Pre-AP Seventh Grade SyllabusCushing Junior High

First Six Weeks

Works taught – The Red Pony by John Steinbeck Vocabulary with emphasis on Greek and Latin roots, foreign words, and analogies will be assigned each six weeks.

Skills taught: Literary Terms Close Reading and Annotation Author’s Purpose Determining Main Idea Generalization Inference Characterization

o Antagonist/Protagonisto Dynamic/Statico Epiphanyo Flat/Roundo Motivationo Indirecto Direct

Detail Diction

o Connotationo Denotationo Idiomo Vocabulary

Imagery Mood Plot

o Conflicto Flashbacko Foreshadowingo Suspense

Setting Theme Parts of Speech

o Phrases Appositive Infinitive Prepositional

Sentenceso Structure

Complex Compound Compound-Complex Simple

Descriptive Writing Expository Writing

o Analyticalo Comparison/Contrast

Narrative Writing Persuasive Writing

o Challengeo Defend

Expressive Writing Imaginative Writing Writing Process

o Prewriting Audience Purpose Ideas Organization

o Drafting Extended Time Timed

o Revision of Multiple Drafts Content Organization Precise Diction

o Editing Mechanics Sentence Structure Usage

Structural Elements Multi-Paragraph Essayo Introduction

Thesiso Body

Topic Sentence Use of Commentary Use of Evidence

Incorporating Quotations Parentheses, brackets, ellipses Transitional Phrases

Conclusion Imitation of Style PAMDISS- a tool to help students reflect on their writing.

Persuasive Appeals Sensory Appeals Three Levels of Reading Titles

o Capitalizationo Italicso Underlining

Presentations:

Bring a photograph of yourself doing something fun. You will present the photo and tell the story.

Illustrate your revised story and present to class.

Present the Steinbeck paragraphs and discuss the ways his style was successfullyimitated.

Writing Assignments:

One Page: Write a one-page description, in first person, of the place where the picture was taken. Paragraph: Write a paragraph describing each person in the picture.

Paragraph: Write a paragraph analyzing how the setting in The Red Pony contributes to plot development.

Revision: Transform the descriptions of the setting and characters into a third-person narrative. Include plenty of details and images from all five senses. Add to the narrative something odd, weird, magical, or improbable that didn’t really happen. Finish the story in a way that makes sense. Do not use the “I woke up, and it was all a dream ending.” Make sure that any conflicts in the story are resolved in the end.

Revision: Revise your story and make sure each element of plot on Freytag’s Pyramid is present. Also, use each of the following: conflict, flashback, foreshadowing, and suspense.

Story: Write your own story modeled on The Red Pony. The title must be similar such as “The Purple Bulldozer” or “The Chartreuse Cat.” Imitate Steinbeck’s style.

Paragraphs: Rewrite the first two paragraphs of The Red Pony imitating Steinbeck’s style and creating your own characters in place of Billy Buck and Jody.

Timed Writing: The Red Pony and The Black Stallion.

Revision: Revise the style imitation paragraphs and turn them into a story that imitates Steinbeck’s style. Peer edit with your partner to make sure you are using Steinbeck’s style. You must include all plot elements and have a detailed setting and fully developed characters. Make sure you have imagery from all five senses,comparisons, Steinbeck-style diction, and rich details.

Essay: Using the notes from your Developing Maturity journal, write a well-developed essay about Jody chronicling his experience of developingmaturity and relating to the theme of the novel.

Timed Writing: The Red PonyTimed Writing: The Red Pony

Activity:

Use Freytag’s Pyramid to chart the plot structure of your story.

Close read for Sensory Appeals and write commentary for each example. You must have imagery from all five senses.

Three Levels of Reading Diagram

The Best Word for the Job

Journal: Does life follow Freytag’s Pyramid? Think of a time you disobeyed your parents and got in trouble for it. Write the story. Plot it on Freytag’s Pyramid.

Developing Maturity: You will have a handout to keep notes on as you read.

Reading Assignments:

Read “The Gift.” Use sticky notes to annotate setting details, images, and characterization. Also note any questions, thoughts, or insights you have as you read. Also, annotate important plot events.

