September

• Social Guidelines for the Classroom
• The Liberation of Gabriel King Summer Reading Unit: reflection writing, paragraph writing lessons, book discussions, current events tie-in discussions, social injustice mini-research
• Poetry:  diamonte and/or biopoem
• Vocabulary--related to summer reading
• Punctuation

October

• Story Elements Study
  • Short stories:  including His First Flight, Early Autumn, All Summer in a Day
  • Anchor Text:  The Crazy Man 
• Figurative Language: metaphor, simile, personification
• Poetry
• Narrative writing
• Vocabulary--related to short stories
• Vocabulary quiz
• Parts of Speech:  nouns, verbs, adjectives
• Independent reading: book choice and weekly in-class reading time

November

• Story Elements 
• Figurative language and imagery:  personification, metaphor, simile, symbolism
• Narrative writing
• Vocabulary--related to short stories
• Grammar and Sentence Structure
• Parts of Speech:  nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
• Nonfiction:  Jr. Scholastic Magazine and lessons on article structures
• Independent reading: weekly in-class reading time; book talks; time for monthly Padlet digital book response entries
• “Senior Friends Day” cross-curricular interviews and writing

December

• Historical Fiction unit
  • groups
  • book talks
  • supporting a written thesis/claim with sufficient evidence
• Grammar and sentence strucutre
• Figurative language and imagery
• Poetry booklets  
• Independent reading

January

• Historical Fiction unit, continued

• Group work:  historical fiction book talks; sharing of independent book “jobs”
• Historical Fiction book test with essay

• Grammar, punctuation, parts of speech, compound sentences
• Poetry: booklets continued, lyric poetry 
• Nonfiction
• Independent reading

February

• Poetry Focus: structure, inspired by Nikki Giovanni’s poetry; bio and autobio poems, tritina poems

• Grammar:  Independent clauses, compound sentences, complex sentences
• Nonfiction Study
  • Current events
  • Video, podcasts, print, online media
• Independent reading 

March

• Poetry Focus: pantoum, sestina, sonnet, or other
• Grammar:  Subordinate clauses
• Comma Quiz--using subordinate clauses
• Nonfiction signpost: Extreme Language and others
• Nonfiction Unit:  Research, including print, digital, podcast; choose a current events thesis; writing for persuasion, information, or argument; final paper
• Invention Dimension (cross-curricular with social studies) highlighting and notes
• Independent reading: weekly in-class reading time; book talks; Padlet

April

• Continued from March

• Invention Dimension (cross-curricular with social studies) notes and outline
• Social Justice Unit: book groups, mentor text, discussions, writing activities

May

• Social Justice Unit: book clubs, mentor text, final project
• Invention Dimension (cross-curricular with social studies) final paper
• Greek prefixes and mythology

June

• Poetry presentations
• Reflections and writing