LITERATURE

Authors

Gary Soto, Robert Frost, Marion Dane Bauer, Ray Bradbury, Joan Aiken, Gary Paulsen, Huynh Quong Nhuong, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain

Genres

Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, media

Skills

Stages of plot, vocabulary, setting, make inferences, compare and contrast, setting and conflict in movies, identify author’s purpose, trace chronological order, visualization, organization, revision

—Write in complete sentences, using a variety of sentence structures to expand and embed ideas (e.g., simple, compound, and complex sentences; parallel structure, such as similar grammatical forms or juxtaposed items).—Employ effective coordination and subordination of ideas to express complete thoughts.—Use explicit transitional devices.

GRAMMAR

Grade 6
—Correctly employ Standard English usage, including subject-verb agreement, pronoun referents, and the eight parts of speech (noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, preposition, interjection). Ensure that verbs agree with compound subjects.
—Use verb tenses appropriately and consistently such as present, past, future, perfect, and progressive.
—Identify and properly use indefinite pronouns
—Use adjectives (comparative and superlative forms) and adverbs appropriately to make writing vivid or precise.
—Use prepositional phrases to elaborate written ideas.
—Use conjunctions to connect ideas meaningfully.
—Use regular and irregular plurals correctly.
—Write with increasing accuracy when using pronoun case such as “He and they joined him.”

Punctuation
—Punctuate correctly to clarify and enhance meaning such as using hyphens, semicolons, colons, possessives, and sentence punctuation.
—Use correct punctuation for clauses (e.g., dependent and independent clauses), appositives and appositive phrases, and in cited sources, including quotations for exact words from sources.
—Write with increasing accuracy when using apostrophes in contractions such as doesn’t and possessives such as Maria’s.

Capitalization
—Capitalize correctly to clarify and enhance meaning.
—Sixth grades pay particular attention to capitalization of major words in titles of books, plays, movies, and television programs.

Spelling
—Use knowledge of spelling rules, orthographic patterns, generalizations, prefixes, suffixes, and roots, including Greek and Latin root words.
—Spell frequently misspelled words correctly (e.g., their, they’re, there).
—Write with accurate spelling of roots words such as drink, speak, read, or happy, inflections such as those that change tense or number, suffixes such as -able or -less, and prefixes such as re- or un.
—Write with accurate spelling of contractions and syllable constructions, including closed, open, consonant before -le, and syllable boundary patterns.
—Understand the influence of other languages and cultures on the spelling of English words.
—Use resources to find correct spellings and spell accurately in final drafts.

Penmanship
—Write fluidly and legibly in cursive or manuscript as appropriate.

In sixth grade, students write to express, discover, record, develop, and reflect on ideas. They problem solve and produce texts of at least 500 to 700 words. Specifically, 6th grade writing standards stipulate that students write in the following forms:

Narrative: Students write narrative accounts that establish a point of view, setting, and plot (including rising action, conflict, climax, falling action, and resolution). Writing should employ precise sensory details and concrete language to develop plot and character and use a range of narrative devices (e.g., dialogue, suspense, and figurative language) to enhance style and tone.

Expository: Students write to describe, explain, compare and contrast, and problem solve. Essays should engage the interest of the reader and include a thesis statement, supporting details, and introductory, body, and concluding paragraphs. Students use a variety of organizational patterns, including by categories, spatial order, order of importance, or climactic order.

Persuasive: Students write to influence, such as to persuade, argue, and request. In grade 6, persuasive compositions should state a clear position, support the position with organized and relevant evidence, anticipate and address reader concerns and counter arguments.

Creative: Students write to entertain, using a variety of expressive forms (e.g., short play, song lyrics, historical fiction, limericks) that employ figurative language, rhythm, dialogue, characterization, plot, and/or appropriate format.

Responses to Literature: Sixth grade students develop an interpretation exhibiting careful reading, understanding, and insight. Writing shows organization around clear ideas, premises, or images, supported by examples and textual evidence.

