Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit:
Summer Reading Assessment
Teaching Time:
5 days
Objective:
Students will understand and apply knowledge of sounds, letters, and words in written English to become independent
and fluent readers and will read a variety of materials and texts with fluency and comprehension.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings

How do readers
construct meaning from
text?

How do I figure out a
word I do not know?
Content Standards
RL 7.2, 7.6
W 7.2, 7.4, 7.5
SL 7.1
Areas of Focus

1.
Good readers compare, infer,
synthesize and make
connections (text to text, text to
world, text to self) to make text
personally relevant and useful.
 Readers use language structure
and content clues to identify the
intended meaning of words and
phrases as they are used in a
text.
Materials, Texts, and Technology
Options:
1. Summer Reading Options
handout
2. Summer Reading novel
3. Teacher-generated materials
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Desired Results (CPI)
RL 7.10
ASSESS by having students complete a final project and
comprehension questions to be graded.
Example:
Have students create a retelling through illustration and detailed
captions of the story’s plot.
ASSESS through writing assignments.
Example:
Have students respond to open-ended questions about the novel.
1
Read for understanding by using a visualization method
such as CPQV (Connection, Prediction, Question, and
Vocabulary) or QAR (Question, Answer, Response) and
share responses during classroom discussion.
Visually create display of story’s plot.
Comprehend plot through writing.
Generate literal and inferential questions by teachers and
students.
Retell main events (elements of the novel through writing).
Develop vocabulary through independent reading. Discuss
common themes and issues presented in novel(s).
Create accompanying visual representations of themes or a
plot study associated with the summer reading text.
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Common Novel Options: The Contender, One Fat Summer, Holes, Summer of My German Soldier, and Gathering
Blue
Teaching Time: 5 weeks per novel
Objective: Students will be able to analyze literary devices/terms through reading of common novels, understand and analyze
elements of plot, and make personal connections to further understand meaning. Students will become independent and fluent
readers.
Essential Questions



Enduring Understandings
How does fluency affect
comprehension?
How do readers
construct meaning from
text?
How do I figure out a
word I do not know?
Content Standards
RL 7.2, 7.4, 7.6, 7.9
Areas of Focus

1. Develop vocabulary through both listening and
independent reading.
2. Read increasingly difficult texts using various
visualization, questioning and comprehension methods
such as CPQV or QAR to improve fluency.
3. Monitor reading for understanding by setting a purpose
for reading, making and adjusting predictions, asking
essential questions, and relating new learning to
background experiences.
4. Apply self-correcting strategies automatically to decode
and gain meaning from print both orally and silently.
5. Recall the plot and create a diagram.
6. Identify literary devices such as theme, symbolism, point
of view, and flashback.
7. Respond to literature by making personal connections.
8. Define literary terms.
9. Read aloud in selected texts reflecting understanding of
the texts and engaging the listener.
10. Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of time, place,
or character and a historical account of the same period.
(The Contender and the Civil Rights Movement;
Summer of My German Soldier and Prison Camps
during World War II.)
Fluent readers group words
quickly to help them gain
meaning from what they read.
 Good readers compare, infer,
synthesize
and
make
connections (text to text, text to
world, text to self) to make text
personally relevant and useful.
 Readers use language structure
and content clues to identify the
intended meaning of words and
phrases as they are used in a
text.
Materials, Texts, and Technology
Options:
1. Various novels.
2. Teacher-generated materials.
L 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6
Desired Results (CPI)
RL 7.10
ASSESS by giving chapter and vocabulary tests, a final
project and a quarterly exam.
2
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Cross-Curricular Study: Novel (Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse) & Immigration
Teaching Time: 5 weeks
Objective: Students will read a historical fiction novel based on the early United States immigration era and make connections to
historical facts presented in Social Studies classes.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings




How does
understanding a
text’s structure help
me better
understand its
meaning?
How do I figure out
a word I do not
know?
Why conduct
research?


