ENGLISH 7AB

Instruction is aligned with the California Language Arts Teaching Standards for Grade 7. The major emphasis of this course is to promote growth in critical thinking and communication skills through reading, writing, speaking, and listening.  The literature-based units provide a standards-based framework in which the students use English skills to gain perspective on world cultures and traditions, while developing and examining their own ideas, attitudes, ideals, and values.

Literature - The literature program seeks to broaden interest and enjoyment in reading through the use of short stories, drama, poetry, folklore, nonfiction, and novels from a wide range of world cultures.  The studies of the short story and the novel center on awareness of plot, theme, setting, characterization, and style.  Study of poetry focuses on use of figurative language.  In all reading, a strong emphasis is placed on recognition of universal themes.

Reading Skills - The major focus, with emphasis on comparing-contrasting, making inferences, drawing conclusions, identifying main ideas and supporting details, and determining cause-effect. 

Writing -Students analyze writing styles and learn methods to vary sentence patterns and combine sentences.  Students learn to write effective topic sentences, organize supporting details, and compositions that represent narrative, descriptive, expository, persuasive, analytical, and autobiographical domains of writing.  Students engage in creative writing activities by composing original myths, short stories, and poems.  Students proofread, edit, and evaluate compositions.

Grammar -.  Sentence patterns, capitalization, punctuation, direct quotations, composition format, and spelling generalizations are taught.  Students develop the ability to identify parts of speech and sentence structures.  Grammar skills are consistently addressed and evaluated in writing activities.

Vocabulary- Vocabulary is developed through experience with context clues.  Synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms and use of the dictionary and thesaurus will be explored.  Literary terms are introduced and applied.

Speaking and Listening - Students participate in frequent small group discussion activities and informal oral reports, story dramatizations, interviews, and oral interpretations.

Study Skills – Students continue to develop time management, the SQ3R reading process, note taking and preparing for objective, performance, and essay tests are covered.

English 8AB

Instruction is aligned with the California Language Arts Teaching Standards for Grade 8. The major emphasis of this course is continued growth in critical thinking and communication skills through reading, writing, speaking, and listening begun in Sixth grade.

 Reading – This course concentrates on developing students' ability to demonstrate comprehension orally and in writing through in-class and outside reading activities in the following genres: biography, non-fiction narrative, essay, novel, short story, poetry, and drama. Students are taught to express an author’s purpose, draw inferences, compare, contrast, predict outcomes, and recognize tone and mood.

Writing – Students develop greater skill in paragraph development (topic sentences, adequate supportive detail, coherent organization, concluding statements, appropriate transitions). Students compose descriptive, narrative, persuasive, expository essays and Journal entries.

Study Skills – Students further develop use of the dictionary and thesaurus. Library research techniques are taught, along with outlining and bibliographic notation. Students are taught to identify their dominant learning modality or modalities and to use strategies which best facilitate their learning.

Vocabulary- students develop an extended contextually vocabulary, along with word attack based on morphemes such as prefix, root, suffix, and Idiomatic expressions and figures of speech.

Grammar-Students are taught sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, pronoun usage, subject-verb agreement, and verb tense activities.

Speaking- Students are provided opportunities for both formal and informal presentations, as well as opportunities for class discussions and for collaborative learning activities.