UNIT THEMES/TOPICS

Each unit lasts 4-5 weeks.   Reading and Writing units occur simultaneously. (Unit 1 Reading with Unit 1 Writing).

WRITING

Unit 1: Building a Writer’s Life: Collecting Toward Essays

Unit 2: Writing “The Application Essay” for High School, College, and Careers

Unit 3: Multi-Modal Informational Writing: Harnessing Technology to Teach Ideas

Unit 4: Journalism

Unit 5: Fantasy Writing (or other genres in conjunction with reading groups)

Unit 6: Literary Essay: Analyzing Text for Meaning, Craft and Tone

Unit 7: Writing Prompted Essays for Standardized & Essay Exams

Unit 8: Poetry

 

READING

Unit 1: Making Our Reading Habits Visible and Developing Sustainable Adult Reading Habits

Unit 2: Developing Analytical Reading Practices: Interpretation

Unit 3: Nonfiction ReadingNavigating Expository, Narrative and Hybrid Nonfiction

Unit 4: Nonfiction Research Clubs: Developing Analytical Lenses for Informational Reading

Unit 5: Fantasy Book Clubs (or other similar sub-genres)

Unit 6: Reading for High School: Applying Strategies to Challenging Texts

Unit 7: Test Preparation

Unit 8: Social Issues Book Club: Reading for Justice and Power

Unit 9: From Author Studies to Independent Projects: Launching a Summer of Reading

 

 

 

Earth & Space Science

In the physical sciences, performance expectations at the middle school level focus on students developing understanding of several scientific practices. These include developing and using models, planning and conducting investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, using mathematical and computational thinking, and constructing explanations; and to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas. Students are also expected to demonstrate understanding of several of engineering practices including design and evaluation.  These practices will be demonstrated through 4 units: 

  1. Earth's Place in the Universe
  2. Earth's Systems
  3. Earth and Human Activity
  4. Engineering Technology and Science

More detailed information can be found at the Next Generation Science Standards Website