Grade 7

Sentence Structure
—Identify types and structure of sentences.
—Write in complete sentences, varying the types such as compound and complex sentences.
—Place modifiers properly and use the active voice.

Grammar

—Correctly employ Standard English usage, including subject-verb agreement and the eight parts of speech (noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, preposition, interjection).

— Identify and use infinitives and participles and make clear references between pronouns and antecedents.

—Use regular and irregular verb tenses appropriately and consistently such as present, past, future, perfect, and progressive.

—Use adjectives (comparative and superlative forms) and adverbs appropriately to make writing vivid or precise.—Use prepositional phrases to elaborate written ideas.
—Use conjunctions to connect ideas meaningfully.
—Use regular and irregular plurals correctly.
—Write with increasing accuracy when using pronoun case such as “”She had the party.”

Punctuation
—Punctuate correctly to clarify and enhance meaning such as using hyphens, semicolons, colons, dashes, brackets, quotation marks, and sentence punctuation.
—Use correct punctuation for clauses such as in dependent and independent clauses and participles and participial phrases.
—Write with increasing accuracy when using apostrophes in contractions (won’t), possessives ( Smith’s) and plural possessives (birds’)

Capitalization

—Capitalize correctly to clarify and enhance meaning.

—Seventh-graders pay particular attention to capitalization of regional names (e.g., East Coast), historical events, and documents.

Spelling

—Use knowledge of spelling rules, orthographic patterns, generalizations, prefixes, suffixes, and roots, including Greek and Latin root words.
—Spell derivatives correctly by applying the spellings of bases and affixes
—Spell frequently misspelled words correctly (e.g., their, they’re, there).
—Understand the influence of other languages and cultures on the spelling of English words.
—Use dictionary, thesaurus, or other resources as necessary and spell accurately in final drafts.

Penmanship

—Write fluidly and legibly in cursive or manuscript as appropriate.

In seventh grade, students write to express, discover, record, develop, reflect on ideas, and to problem solve, and produce texts of at least 500 to 700 words. Specifically, 7th grade writing standards stipulate that students write in the following forms:

Narrative: Seventh grade students write fictional or autobiographical narratives that develop a standard plot line (including rising action, conflict, suspense, climax, falling action, and resolution) and point of view. Students use a range of appropriate strategies and specific narrative action (e.g., dialogue, movement, gestures, expressions) and include complex major and minor characters, a definite setting, figurative language, and descriptive words or phrases to enhance style and tone.

Expository: Seventh grade students write a variety of specialized informational/expository essays (e.g., process, description, explanation, comparison/contrast, problem/solution) that include a thesis statement, supporting details, an organizational structure particular to its type, and introductory, body, and concluding paragraphs. Other 7th grade expository writing applications include technical text (e.g., procedures, instructions, experiments); informal communications (e.g., friendly letters, thank-you notes); formal communications (e.g., business letters, invitations); and recording information related to a topic (e.g., observations, notes, lists, charts, legends).

Persuasive: Students write to influence, such as to persuade, argue, and request. In grade 7, persuasive compositions should state a clear position or perspective in support of a proposition or proposal. Seventh-graders describe the arguments in support of the proposition, employing detailed evidence, as well as anticipate and address reader concerns and counterarguments. In addition to essays, a seventh grade persuasive writing assignment could be an advertisement, speech, or public service announcement. In tackling these writing tasks, students use persuasive techniques such as word choice, repetition, emotional appeal, hyperbole, appeal to authority, celebrity endorsement, rhetorical question, and/or irony.

Creative: Students write a variety of expressive forms (e.g., realistic fiction, suspense story, poetry) that according to the type of writing employed, incorporate figurative language, rhythm, dialogue, characterization, plot, and appropriate format.

Grade 8

Sentence Structure
—Write in complete sentences, including compound and complex sentences.
—Use varied sentence types and sentence openings to present a lively and effective personal style.
—Identify and use parallelism, including similar grammatical forms, in all written discourse to present items in a series and items juxtaposed for emphasis.
—Use subordination, coordination, apposition, and other devices to indicate clearly the relationship between ideas.

