Welcome to
Back to School
Night 2015-2016
Language Arts 7
Mrs. Esak
lesak@wyckoffschools.org
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Unit 1: Memoir Writing
S Students will write a personal narrative with reflection;
they will connect two small moments using a common theme.
S Grammar: Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences
S Read Aloud/Shared Reading: I Am Malala by Malala
Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick, and other Mentor Texts
S Independent Reading: Must be reading 20 min per night;
recording their thinking; *suggested reading memoir genre
Unit 2: Reading in Book
Clubs
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Students will read one-two books of any genre (mostly realistic
fiction) in a book club.
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Students will focus on character analysis, especially character
relationships.
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Read Aloud/Shared Reading: The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
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Students will form a theory supporting it with evidence and write a
literary essay.
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Word Study: Greek and Latin Word Parts
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Independent reading: Book Club Reading
Unit 3: Informational
Reading and Research
S Students will learn strategies for reading informational
texts
Ex. identifying central ideas and supporting details,
summarizing, synthesizing, identifying text structures and
features, determining author’s purpose and point of view, and
citing text evidence
S Word Study: Greek and Latin Word Parts
S Independent Reading: on-going reading non-fiction text
Unit 4: Informational
Writing
S Students will write an unbiased information article to
inform an audience about a topic using a variety of
writing strategies.
S Students will apply the knowledge gained in the non-
fiction reading unit to this writing task.
S Independent Reading: on-going text of any genre
Unit 5: Argumentative
Writing
S Students will research a debatable topic, choose a
side, and write an argumentative essay in support of
their position.
S Grammar: Modifiers and Prepositional Phrases
S Independent Reading: on-going text of any genre
Unit 6: Reading in Book
Clubs
S Students will read one or two books of any genre (mostly
realistic fiction) in a book club.
S Students will focus on cultural themes.
S Read Aloud/Shared Reading: Daniel’s Story by Carol Matas
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Students will form a theory with textual evidence and write a
literary essay.
S Word Study: Greek and Latin Word Parts
S Independent Reading: Book Club Reading
Independent Reading
S Independent Reading Calendar: Students set
nightly/weekly reading goals to effectively manage their
time.
S Recording their Thinking: Students demonstrate
comprehension through a variety of reading strategies on
post-its or in another format
S Independent Reading Assignment: Students demonstrate
comprehension by identifying the big idea/theme/audience
in a text along with textual evidence that supports the
theme.
Assessments
S Each unit of study has a pre- and post- assessment.
S Pre-assessments are used to inform instruction; these
are not graded.
S Post-assessment are used to evaluate student
progress; these are graded.
S Grammar Quizzes: given for each grammar rule
S Word Study Quizzes: given for each word sort
Grading
S Reading: 35% Independent Reading, Reading Unit
Assessments, Literary Essays
S Writing: 35% Process Writing Pieces, Writing Unit
Assessments
S Grammar: 10% Grammar Quizzes
S Word Study: 10% Word Study Quizzes
S Homework and Participation: 10%
Suggestions on Supporting
Students at Home
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Schoolwires: Check daily homework assignments, upcoming assessments, and
due dates.
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Google Classroom: Please ask your child to share his/her work with you.
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Look through your child’s reading/writing notebook and ask your child to
discuss what he/she is learning.
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Genesis Parent Portal: Check grades and missing assignments.
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Help monitor independent reading and have conversations about it. * What
happened in that part of the text? What do you think will happen next? Are
you noticing any big ideas/themes? Show me a piece of text that supports that
idea?
Thank you for coming to Back
to School Night
S Please let me know if you have any questions or
concerns. lesak@wyckoffschools.org
S I am looking forward to great school year!