Manchester School District, NH
Curriculum Planning Guide for English Language Arts
School Year 2013-2014
Grade 7, Unit 3 Quarter 3:
Memories
Unit Overview
In an 8-week unit, grade 7 students will read a wide variety of text as they engage in a thoughtful inquiry of
memories. Through close reading, class discussions, engagement through media and meaningful connected
writing experiences, students will analyze a variety of texts.
The instructional emphasis related to the unit’s focus standard includes:
• Reading Literature: Students will analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact; students
will compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia
version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium.
• Writing: Students will write arguments to support a claim with clear reasons and relevant evidence; they
will create a final product which uses coherent writing where the development, organization, and style
are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• Speaking and Listening: Students will analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse
media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or
issue under study.
• Language: Students will continue to increase their use of grade-level appropriate academic vocabulary,
in addition to using knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or
listening.
NH Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA)1
Strand: Reading Standards for Literature (RL)
Cluster 1: Key Ideas and Details
RL.7.1
Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well
as inferences drawn from the text.
RL.7.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the
text; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.7.3
Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the
characters or plot).
Cluster 3: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
RL.7.7
Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or
multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting,
sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).
Strand: Writing Standards (W)
Cluster 1: Text Types and Purposes
W.7.1
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
W.7.1a
Introduce claim(s), acknowledge alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and
evidence logically.
W.7.1b
Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources
and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.
W.7.1c
Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s),
reasons, and evidence.
W.7.1d
Establish and maintain a formal style.
W.7.1e
Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument
presented.
Cluster 2: Production and Distribution of Writing
1
Focus standards are highlighted in yellow; the expectation is that students will master the focus standards in the unit. The
identified strands and clusters specify the skills and knowledge that students are acquiring in this unit.
ELA Grade 3, Unit 3, Quarter 3
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Manchester School District, NH
Curriculum Planning Guide for English Language Arts
School Year 2013-2014
W.7.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are
defined in standards 1–3 above.)
Strand: Speaking and Listening Standards (SL)
Cluster 1: Comprehension and Collaboration
SL.7.2
Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g.,
visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under
study.
Strand: Language Standards (L)
Cluster 1: Conventions of Standard English
L.7.1
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when
writing or speaking.
L.7.2
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling when writing.
L.7.2b
Spell correctly.
Cluster 2: Knowledge of Language
L.7.3
Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
L.7.3a
Choose language that expresses ideas precisely and concisely, recognizing and eliminating
wordiness and redundancy.
Cluster 3: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
L.7.4b
Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a
word (e.g., belligerent, bellicose, rebel).
L.7.5c
Distinguish among the connotations (associations) of words with similar denotations
(definitions) (e.g., refined, respectful, polite, diplomatic, condescending).
L.7.6
Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words
and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to
comprehension or expression.
I Can Statements, Key Ideas, Essential Question, and End-of-Unit Performance Task
I Can
Statements
Key Ideas
Essential
Question
End-of-Unit
Performance
Task
RL.7.1 I can cite several pieces of textual evidence to support my analysis of what the text
says and draw inferences.
RL.7.2 I can determine a theme or central idea, it’s development, and provide a summary
of the text.
RL.7.3 I can analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact.
RL.7.7 I can compare & contrast a fictional portrayal of time, and how authors of fiction
use or alter history.
• Social injustice and racism eventually affect everyone.
• History teaches us to be tolerant of people’s differences
• Our feelings about growing old and death define who we are.
• Making difficult choices is part of growing up.
How does an author use technique to suggest themes and lessons to his or her readers?
• What is the purpose of life and death?
• How does our past shape our future, both positively and negatively?
• What is an immigrant and why does one leave their native country?
• What are some support systems when one moves to a new country?
In a five-paragraph movie critique, you will compare and contrast the novel Devil’s
Arithmetic with its movie. Pretend you write for The Union Leader newspaper and are
writing a review of the movie. Choose several scenes to focus your critique on, and changes
that were made for the movie. Consider how film and literature handle storytelling, such
as point of view, narrative structure and time frame, and how these techniques are similar
or different for literature versus movie production. Discuss the lighting, sound, color, or
ELA Grade 3, Unit 3, Quarter 3
2
Manchester School District, NH
Curriculum Planning Guide for English Language Arts
School Year 2013-2014
camera focus and angles in the film, and how this added or took away from the plot and
themes present in the story.
Instruction
Resources
Mentor Text
Additional
Student Texts
Teacher
Resources
Informational Text:
• Masterpiece: Film in the Classroom, A Guide for Teachers http://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/
masterpiece/teachers/guides/masterpiece_film_in_the_classroom.pdf
Literary Text
• “from Letters from Rifka” by Karen Hesse PH pg.224
• Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen (lexile 730)
• Devil’s Arithmetic movie
• “Barrio Boy” by Ernesto Galarza PH pg.70 (Mexican immigration story; acclimation and
resettlement)
• History of Russian Jews immigrating into the US: http://www.holocaustcenter.org/
kinderTransport/PDFS/Immigration.pdf
• http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/ellis_island_history.asp (Ellis Island History)
• Holocaust victims remembered: article and video: http://rt.com/news/auschwitzliberation-nazi-holocaust/
• Scholastic Ellis Island Immigration resources: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/
immigration/index.htm
Criss Strategy:
• Venn diagram graphic organizer in Project Criss Manual, pg. 291
• Frayer Model graphic organizer in Project Criss Manual, pg. 307
• Semantic Web graphic organizer in Project Criss Manual, pg. 308
• Content Frame graphic organizer in Project Criss Manual, pgs. 143-146
Academic Language
Essential Thematic Vocabulary:
Thematic
Memory
Past
Immigrant
ELA Grade 3, Unit 3, Quarter 3
Vocabulary from Text:
“from Letters from Rifka” by Karen Hesse
distract
emerged
huddled
adjust
adapt
deprive
dispose
“Barrio Boy” by Ernesto Galarza
reassuring
contraption
formidable
comprehend
focus
interpret
respond
distort
* Vocabulary from Devil’s Arithmetic to be
determined by each teacher…
Vocabulary of Academic Skills:
Cohesion
Clarify
Relevant
Purpose
Audience
coherent
“from Letters from Rifka” by
Karen Hesse
predict
indicate
verify
anticipate
plot
conclude
subject
object
credible
perspective
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