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.

This video clip is meant to serve as a writing or discussion prompt during a unit on forces and motion. This can be used at varied grade levels, with the expectation that student responses would be more complex in higher grade levels.

In this activity, students will work in collaborative groups to create 9M x 9M models of plant and animal cells. Class population can be split into 2 or 4 groups, with half the students constructing animal cells and the other half constructing plant cells. Students must organize and assign duties, provide materials for this activity, and write a written report. They will also give "Cell Tours" to other students and/or classroom guests.

In this introductory lesson, students engage in a hands-on, collaborative investigation of the definition of reading by participating in small group brainstorming sessions and an analysis of a variety of texts and the strategies they need to read them. Students also create individual Reader’s Profiles with an online tool modeled on social networking sites. Sharing these profiles and reflecting on their own learning, students ultimately develop a working definition of reading which they refine during the year.

Students will become engaged learners through this unit that prepares students for studying ancient Greece with digital storytelling skills. First students develop a list of questions to research Greek gods, heroes, and creatures. Then with a partner, they choose the topic of their research and divide the questions between themselves. After conducting research, the partners write scripts for their digital story using the online tool PowToon.

This lesson leads students through an exploration of age-appropriate texts of various formats that are in their own ways revisionist fairy tales. After reading the stories Ella Enchanted and The Courageous Princess, students write journal entries on which of the two stories' heroines they’d most like to be. Next they read the poem "Grethel" and then compare and contrast all three female leads. Then students choose one of the texts and write their own revisions by turning the poem or book into another form. Finally, students share their work and assess their own writing using a class-created rubric.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Science created this resource as part of an online workshop series, but you are welcome to use or modify it for your classroom. It includes a video and written directions for creating nature journals and tips for incorporating them into your classroom. For information on taking any the Nature Neighborhood online workshops for CEUs or EE credit, visit: https://naturalsciences.org/learn/educators/online-workshops.

Students will read scientific text about top predators in Arctic marine ecosystems and how they may be affected by global climate change. Students will work individually or collaboratively to write a report based on the scientific text they have read and participate in a large-group discussion session based on their analysis.

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 lab activity, students will investigate the law of conservation of mass by weighing chewing gum before and after it is chewed.

In this lesson students complete the first part of their end of unit assessment by writing their planned body paragraphs.

In this lesson students complete the next part of their end of unit assessment by writing their introduction and conclusion paragraphs for their literary analysis.

In this lesson students complete their end of unit assessment by revising their literary analysis essays based on teacher feedback.

In this final lesson of the unit and module, students will turn in their final performance task and celebrate and reflect on their work.

In this lesson, students complete the final section of their Researcher’s Notebook, in which they formulate a plan of action based on their research findings.

This lesson runs as a workshop lesson and students work on finalizing their brochures.

This lesson opens with a mini lesson of your choosing that addresses a struggle or challenge you’ve noticed multiple students or pairs having. Following the mini lesson, students are given a solid chunk of time to work with their partners on the final draft of their Ad Analysis.

This lesson opens with a mini lesson on effective layout and design propelled by an entry task.

In this final lesson of the unit and module, students will turn in their final performance task. Students then write book reviews for their independent reading books.