This resource accompanies our Rethink 7th Grade ELA course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning. 

This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 7th grade ELA content.

By "becoming" a character in a novel they have read and making lists from that character's perspective, students analyze the character while also enriching their vocabulary. Students gain a deeper understanding of a character by creating charts linking the character's actions with the character's traits. They explore adjectives through a variety of resources. They then use their analysis of the character and their knowledge of adjectives to create descriptive lists of their own three other characters from the novel.

A grammar resource of over 101 photocopiable worksheets, as well as full answers and notes for use.

In conjunction with reading and studying the novel DRUMS, GIRLS, AND DANGEROUS PIE, students collaborated in a team to create a "booth" to host a Rare Disease Day Expo at the Johnston Medical Mall on Rare Disease Day. Students used tools to complete guided research on their rare disease of choice. With rubric guidelines, they included all of the necessary information to present to the public to create awareness and also encourage advocacy. They had the privilege of receiving a special guest speaker, an advocate for rare disease awareness, and hearing the story of how her own son had the same cancer as the character from the novel.

Students will be taught the "drill skill and kill" method to be used on grammar concepts within an argumentative paper.

As a way to support teachers with English Language Arts (ELA) instruction during the pandemic, the NCDPI ELA team created choice boards featuring standards-aligned ELA activities.The intended purpose of these choice boards is to provide a way for students to continue standards-based learning while schools are closed. Each activity can be adapted and modified to be completed with or without the use of digital tools. Many activities can also be repeated with different texts. These standards-based activities are meant to be a low-stress approach to reinforcing and enriching the skills learned during the 2019-2020 school year. The choice boards are to be used flexibly by teachers, parents, and students in order to meet the unique needs of each learner.Exploration activities are provided for a more self-directed or guided approach to independent learning for students. These activities and sites should be used as a way to explore concepts, topics, skills, and social and emotional competencies that interest the learner. 

As part of their ELA coursework, students are reading an autobiography to study author's craft.  In particular, students are exploring how authors use dialogue, transitional phrases/clauses, and sensory details to tell a personal story. The unit will culminate with students writing their own memoirs. The bulk of the unit takes place in the ELA classroom. In the ESL support block, students will receive support with reading an autobiography of their choice, noting examples of author's craft in the autobiography, and integrating this craft into their own writing.

In this first lesson of the unit, students choose from two memoirs 15 on the Road to Freedom and the Big Lie. Students participate in a F2F mini-lesson in how dialogue can develop characters in an autobiography. Students then transition to technology for a book introduction with historical context and a chapter 1 book preview (guided reading). Students in 15 on the Road to Freedom then continue to receive support via Ed Puzzle for identifying dialogue and documenting in a graphic organizer, while students in The Big Lie meet with the teacher for the support. While students in The Big Lie transition to continue completing the graphic organizer independently, students in the 15 on the Road to Freedom meet with the teacher F2F to discuss their completed graphic organizers. Students then return to their autobiographies (written on google docs and organized in google classroom) to include additional dialogue in their stories and peer-review a partnerÅ› story. Students then participate in a full group F2F wrap up/reflection where they share out examples of dialogue their partner included in their writing as a result of the lesson.

Online Lesson for Books: Historical Context/Chapter 1 Intro/Graphic Organizer Support

15 on the Road to Freedom: Book Introduction, Chapter 1 Preview, and Support with Graphic Organizer Task
The Big Lie: Book Introduction, Chapter 1 Preview (Note that support with graphic organizer is given F2F for this group)

Graphic Organizers

I can identify how authors use dialogue to develop characters
I can identify precise language authors use to introduce dialogue
I can identify how authors use sensory details to develop experiences
I can identify how authors use transitional words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence shifts

Assignment Sheet

ELA Autobiography Assignment Sheet (Created by Julia Koli, Connie Ray, and Elliot Willis-Begley at Scarlett Middle School, Ann Arbor MI)

F2F Mini-Lesson #1

Mini-Lesson on Character Development Through Dialogue

Please email daughertye@aaps.k12.mi.us if you would like me to send you the additional resources I created for the remaining mini-lessons and book chapters!

Students will have several opportunities to collaborate and discuss their individual thoughts and findings after reading the novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers using Edmodo.

This three-part lesson introduces students to the use of speedwriting (also called free writing) as a prewriting technique. Learning the technique of speedwriting allows students to generate a foundation of ideas on which they can build a narrative structure. The goal is to fill up the blank page without worrying about grammar, spelling, or even coherence. Students then identify key ideas and phrases in their speedwriting, and use a graphic Story Organizer to develop the ideas into the main elements of a story (exposition, rising action, climax, conclusion).

In this unit, students examine story elements and vocabulary associated with mystery stories through Directed Learning–Thinking Activities and then track these features as they read mystery books from the school or classroom library. Several activities at the Millennium Mystery Madness website, plus a story map project, add to their understanding and appreciation of the mystery genre. Students plan their own original mystery stories with the help of the interactive Mystery Cube, peer edit and revise their stories, and publish them online.

In this lesson, students use a newspaper employment advertisement and work together to rewrite the ad using complete sentences. Student then rewrite the advertisement.

This resource includes one poem, with an accompanying link to the poem being read aloud, and nine text-dependent questions (including one optional constructed-response prompt for students), and explanatory information for teachers regarding alignment to the CCSS.

Students will begin to take what they have learned about human rights, the UN and apply it to an issue that is important to them. Students will work together to write a simple UN resolution to address that issue and present it to the class through a model UN activity. The lesson meets NCDPI global education goals such as investigating the world, recognizing perspectives, communicating ideas and taking action. Note: This lesson was created in accordance with the 7th Grade Social Studies Essential Standards and the VIF/Participate Global Competence Indicators for Grade 7. For more information about VIF/Participate and these indicators, please visit https://www.participate.com/. This lesson was developed by Lindsey Gallagher as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

In this lesson, students can explore for themselves the problem Tom Sawyer faced, how he “solved” his conundrum, and what he learned about human nature in the process. When combined with writing about the passage, students will learn to appreciate how Twain’s humor contains a deeper message and to derive satisfaction from struggling to master complex text.

In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

This resource includes informational paried passage mini-assessment that includes two articles and one accompanying recording, thirteen text-dependent questions (including one optional constructed-response prompt for students), and explanatory information for teachers regarding alignment to the CCSS. Articles included are “High Schools Starting Later to Help Sleepy Teens,” by Michelle Trudeau and “High schools will keep starting too early. Here’s why" by Dan Weissman.

The highwayman is an eighteenth century thief, who promises to return to his love Bess, the landlord’s daughter. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

Featuring the India Arie song "I Am Not My Hair," this lesson takes students through the pre-writing, production, and editing phases of an informative essay.