Marlborough Public Schools 7th Grade Curriculum Unit Maps
English Language Arts
Unit 1: Characters with Character
Overview and Duration: Students will develop their ability to analyze how characters influence and impact the conflict
in a piece of literature, as well as other characters in the text. Students will read literature that features complex characters,
including short stories and dramas from ancient civilizations. They will also read and respond to nonfiction text connected
to life science. (6 weeks)
Key Understandings
• Character influences/ impacts conflict.
• Good literature brings characters to life.
• Character shapes plot.
Key Vocabulary
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influence
impact
textual
diction
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connotation
characterize
nature
nurture
Essential Questions
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How do we know what a character is like?
How does character influence/impact conflict?
How do we connect with character(s)?
Why do we care about a character?
Anchor Texts
Poems:
• excerpts from Witness (Karen Hesse)
Stories/Novels:
• “Edna’s Ruthie” from House on Mango Street (Cisneros)
• Zodiacs (Jay Neugeboren)
• The White Umbrella (Gish Jen)
• Antigone
Informational Texts:
• Why Nature/Nurture Won’t Go Away (Steven Pinker)
Unit 2: Solving Problems
Overview and Duration: Students will look at how individuals in fiction and nonfiction texts solve problems. In
fiction texts, students will use plot structure to gain deeper understanding of the character’s struggle with conflict as well as
begin to see how that struggle reveals theme. In nonfiction texts, students will delve into how individuals and ancient
societies solved problems and how the scientific method mirrors successful real life problem solving strategies. Students
will research a current challenge in society and collect evidence for possible responses to the challenge.
Key Understandings
Essential Questions
• Life is a journey full of problems to solve.
• How we solve our problems affects our journey.
• Point of view affects how you see the problem and how
you try to solve it.
• Research is a way to keep your mind open and explore
all options.
• Problem solving requires an open mind.
• Just because someone says something doesn’t mean it’s
true.
• How does the way we solve problems affect our life’s
journey?
• How might your personal history affect your vision of
how to solve the problem?
• How do you keep an open mind?
• How do we determine credibility?
Key Vocabulary
Anchor Texts
Poems:
• “Oranges” (Gary Soto)
Stories/Novels:
• LTF Annotation — By the Waters of Babylon (Vincent
St. Bennet)
• White Circle (John Bell Clayton)
• The Secret Lion (Alberto Alvaro Rios)
• Stargirl (Jerry Spinelli)
• LTF: Common Themes in Literature
Informational Texts:
• Blizzard – The Storm that Changed America (Jim
Murphy)
• “What Makes A Child Resilient” (Robert Sullivan)
Marlborough Public Schools 7th Grade Curriculum Unit Maps – DRAFT – January 2013
Unit 3: Change
Overview and Duration: Students will learn how character(s) can change over the course of a story and how this
change can impact more than just the individual. Recommended texts include literature from ancient civilizations, as well
as nonfiction connected to psychological factors involved in change. Students will reflect this understanding by comparing
and contrasting the written play A Christmas Carol with its performance. In addition, students will use their research notes
to write a persuasive essay.
Key Understandings
Essential Questions
• Individuals change because of external events and/or
internal factors.
• Change may lead to deeper understanding of self and/or
the world.
• Change impacts more than just the individual changing.
• Themes are bigger than the story.
• Why do people change?
• How do people respond differently to events?
• How does an individual’s change impact those around
the individual?
• How does change lead to personal growth?
Key Vocabulary
Anchor Texts
Poems:
• “If” (Rudyard Kipling)
Stories/Novels:
• A Christmas Carol play (I. Horovitz)
• The View from Saturday (KL Konigsburg)
Informational Texts:
• Research notes: “Effects of Neglect” (Boodman,
Washington Post 2008)
• “Ten Family Characteristics That Nurture Smart Kids”
Unit 4: Picture This!
Overview and Duration: Students will look at how words create a picture, how authors develop imagery, and how
these images inform the reader as well as reflect the author/poet’s creative imagination. They will look at how this is done
in stories as well as in poetry, comparing and contrasting the two. Students will illustrate their reflections on the power of
imagery through either a poetry or narrative project.
Key Understandings
• Words create pictures/images.
• Figurative speech helps us better understand text.
• Close reading of words as well as visual images around us
is important for interpreting the world.
Key Vocabulary
Essential Questions
• How do words create pictures?
• How do pictures tell a story?
• How does reading open the doorway to imagination?
Anchor Texts
Poems:
• “Those Winter Sundays” (Robert Haden)
• The Witches (Prelutsky)
Stories/Novels:
• Mossflower (LTF)
• The Veldt (Ray Bradbury)
• Harrison Bergeron (Kurt Vonnegut Jr.)
• Sound of Summer Running (LTF)
Informational Texts:
• Why I Am A Writer (Pat Mora)
• A Drop of Water
• Analyzing a Visual Text (LTF)
Marlborough Public Schools 7th Grade Curriculum Unit Maps – DRAFT – January 2013
Unit 5: Literature Reflects Life
Overview and Duration: Students will read fiction and nonfiction text from a specific historical time and compare
and contrast a fictional and historical account of the same time period. Students will also identify multiple points of view
within a text. Students will interpret meaning in a literary text and write a persuasive piece to defend their interpretation.
Recommended texts will include a text whose author can visit with our students.
Key Understandings
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Literature can reflect life events and experience.
Literature can help you understand yourself.
Literature can help you understand the world.
Authors sometimes bend what really what happened
in history to make a better story.
• Personal challenges influence our choices.
• The choices we make affect our lives.
Key Vocabulary
Essential Questions
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How does literature reflect life?
Why do we connect to literature?
How does literature help us find meaning in our lives?
How do personal challenges influence our choices?
What have we learned from our literary journey this year
that might help us respond to the challenges in the future?
Anchor Texts
Stories/novels:
• Bamboo People (Mitali Perkins)
• So Far from the Bamboo Grove (Yoko Kawashima Watkins)
Informational texts:
• World War II informative article(s)
Marlborough Public Schools 7th Grade Curriculum Unit Maps – DRAFT – January 2013