were read during the 20 minutes (if it's a just right book, your child should about read one page per minute), and asking questions about his/her book.

Book Choices

Books can be checked out from my classroom and the school library, which includes ebooks and audiobooks from our online catalog. These libraries have a variety of books with varied reading levels and varied content. Students can also bring school-appropriate books from home.

As much as I want to read all of the books that students choose, it's impossible to do so. Therefore, students are responsible for communicating their book choices and the content of their books with you. If a novel isn’t a good fit for a student, books can be returned/exchanged at any time.

You and your child can use Common Sense Media, Good Reads, Scholastic, Scholastic Book Wizard, and Lexile.com to review a book’s content and readability.

Please encourage your child to take care of books borrowed from school. These books were purchased by me and the district. If they return damaged, or don't return at all, the books will need to be replaced.

Notebooks

Students will need a notebook; to be brought to class every day. All the pages need to be numbered: Page 1 = Index, Page 2-3 = Books I've Read, Page 4-5 = Books I Want to Read.

Book Orders

Want to purchase inexpensive books for your children, your friends, or yourself? Scholastic Reading Club has many popular titles at a cheaper rate than most bookstores. Register at https://clubs2.scholastic.com and enter MP3PG for our classroom code. When you purchase books through Scholastic Reading Club using my class code you save money, I earn free books for the classroom library, and your child gets a complimentary gift. Talk about a win/win/win!