Areas of Focus
Understanding of a text’s
features, structures, and
characteristics facilitate
the reader’s ability to
make meaning of the text.
Readers use language
structure and content clues
to identify the intended
meaning of words and
phrases as they are used in
the text.
Researchers gather and
critique information from
different sources for
specific purposes.
1. Develop vocabulary through both listening and
independent reading. Define and learn new terms using
Word Art or other teacher-created assignments.
2. Monitor reading for understanding by setting a purpose
for reading, making and adjusting predictions, asking
essential questions, and relating new learning to
background experiences.
3. Apply self-correcting strategies automatically to decode
and gain meaning from print both orally and silently.
Use context clues, phonemic awareness, or syllabication
to decode new words.
4. Recognize and understand historical and cultural biases
and different points of view.
5. Recall the plot and create a diagram.
6. Identify literary devices such as theme, symbolism, point
of view, and flashback.
7. Respond to literature by making connections to historical
facts.
8. Read aloud in selected texts reflecting understanding of
the texts and engaging the listener.
9. Be able to identify and make cause/effect statements
related to the sequence of events of the novel.
3
Course: LAL Grade 7
Content Standards
RL 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.6,
7.9
RI 7.3, 7.6, 7.7
W 7.4, 7.7, 7.9
Materials, Texts, and
Technology Options:
1. Novel
2. Notes from Social Studies
3. Teacher-generated
materials
4. Class trip to Ellis Island
5. DVD on Immigration
L 7.4, 7.6
Desired Results (CPI)
ASSESS by formative and summative assessments.
Examples: chapter tests or projects, vocabulary tests,
quarterly exam
4
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Drama – “Brian’s Song”
Teaching Time: 3 weeks
Objective: Students will be able to understand the elements of drama by reading and interpreting the teleplay, “Brian’s Song.”
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings


How does fluency
affect
comprehension?
Content Standards
Areas of Focus
1. Students will identify elements of drama and establish a
purpose for reading the teleplay after reading
information about Brian Piccolo.
Fluent readers group
words quickly to help
them gain meaning from
what they read.
2. Students will read for understanding by foreshadowing
and interpreting characterization and plot.
Materials, Texts, and
Technology Options:
RL 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6
RI 7.4
3. Students
will
apply
self-correcting
strategies
automatically to decode and gain meaning from print
both orally and silently and use context clues, phonemic
awareness, or syllabication to decode new words.
1. Teleplay
2. DVD
SL 7.5
Desired Results (CPI)
4. Students will locate and interpret figurative language.
RL 7.10
ASSESS by formative and summative assessments.
5. Students will define selection vocabulary including
words associated with camera directions.
Examples: tests, quarterly exam
5
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Autobiography – The Ryan White Story by Ryan White and Cunningham
Teaching Time: 5 weeks
Objective: Students will be able to read critically by indentifying, analyzing, and applying knowledge of the purpose, structure,
and elements of nonfiction and providing support from the text as evidence of understanding.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings




How does fluency affect
comprehension?
How do I figure out a
word I do not know?
What do readers do
when they do not
understand everything
in a text?
Areas of Focus
Fluent readers group words
quickly to help them gain
meaning from what they read.
Readers use language structure
and context clues to identify the
intended meaning of words and
phrases as they are used in text.
Good readers employ strategies
to help them understand text.
Strategic readers can develop,
select, and apply strategies to
enhance their comprehension.