Read “The Great Mountains.” Use sticky notes to annotate setting details, images, and characterization. Also note any questions, thoughts, or insights you have as you read. Also, annotate important plot events.

Read “The Leader of the People.” Use sticky notes to annotate setting details, images, and characterization. Also note any questions, thoughts, or insights you have as you read. Also, annotate important plot events.

Test: Literary Lexicon

Second Six Weeks

Works taught – A Wrinkle in TimeSkills taught:

Prediction Tone Metaphor Personification Simile Alliteration Assonance Consonance Onomatopoeia Sentence Variety Unity Sentence Structure

Reading Assignments: Use sticky notes to close read and annotate A Wrinkle in Time for imagery.

Use sticky notes to close read and annotate A Wrinkle in Time for diction and detail. Annotate the emotional effect of highlighted imagery, diction, and detail.

Writing Assignments:

Paragraph: Write a paragraph analyzing the influence of setting on the theme in A Wrinkle in Time.Dialectical Journal: Five entries per week

Journal: Strength in Adversity: You will have a handout to keep notes on as you read.

Story: Write about a time you experienced fear during “a dark and stormy night,”as Meg does in the first chapter. Make sure to use imagery from allfive senses. Use the writing in A Wrinkle in Time as a model.

Timed Writing: A Wrinkle in Time A Wrinkle in Time

Poem: I Am poem

Essay: In A Wrinkle in Time, the author portrays human life as both full of difficulty and full of joy. Write and essay with an introduction, at least two body paragraphs, and a conclusion, discussing the way the author contrasts the painful and the joyful parts of life. Use the images, details, and diction you have highlighted in your novel as evidence for your ideas.

Revision: Revise your essay using Writing Workshop Techniques.

AP Style Multiple Choice Test: Mossflower

Third Six Weeks

Works taught: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse Skills taught:

Paraphrase Research Ethics Use of Print Sources Use of Internet Sources Theme Irony Rhyme Rhythm Allusion Symbolism Expository Writing

o Research –based Personal Writing Use of Commentary in Writing Use of Evidence in Writing Use of Figures of Speech in Writing Use of Sound Devices in Writing

Reading Assignments: In class, read Out of the Dust. Be prepared to discuss the literary devices the author uses to convey tone and theme, figurative language, sound devices, symbolism, allusion, and irony.

Writing Assignments:

Dialectical Journal: Symbolism Irony Characterization Plot

Tone Theme

Strength in Adversity

Timed Writing: Out of the Dust

Project: In groups, write four poems or a poetic essay on survival. You must use sound devices, symbolism, figures of speech, and allusion, graphic elements, and a

rhyme scheme in your writing. You must have a theme for your collective writing.

Project: Create a PowerPoint presentation with the definition and an original example and an example from Out of the Dust of the following terms: figurative language, sound devices, symbolism, allusion, and irony.

Project: Create a poetry book following the criteria on the Using models to write poetry handout.

Project: Choose from the provided topics for a research project. You must have one print source and one Internet source. Create a PowerPoint presentation about

your topic to present to the class. Each slide should contain six sentences explaining what is being depicted. Paraphrase – do not cut/copy and paste from your source. Your last slide should be Works Cited listing all your sources. You should have a minimum of six slides not including the Works Cited. Print a black and white copy of your presentation to turn in.

Activity: Veterans Day Unknown Soldier AssignmentFourth Six Weeks:Works taught: Tunes for Bears to Dance To by Robert Cormier

“Letters from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr.“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr. “The Smallest Dragon Boy” by Anne Mc Caffrey “Being Mean” by Gary Soto Daily NewspaperWeekly News Magazine

Skills taught: Summary Point of View

o First Persono Third Person Omnisciento Third Person Limited

Setting Argumentation

o Concession/Counter Argumento Rhetorical Strategies/Fallacies

Cause/Effect Classification Comparison/Contrast Emotional Appeals Logical Appeals Ad hominem Exaggeration Stereotyping Categorical Claims

Analytical Writing Persuasive Writing

Writing Assignments:

Paragraph: In a well-organized paragraph, defend the following statement: In Tunes for Bears to Dance To, Mr. Hairston says, “You only appreciate something when you think you have lost it.” Write an eleven sentence paragraph using evidence from your reading, observation, and experience to support your position.

