1.  Welcome to Back to School Night 2015-2016 Language Arts 7 Mrs. Esak lesak@wyckoffschools.org

2. Unit 1: Memoir Writing  Students will write a personal narrative with reflection; they will connect two small moments using a common theme.  Grammar: Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences  Read Aloud/Shared Reading: I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick, and other Mentor Texts  Independent Reading: Must be reading 20 min per night; recording their thinking; *suggested reading memoir genre

3. Unit 2: Reading in Book Clubs  Students will read one-two books of any genre (mostly realistic fiction) in a book club.  Students will focus on character analysis, especially character relationships.  Read Aloud/Shared Reading: The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis  Students will form a theory supporting it with evidence and write a literary essay.  Word Study: Greek and Latin Word Parts  Independent reading: Book Club Reading

4. Unit 3: Informational Reading and Research  Students will learn strategies for reading informational texts Ex. identifying central ideas and supporting details, summarizing, synthesizing, identifying text structures and features, determining author’s purpose and point of view, and citing text evidence  Word Study: Greek and Latin Word Parts  Independent Reading: on-going reading non-fiction text

5. Unit 4: Informational Writing  Students will write an unbiased information article to inform an audience about a topic using a variety of writing strategies.  Students will apply the knowledge gained in the non- fiction reading unit to this writing task.  Independent Reading: on-going text of any genre

6. Unit 5: Argumentative Writing  Students will research a debatable topic, choose a side, and write an argumentative essay in support of their position.  Grammar: Modifiers and Prepositional Phrases  Independent Reading: on-going text of any genre

7. Unit 6: Reading in Book Clubs  Students will read one or two books of any genre (mostly realistic fiction) in a book club.  Students will focus on cultural themes.  Read Aloud/Shared Reading: Daniel’s Story by Carol Matas  Students will form a theory with textual evidence and write a literary essay.  Word Study: Greek and Latin Word Parts  Independent Reading: Book Club Reading

8. Independent Reading  Independent Reading Calendar: Students set nightly/weekly reading goals to effectively manage their time.  Recording their Thinking: Students demonstrate comprehension through a variety of reading strategies on post-its or in another format  Independent Reading Assignment: Students demonstrate comprehension by identifying the big idea/theme/audience in a text along with textual evidence that supports the theme.

9. Assessments  Each unit of study has a pre- and post- assessment.  Pre-assessments are used to inform instruction; these are not graded.  Post-assessment are used to evaluate student progress; these are graded.  Grammar Quizzes: given for each grammar rule  Word Study Quizzes: given for each word sort

10. Grading  Reading: 35% Independent Reading, Reading Unit Assessments, Literary Essays  Writing: 35% Process Writing Pieces, Writing Unit Assessments  Grammar: 10% Grammar Quizzes  Word Study: 10% Word Study Quizzes  Homework and Participation: 10%

11. Suggestions on Supporting Students at Home  Schoolwires: Check daily homework assignments, upcoming assessments, and due dates.  Google Classroom: Please ask your child to share his/her work with you.  Look through your child’s reading/writing notebook and ask your child to discuss what he/she is learning.  Genesis Parent Portal: Check grades and missing assignments.  Help monitor independent reading and have conversations about it. * What happened in that part of the text? What do you think will happen next? Are you noticing any big ideas/themes? Show me a piece of text that supports that idea?

12. Thank you for coming to Back to School Night  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. lesak@wyckoffschools.orglesak@wyckoffschools.org  I am looking forward to great school year!