Grade 7

Unit Title: Conflicts and Clashes
Essential Question: When do differences become conflicts?
Genre Focus: Fiction

At the heart of most stories is conflict. In some stories, the conflict might involve an epic clash between good and evil. In other stories, the conflict might be more internal and subdued, but interesting nonetheless because the conflict is relatable or intriguing.

When do differences become conflicts? What do readers learn when they study and analyze the conflicts presented in literary works? How does that help us with our own conflicts?

This unit offers a wide variety of literature for your students to explore these questions while also exploring texts in the unit’s genre focus, fiction. 

 

Unit Title: Highs and Lows
Essential Question: What do we learn from love and loss?
Genre Focus: Poetry

Poetry gives writers the opportunity to express the highs and lows of their emotions and their personal experiences. Readers of poetry gain insight into how others feel and think about some of the deepest experiences in life, the experiences of love and loss.

This Grade 7 unit emphasizes the study of poetry and encourages students to consider the essential question What do we learn from love and loss?

The unit offers a wide variety of literature for students to explore this question, including both contemporary and classic works. 

 

Unit Title: Chasing the Impossible
Essential Question: What makes a dream worth pursuing?
Genre Focus: Argumentative Text

Why do people chase dreams, even if they seem impossible? What makes a dream worth pursuing? How do optimism and grit contribute to the pursuit of a dream?

This Grade 7 unit emphasizes argumentative writing and encourages students to explore these questions through the reading of a wide variety of literature. The selections convey a range of messages about people overcoming obstacles to create a better life for themselves and their community.

 

Unit Title: Moment of Truth
Essential Question: How can one event change everything?
Genre Focus: Informational Text

In every great story, there comes at least one crucial event. Moments of innovation, moments of struggle, moments of soaring triumph or crushing defeat form the core of our legends and histories. Recognizing important events will help readers better understand the texts they read and connect the ideas within those texts to their own lives.

This Grade 7 unit focuses on informational texts that dissect the events and moments that shaped the lives of extraordinary individuals. Students learn how a moment can activate a chain of events that result in dramatic change.