1. Develop vocabulary through both listening and
independent reading.
2. Monitor reading for understanding by setting a purpose
for reading, making and adjusting predictions, asking
essential questions, and relating new learning to
background experiences.
3. Identify literary devices such as theme, symbolism, point
of view, and flashback.
4. Respond to literature by making personal connections.
5. Read aloud and reflect understanding of text by engaging
the listener.
6. View the DVD version of the story and compare and
contrast the text to the DVD, analyzing each medium’s
portrayal of the subject.
7. 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.
8. Draw evidence from literary or informational text to
support analysis, reflection, or research.
Materials, Texts, and
Technology Options:
Content Standards
RL 7.1 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6
RI 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7,
7.8, 7.9
1.
2.
3.
Novel
Teacher-generated materials
DVD The Ryan White Story
(1988)
L 7.1
Desired Results (CPI)
RI 7.10
ASSESS by formative and summative assessments.
Examples: tests, quarterly exam
6
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Mythology: Origin of the Seasons, Flight of Icarus, King Midas
Teaching Time: 2 weeks
Objective: Students will be able to identify myth and understand purposes and characteristics.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings



How do readers
construct meaning
from text?
How does
understanding a text
structure help me
better understand its
meaning?
Content Standards
Areas of Focus
Understanding of a text’s
features, structures, and
characteristics
facilitate
the reader’s ability to
make meaning of the text.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Materials, Texts, and
Technology Options:
RL 7.1, 7.2, 7.3,
1. Mythology packet
2. Literature
Textbook:
Collection 6
3. Myth Commercial
4. “Clash of Titans” DVD
5. Technology varies by
teacher
Desired Results (CPI)
RL 7.10
ASSESS by formative and summative assessments.
Examples: Infomercial or creative writing story
7
Define selection vocabulary.
Read various Greek myths.
Discuss orally or in written format.
Complete comprehension questions correctly.
Reflect on the meaning of the myth through written
assessment.
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Mythology – Informational Text
Teaching Time: 3 Days
Objective: Students will have a cross-curricular understanding of how constellations originated and their relationships with
mythological characters.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings


How does
understanding a
text’s structure help
me better
understand its
meaning
Content Standards
RI 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5,
7.6
W 7.9
Areas of Focus
Understanding of a text’s
features, structures, and
characteristics facilitate
the reader’s ability to
make meaning of the text.
1. Examine magazine article for structural organization
(e.g. chronological order).
2. Monitor reading for understanding by setting a purpose
for reading, making and adjusting predictions, asking
essential questions, and relating new learning to
background experiences.
3. Read critically by identifying, analyzing, and applying
knowledge of the purpose, structure, and elements of
nonfiction and providing support from the text as
evidence of understanding.
Materials, Texts, and
Technology Options:
1. Magazine article “The
Funeral Banquet of King
Midas,” p. 688 (EOL)
Desired Results (CPI)
RL 7.10
ASSESS by formative assessment.
Example: test
8
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Mythology – Write a Myth
Teaching Time: 5 days
Objective: Students will write a myth to explain an unexplainable natural phenomenon.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings



How do good
writers express
themselves?
How do writers
develop a wellwritten product?

Content Standards
L 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.5, 7.6
W 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.10
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Areas of Focus
Good writers develop and
refine their ideas for
thinking, learning,
communicating, and
aesthetic expression.
Good writers use a
repertoire of strategies that
enables them to vary form
and style, in order to write
for different purposes,
audiences, and contexts.
1. Reinforce uses and characteristics of a myth.
2. Explain the origin of a natural phenomenon, creation of
the world, or teach a moral lesson (2 of 3).
3. Write stories with well-developed characters, setting,
dialogue, clear conflict and resolution, and sufficient
descriptive detail.
4. Use vivid words.
5. Demonstrate understanding of a scoring rubric to
improve and evaluate writing.
6. Compose, revise, edit, and publish writing using
appropriate word processing software.
7. Reflect on own writing, noting strengths and
weaknesses.
Materials, Texts, and
Technology Options:
Worksheet on Myths
Myth Packet
Write Source
Elements of Literature
Myth exemplars
Desired Results (CPI)
ASSESS by written and formative assessment.
Examples: Test; Write a myth; quarterly exam
9
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Legends
Teaching Time: 3 Weeks
Objective: Students will be able to understand the elements of legends “King Arthur,” “Sword in the Stone,” and “Merlin and the
Dragons.”
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings


How does fluency
affect
comprehension?
Content Standards
RL 7.2, 7.3, 7.9
Areas of Focus
Fluent readers group
words quickly to help
them gain meaning from
what they read.
1. Identify genre by their distinctive elements:
legend.
2. Understand a story within a story (flashback).
3. Analyze characters to identify the heroes in a
story.
4. Respond critically to an author’s purposes, ideas,
views, and beliefs.
5. Demonstrate higher-order thinking skills and
writing clarity when answering open-ended
questions.
6. Conduct research to find an appropriate setting
for the legend.
Materials, Texts, and
Technology Options:
1. Elements of Literature, p.
792-809.
Desired Results (CPI)
RL 7.10
ASSESS by written and formative assessment.
Examples: Test; Write a legend incorporating all of the
elements of a legend.
10
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Short Story
Teaching Time: 2 Weeks
Objective: Students will analyze a short story for theme and cause-and-effect. Students will understand simile, metaphor,
analogies, idioms, and context clues.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings


How do readers
construct meaning
from text?
Content Standards
RL 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.6
SL 7.1, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5
Areas of Focus
Good readers compare,
infer, synthesize and make
connections (text to text,
text to world, text to self)
to make text personally
relevant and useful.
1. Analyze theme and cause-and-effect relationships.
2. Review plot diagram.
3. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative
discussions about text and topics raised during the texts.
4. Compare/contrast short stories for setting, theme, plot,
and characterization.
5. Analyze the way voice, tone, persona, and choice of
narrator affect characterization and plot.
6. Review static and dynamic characters.
Materials, Texts, and
Technology Options:
1. “Charles,” “Miss Awful,”
and “Bargain,” (p. 297;
305; 368)
Desired Results (CPI)
RL 7.10
ASSESS by formative assessments.
Examples: Venn Diagram, Reader Response Questions
11
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Narrative
Teaching Time: 2 weeks
Objective: Student will be able to identify the purpose of a personal narrative and construct a well-developed story on a topic of
their choice
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings





How do good writers
express themselves?
How does process shape
the writer’s product?
How do writers develop
a well-written product?
How do rules of
language affect
communication?
Why does a writer
choose a particular form
of writing?
Content Statements
W7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6
L7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.5,7.6



Areas of Focus
Good writers develop and refine
their ideas for thinking, learning,
communicating, and aesthetic
expression.
Good writers use a repertoire of
strategies enabling them to vary
form and style, in order to write
for different purposes, audiences,
and contexts.
Rules and conventions of
language help readers understand
what is being communicated.
A writer selects a form based on
audience and purpose.
Materials, Text & Technology
Options
1.
2.
3.
4.
Teacher modeling with hand-out
Plot diagram sample
Narrative writing & techniques
NJ Holistic Scoring Rubric
Desired Results (CPI)
W.7.10
Published essay
Tests/Quizzes
12
1. Students must use first person point of view when
drafting story.
2. Students instructed to use strategies such as graphic
organizers to elaborate and organize ideas for writing.
3. Draft writing with supporting structure and utilize
appropriate voice.
4. Writers must review and edit work for spelling, usage,
clarity, organization, and fluency.
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Poetry
Teaching Time: 2 Weeks
Objective: Students will be able to understand sounds and forms of poetry, traditional and contemporary formats, and poetic
devices.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings



Why do readers
need to pay
attention to a
writer’s choice of
words?
What do readers do
when they do not
understand
everything in a text?
Content Standards
RL 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7
L 7.5
W 7.5, 7.6