In a well-organized paragraph, challenge the following statement: In Tunes for Bears to Dance To, Mr. Hairston says, “You only appreciate something when you think you have lost it.” Write an eleven sentence paragraph using evidence from your reading, observation, and experience to support your position.

Analyze a photograph of your choosing. In a well-organizedparagraph: describe the scene, discuss the ways your memory ofthe event is different from what is shown in the picture, discuss sensory images that are not captured in the visual image, discuss feelings the image evokes, and what the image does not show.

Choose a restaurant review from a newspaper or magazine. Analyze the atmosphere of the restaurant as it is described in thereview. Write a paragraph describing how the author has used language to convey a sense of the restaurant’s atmosphere.

Analyze the development of plot through character response, motivation, and conflict in Tunes for Bears to Dance To.

Letter: Write a letter to your principal expressing an opinion on a school issue or problem. The letter should identify the issue, take a clear

position on it, and suggest a specific course of action on the part of the principal.

Find an editorial, either in the newspaper or news magazine, withwhich you strongly disagree. Write a letter to the writer of the editorial, expressing your point of view. Use the provided format.

Essay: Use the skills you have seen modeled in King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to construct an argument of your own that usestwo different kinds of appeals. Follow the outline on the handout.

Your parents have a choice to make. Where should your familygo on their dream vacation? They could afford to go to Hawaii fora beach vacation or to Florida for a Disney World vacation. You have an opportunity to influence their decision. Write a mult-paragraph essay that defends (agrees with) or challenges (disagreeswith) one of the choices. Use the provided format for your essay.

Timed Writing: Newspaper and Magazine reading

Story: Use the restaurant from your review paragraph as the setting of an imaginative story.

Choose an interesting news article written from the third person point of view. Use the facts, details, and images in the article to rewrite it as a first person narrative.

Choose a news story about a crime that has been committed recently.Write a story from the victim’s point of view. Use diction and sentence structure appropriate to each person’s perspective.

Revise your story to be from the criminal’s point of view.

Dialectical Journal: Three entries per week

Project:Choose a topic to follow in the newspaper and news magazines. Choose five articles per week on this topic. Write one thesis statement per week on this topic. For your Six Weeks Test, choose one of your thesis statements and draft an argument: introduction using the handout for concession and counter-argument you used in your letter, body paragraphs – one emotional appeal and one logicalappeal in each paragraph, strong conclusion calling for a specific course of actionor suggesting a solution to a problem. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation to present as an argument to the class. Be sure to include an emotional appeal slide

and a logical appeal slide.

Activity:Write an original poem to enter in poetry contest. Fact or Opinion/Author’s PurposeInterpreting Logical and Emotional AppealsAnalysis of RhetoricAnalyzing an ArgumentNon-Fiction AnalysisPersuasive Appeals

Fifth Six WeeksWorks taught: “Sister” by Leona Gom

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (Excerpt)Night by Elie Wiesel (Excerpt)The Monsters are Due on Maple Street Rod Serling“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Skills taught: Direct/Indirect Objects Parts of Speech

o Subordinating Conjunctions`o Relative Pronounso Conjunctive Adverbso Verbs

Perfect Progressive Participle

Phrases

o Appositiveo Infinitiveo Prepositionalo Adjectivalo Adverbial

Punctuationo Commaso Semi-Colonso Colonso Hyphens

Clauseso Dependent/Subordinateo Independent

Sentenceso Structure

Complex Compound Compound-Complex Simple

Sentence Varietyo Sentence Beginningso Sentence Combining

Syntax Techniqueso Repetition

Analysis of a Texto Meaning and Effect related to parts of speech,

phrases, clauses, and sentences.

Writing Assignments:Paragraph: Write paragraphs using the provided sentence strategies.

Write a paragraph that describes a time when you felt a sense of despair. Do not use the word “despair” in your paragraph, but suggest the feeling by using the image of a concrete object to symbolize it.

