GENERAL EXPLANATIONS

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GRADE 7 ENGLISH CLASS RULES & PROCEDURES

The document above explains the rules and procedures for Adon Ross's Grade 7 English class. At the beginning of the year, he gives a test on this information.

Seventh grade English will cover multiple facets of the language arts. We will focus on three forms of writing: personal, academic, and formulaic. Students will keep a journal, write structured paragraphs and essays, write (and send) a business letter, develop their descriptive skills, and write a short story (for a second grader). Students will also be exposed to some basic journalism through desktop publishing. Through Daily Oral Language and Sentence Composing, students will work on editing and combining sentences for more effective communication. We will also explore the English language and how it is put together, using our knowledge of grammar to improve writing. Finally, we will look at verbal communication and practice public speaking skills. Along the way, we'll touch on spelling, study skills, and vocabulary.

GRADE 6 LITERATURE RULES & PROCEDURES

The explanation sheet above explains the rules and procedures for Adon Ross's literature class. At the beginning of the year, he gives a test on this information.

The 6th grade literature curriculum is based on the philosophy that students develop their reading skills by reading good literature. Literature will be used to develop higher level comprehension and analysis skills and will sometimes complement our social studies curriculum. Students read trade books from a variety of genre, including realistic adolescent fiction, science fiction, mystery, fantasy, mythology, adventure, survival, autobiography/biography, an abridged Shakespeare play, and Jewish (Holocaust) literature. Some books are read by the entire class, while at other times, students have the choice of several books.

In addition, students are asked to read independently and are asked make an oral presentation. Students learn new vocabulary and often complete some form of writing assignment for each unit. Many literary skills are taught, incluidng character analysis, figurative language, plot, and theme. Our goal is to create life-long readers who appreciate good literature. More information can be found in the "Grade 6 Literature Assign." section of this Web site.

READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES & FIX-UP STRATEGIES

These two pages discuss 1) the seven strategies of good readers, strategies that are essential for students in order to read with meaning, and 2) the fix-up strategies students should use if they are having problems.

What Good Readers Do

Fix-Up Strategies

GENERAL 6 + 1 TRAITS RUBRIC

This rubric shows the different traits of writing (far left column): Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions + Presentation. In the "5" column are descriptions of what are generally good criteria for each trait. In other words, it tells what those traits mean. Students need to know the order of the traits and a general idea of what each trait is about. There are no "2" and "4" columns because they are too difficult to express in words. A "4" would most likely have some criteria from both a "5" and a "3." A "2" would have some criteria from both a "3" and a "1."

6 + 1 Traits Rubric with sample Grading Rubric

The smaller grading rubric on the last page is a sample of what is used to give students an actual grade for a writing assignment. Each specific writing assignment will have its own specific rubric. They are located under the "Plans & Assignments" section of my site.