Areas of Focus
Words powerfully affect
meaning.
Good readers employ
strategies to help them
understand text. Strategic
readers can develop,
select, and apply strategies
to enhance their
comprehension.
1. Develop an extended vocabulary through both listening
and independent reading.
2. Analyze poems with humor, exaggeration and sound
effects.
3. Recognize poetic devices in literature.
4. Learn the characteristics of different forms of poetry.
5. Explain poetic formats.
6. Infuse literary elements into personal poetry.
Materials, Texts, and
Technology Options:
1. Elements of Literature, p.
576-577; 579-580; 582584.
2. Microsoft Word,
PowerPoint, or Publisher
3. Poetry Packet
Desired Results (CPI)
RL 7.10
ASSESS by formative assessments.
Examples: Poetry project and quarterly exam
13
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Dailies (Word of the Day, Poem a Day, or Quote of the Day; Daily Oral Language (DOL))
Teaching Time: Daily
Objective: Students will be able to identify and analyze recurring themes and author’s use of idioms, analogies, metaphors, and
similes across literary works. Determine or clarify meaning of unknown or multi-meaning words. Students will also write in
clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for different audiences and purposes.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings





Why do readers
need to pay
attention to a
writer’s choice of
words?
What do readers do
when they do not
understand
everything in a text?
How do I figure out
a word I do not
know?
How do good
writers express
themselves?
Content Standards
SL 7.1, 7.3
Areas of Focus
1. Develop an understanding and appreciation of the forms
and meanings of poetry.
Words powerfully affect
meaning.
 Good readers employ
strategies to help them
understand text. Strategic
readers can develop,
select, and apply strategies
to enhance their
comprehension.
 Vocabulary enhances
student’s verbal and
written communication.
 Good writers develop and
refine their ideas for
thinking, learning,
communicating, and
aesthetic expression.
Materials, Texts, and
Technology Options:
1.
A Poem A Day (Nancie
Atwell)
2. Discuss and interpret texts through journal writing, class
discussion, and enactment.
3. Identify and analyze literary techniques and elements
such as figurative language, meter, rhetorical and
stylistic features of the text.
4. Determine and clarify meaning of unknown and multimeaning words.
5. Add voice and complexity to student writing.
6. Analyze understanding of Word of the Day vocabulary
by incorporating words within creative writing.
7. Complete
exercises
in
brainstorming, and organizing.
L 7.4, 7.5
2.
RL 7.4, 7.5
Word of the
(Vocabulary
Development)
Day
free-writing,
listing,
8. Review exemplar sentences, paragraphs, and essays.
14
Course: LAL Grade 7
W 7.1, 7.4, 7.5, 7.9
9. Edit sample sentences, paragraphs, and essays.
3.
DOL workbook
4.
Teacher-generated
exemplars
5.
Internet sources
10. Students will keep a writer’s journal where responses to
literature become daily entries and where connections
are made to the student’s experiences.
11. Write a response with a central idea or theme.
Desired Results (CPI)
RL 7.10
ASSESS by formative and written assessments.
Examples: tests and various writing assignments
15
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Informative/Explanatory – Hero Essay
Teaching Time: 2-3 weeks
Objective: Student will be able to identify attributes of a hero and write about one.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings





How do good writers
express themselves?
How do writers develop
a well-written product?
How do rules of
language affect
communication?
Why does a writer
choose a particular form
of writing?



Content Statements
W7.2, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7,7.10
S.L.7.5
L7.1, 7.2.7.3
Areas of Focus
Good writers develop and
refine their ideas for thinking,
learning, communicating, and
aesthetic expression.
Good writers use a repertoire of
strategies that enables them to
vary form and style, in order to
write for different purposes,
audiences, and contexts.
Rules, conventions of language
help readers understand what is
being communicated.
A writer selects a form based
on audience and purpose.
1. Utilize brainstorming techniques to generate
topic ideas.
2. Expand student vocabulary through both listening
and independent reading.
3. Model literary devices to enhance voice.
4. Think-Pair-Write to collaborate/share ideas.
5. Teacher and peer conferencing to review/revise
ideas.
6. Conduct an interview of a person influential or
inspirational.
7. Listen to “Heroes” from the community share
their experiences.
8. Use graphic organizers to organize ideas
9. Write in a fluent, focused way.
10. Publish and share essay
Materials, Text & Technology
Options
1.
2.
3.
4.
Speakers from the community
Word processing and Publisher
Teacher-generated support
materials
NJ Holistic Scoring Rubric
Desired Results (CPI)
W. 7.10
ASSESS by formative and summative assessment
Examples: Published product
Tests & quizzes
16
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Personal Narrative (Memoir)
Teaching Time: 3 weeks
Objective: Student will be able to identify an experience and draft a story based on the event that had a major impact upon their
lives.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings





How do good writers
express themselves?
How do writers develop
a well-written product?
How do rules of
language affect
communication?
Why does a writer
choose a particular form
of writing?



Content Statements
W7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6
L7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.5, 7.6
1.
Good writers develop and
refine their ideas for thinking,
learning, communicating, and
aesthetic expression.
Good writers use a repertoire of
strategies that enables them to
vary form and style, in order to
write for different purposes,
audiences, and contexts.
Rules, conventions of language
help readers understand what is
being communicated.
A writer selects a form based
on audience and purpose.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Materials, Text & Technology
Options
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
7.
Student & teacher-generated
models
Authentic sources (Chicken
Soup for the Teen’s Soul)
Write Source text
Various teacher-made handouts
NJ Holistic Scoring Rubric
8.
9.
Desired Results (CPI)
W. 7.10
ASSESS by formative and summative assessment
Examples: Published product
Tests & quizzes
17
Areas of Focus
Using the Good Beginnings worksheet, students must
create a grabber/focus so as to attract the reader’s
attention.
Student must establish setting and characters of story.
Students must establish the theme which must include an
experience that had a major impact upon their lives.
Review and analyze models of personal narratives and
apply conventions.
Students will include literary devices such as sensory
details, dialogue, and figurative language.
Good writers vary sentence style which helps readers
understand what is being communicated.
Students will review utilization of solid endings : quote,
Happy Endings worksheet
Drafts will be revised by rereading for meaning,
repetition, conventions, and elaboration both individually
and with a partner.
Students will confer with a teacher, reviewing content,
conventions etc.
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Persuasive Research Paper – Charity Essay
Teaching Time: 5 weeks
Objective: Review elements of persuasion and apply it to a persuasive research paper about a favorite children’s charity.
Essential Questions



How do writers develop
a well-written project?
How do rules of
language affect
communication?
How does a writer
choose a particular form
of writing
Content Statements
W 7.1,7.2, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6,
7.7,7.8, 7.9
RI 7.1
L7.1, 7.2,7.3,7.5,7.6
SL 7.1, 7.2,7.3,7.4,7.5,7.6
Enduring Understandings



Areas of Focus
1. Students will gather, select, and organize information
appropriate to a topic and use primary and secondary
sources.
2. Students will paraphrase evidence from a text citing
sources utilized.
3. Good writers state their positions clearly in a
persuasive essay by presenting evidence.
4. Good writers use a variety of sentence styles
correctly.
5. Students add transitions to show a logical progression
of ideas.
6. Good writers develop the use of a personal style and
voice to support their purpose.
7. Students will understand and use parallelism
including similar grammatical forms.
8. Students will use a variety of reference materials to
support their position.
9. Edit writing for correct grammar, usage,
capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
10. Gather relevant information from multiple print and
digital sources, using research 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.
11. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to
support analysis, reflection, and research.
Good writers use a repertoire of
strategies that enables them to
vary form and style, in order to
write for different purposes,
audiences, and contexts.
Rules, conventions of language
help readers understand what is
being communicated.
A writer selects a form based
on audience and purpose.
Materials, Text & Technology
Options
1. materials: pamphlets
2. internet
3. guest speakers-Power
point on charities
4. trip to convalescent center
5. model essays
NJ Holistic Scoring Rubric
Desired Results (CPI)
W. 7.10
Published essay
Oral presentation
Examples: Published product
Tests & quizzes
18
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Persuasive
Teaching Time: 2 weeks
Objective: Student will be able to create a persuasive letter in conjunction with a history unit.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings



How do writers
develop a wellwritten product?
Why conduct
research?
Content Statements
W7.1, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7,7.8,
7.9,
S.L.7.1
L7.1, 7.2.7.3, 7.5, 7.6
1.
Good writers use a
repertoire of strategies
that enables them to vary
form and style, in order to
write for different
purposes, audiences, and
contexts.
 Researchers gather and
critique information from
different sources for
specific purposes.
Materials Text & Technology
Options
1. NJ Holistic Scoring
Rubric
2. Cross-curricular
notes/materials
3. Internet
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Desired Results (CPI)
W. 7.10
-
Published product (persuasive letter)
Class discussion
19
Areas of Focus
Good writers utilize figurative language and
compositional risks to enhance their voice.
Students choose appropriate organizational strategies
when presenting arguments.
Students will effectively use quotes in their writing.
Utilize a variety of materials such as a dictionary,
thesaurus, etc to revise/edit, and publish work.
Review topic sentences and supplemental details to
reinforce a logical progression of details.
Cite evidence with examples justifying writer’s
argument.
Distinguish between types of relevant details.
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: NJASK Prep – Review Expository, Speculative, and Persuasive Writing and Informational Reading passages
Teaching Time: 2 weeks
Objective: Student will be able to review the modes of writing and write well-developed examples of each.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings



Why does a writer
choose a particular
form of writing?
How do readers
construct meaning
from text?
Content Statements
W 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5,
7.6, 7.7, 7.9, 7.10
Areas of Focus
A writer selects a form
based on audience and
purpose.
 Good readers compare,
infer, synthesize and make
connections (text to text,
text to world, text to self)
to make text personally
relevant and useful.
Materials, Text & Technology
Options
State generated test prompts
Quote samples
NJ Holistic Scoring Rubric
1. Students will analyze different types of exemplar
essays.
2. Good writers write in a fluent, focused way.
3. Teachers will familiarize students with different
strategies of writing.
4. Students will practice writing in a timed setting.
5. Recognize elements of various writing modes
6. Determine/ Distinguish different modes and write
accordingly.
7. Read various informational texts for fluency and
comprehension.
L7.1, 7.2,.7.3, 7.5, 7.6
RI 7.2, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.10
Desired Results (CPI)
W. 7.10
L 7.6
Compose responses to given writing modes within a timed
situation and scoring a ‘4’ or better according to the NJ
Holistic Scoring Rubric
20
Course: LAL Grade 7
Unit: Interview
Teaching Time: 3 weeks
Objective: Student will be able to identify guidelines for and conduct a personal interview and write an informational
newsletter/project.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings



Why does a writer
choose a particular
form of writing?
Why conduct
research?
Content Statements
W7.2, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7,7.8
S.L.7.1
L7.1, 7.2.7.3, 7.6
Areas of Focus
A writer selects a form
based on audience and
purpose.
 A writer selects a form
based on audience and
purpose.
Materials, Text & Technology
Options
1. Teacher-generated support
materials
2. Write Source text
3. Interview packet
4. Samples (interview)
1. Read (interpret) sample interview and discuss elements
of an interview
2. Students must identify purpose for the interview.
3. Conduct research about the background of a person’s
life.
4. Students will generate a list of interview questions.
5. Students will conduct interview and record responses.
6. Students will transpose responses into paragraph format
and edit for conventions.
7. Development of project which include option of creating
a newsletter using Microsoft Publisher.
Desired Results (CPI)
W. 7.10
Newsletter, test, Question & Answer assignment, Quarterly
assessment
Created 6/29/11
21