Grammar
—Edit written manuscripts to ensure correct Standard English usage, including subject-verb agreement, noun/pronoun agreement, and the eight parts of speech (noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, preposition, interjection).
—Use regular and irregular verb tenses appropriately and consistently such as present, past, future, perfect, and progressive.
—Use adjectives (comparative and superlative forms) and adverbs appropriately to make writing vivid or precise.
—Use prepositional phrases to elaborate written ideas.
—Use conjunctions to connect ideas meaningfully.
—Write with increasing accuracy when using pronoun case such as “She stepped between them and us.”

Punctuation
—Punctuate correctly to clarify and enhance meaning such as using hyphens, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, quotation marks, and sentence punctuation.
—Write with increasing accuracy when using apostrophes in contractions (doesn’t) and possessives (Texas’s).

Capitalization
—Capitalize correctly to clarify and enhance meaning.
—Eighth-graders pay particular attention to capitalization of names of academic courses (e.g., Algebra I) and proper adjectives (e.g., German shepherd, Italian restaurant).

Spelling
—Use knowledge of spelling rules, orthographic patterns, generalizations, prefixes, suffixes, and roots, including Greek and Latin root words.
—Spell derivatives correctly by applying the spellings of bases and affixes
—Spell frequently misspelled words correctly (e.g., their, they’re, there).
—Understand the influence of other languages and cultures on the spelling of English words.
—Use dictionary, thesaurus, or other resources as necessary and spell accurately in final drafts.

Penmanship
—Write fluidly and legibly in cursive or manuscript as appropriate.

In eighth grade, students write to express, discover, record, develop, reflect on ideas, and to problem solve, and produce texts of at least 500 to 700 words. Specifically, 8th grade writing standards stipulate that students write in the following forms:

Narrative: Eighth grade students write biographies, autobiographies, short stories, or personal narratives that develop an engaging plot (including rising action, conflict, suspense, climax, falling action and resolution), and that use narrative and descriptive strategies (e.g., relevant dialogue, specific action, physical description, background description, comparison or contrast of characters). Narrative essays in the eighth grade relate a clear, coherent incident, event, or situation by using well-chosen details. Students are also expected to reveal the significance of, or the writer’s attitude about, the subject.

Expository: Eighth grade students write a variety of specialized expository/informational essays (e.g., process, description, explanation, comparison/contrast, problem/solution) that include a thesis statement, supporting details, an organizational structure particular to its type, and introductory, body, and concluding paragraphs. Other 8th grade expository writing applications include informal communications (e.g., friendly letters, thank you notes); and formal communications (e.g., business letters, invitations, job applications) that have a conventional format and require students to present information purposefully and succinctly to meet the needs of the intended audience.

Research Reports: In 8th grade, students define a thesis and record important ideas, concepts, and direct quotations from significant information sources and paraphrase and summarize relevant perspectives on the topic. Writing should use a variety of primary and secondary sources and distinguish the nature and value of each. Students organize and display information on charts, maps, and graphs in support of the text.

Persuasive: Students write to influence, such as to persuade, argue, and request. In grade 8, persuasive essays should have a well-defined thesis that makes a clear and knowledgeable judgment, Eighth grade persuasive essays should present detailed evidence, examples, and reasoning to support arguments, differentiating between facts and opinion, and arranging evidence effectively by anticipating and answering reader concerns and counterarguments. In addition to essays, an eighth grade persuasive writing assignment could be an advertisement, speech, or public service announcement. In tackling these writing tasks, students use persuasive techniques such as word choice, repetition, emotional appeal, hyperbole, appeal to authority, celebrity endorsement, rhetorical question, irony, symbols, glittering generalities, and card stacking.

Creative: Students write to entertain in a variety of expressive forms (e.g., realistic fiction, suspense story, humorous poems) that according to the type of writing employed, incorporate figurative language, rhythm, dialogue, characterization, plot, and appropriate format.