Write a paragraph analyzing the importance of graphicalelements, capital letters, line length, and word position on the meaning of “Ozymandius.”

Write a paragraph analyzing the effect of Serling’s use of dialogue and stage directions in The Monsters are Dueon Maple Street.

Story: Write a story in which each paragraph contains one simple, onecompound, one complex, and one compound-complex sentence.

Write a one page story using fragments to express a particular feeling. Write the emotion you are trying to evoke at the top of your page. Underline your fragments. Make sure the fragments are interspersed with full sentences.

Write a one page story using descriptive language and only simple simple sentences to convey a certain emotion. Write the emotion you are trying to evoke at the top of the page. Make sure that you have no dependent clauses, though you can have compound verbsand/or compound subjects. Make sure that you have no compound sentences.

Write a story or narrative poem in which a person from the future discovers our own civilization (perhaps a monument, a building, or a diary) and ponders about what America in the twenty-first century must have been like. Experiment with Shelley’s use of multiple narrators.

Timed Writing: “Sister” “Ozymandias” The Monsters are Due on Maple Street The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

Revision: Rewrite “Sister” in prose form as a story.

Poem: Using your Phrase Toolbox and the provided models, write Phrase Poetry. Use a different subject for each poem.

Out of Class Essay: An American president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, once said during a crisis: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”Challenge or defend this statement choosing evidence from your knowledge, experience, observation, and reading. Use at least five different sentence structures from Sentence Variations. Highlight the different sentence structures in different colors. Make a key.

Activity: Make a list of your ten favorite words. Sentence Structure BasicsSentence StrategiesTreasure Island SyntaxSentence VariationsNight Parts of Speech, Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences Punctuation – CommasSubject/Verb Agreement

AP Style Multiple Choice Test: “Sister”

Project: Choose one of the following: In groups, choose one scene from The Monsters are Due on Maple Street to Dramatize using a video camera. Carefully choose items of scenery, types of

lighting, point of view, and music to create a certain tone. Write a paragraph analyzing the choice of these elements to create tone. Explain to the class in your presentation how the chosen elements created tone.

Use a camera to take pictures that tell a story with the same theme as

The Monsters are Due on Maple Street. Using the style and syntax of the play as a model, write a series of short descriptions and stories that explain the pictures in your photo-essay. Mount the pictures on a display board and post the descriptions and stories below them. Make a disc of the photos to present to the class that has background music that contributes to the tone. Explain to the class

in your presentation how the chosen elements created tone.

Sixth Six WeeksWorks taught: The Trojan War by Olivia Coolidge

Mythology by Edith HamiltonThe story of TheseusThe story of Paul BunyanThe story of OrpheusThe story of Johnny Appleseed The story of Perseus

Skills taught: Archetype

o Hero’s Journeyo Questo Circle Stories

Extended Simile/Metaphor Punctuation Spelling Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement Subject/Verb Agreement Use of Subjective and Objective Pronouns Direct and Indirect Objects Predicate Adjectives/Predicate Nominatives Sentence Purpose Loose/Cumulative Sentences Periodic Sentences Inverted Order

Reading Assignments:

Close read The Trojan War. Use sticky notes to annotate important plotdevelopments, characterization, motivation, conflict, setting, theme, insights,and questions.

Writing Assignments:

Timed Writing: Myth Odysseus

Essay: Explore the relationship between a myth or legend and real life. Youshould consider the setting elements, characters, and events as symbolic ofsome universal element of real life. For example, in the myth of Narcissus,the hero’s experiences may suggest the plight of people who value only theirown superficial appearance and never look outside their own mirror for meaning in life, thus missing out on the companionship of others and losing themselves in the process. Try to determine how why the story has been so meaningful to humanity over time – how is it like life?

Story: Write your own archetypal story or myth. Use the stories we’ve studied asmodels.

Project:

Choose one of the myths from the Hamilton anthology. Read it and do researchto become an expert on your myth. Create a PowerPoint presentation about yourmyth. Include the main characters and a plot summary.

Create your own personal archetype mandala using the format provided.

Activity:Irony Scavenger HuntSentence CombiningChart archetypal charactersSo You Want to be an Author?Greek Mythology Quest