English Language Arts

CURRICULUM

The Corte Madera School English curriculum is developed based on California State Standards in alignment with PVSD's goals and priorities. All of our students are provided a high-quality program that motivates, engages, and challenges them to be critical thinkers and problem solvers.

6th Grade Core

During the course of the school year, students will build their reading, writing, speaking and language skills as outlined in the Common Core State Standards. Students will read, identify literary elements, and discuss a range of texts that include: fiction, nonfiction, articles, poems, and short stories.

Students will develop their writing skills using coherent organization to compose arguments, informative/explanatory and narrative pieces. With the support of their peers and teacher, students will revise and edit their writing. Additionally, students will learn and practice grammar concepts, vocabulary building and presentation skills.

Unit 1 Growing Up: What are some of the challenges and triumphs of growing up? Reading: Memoir, poetry, short story, realistic fiction; Writing: Personal narratives

Unit 2 Natural Allies: How do animals and people interact? Reading: autobiography, informational article, poetry, news article, informational text, reflective essay, biography.; Writing: Informational essays

Unit 3 Living with Technology: Is technology helpful or harmful in our lives? Reading: science fiction, informational article, argument, news article, poetry, video;

Writing: Argumentative essays

Unit 4 Imagined Worlds: How does imagination enrich our lives? Reading: drama, fantasy, poetry, retelling, folk tale;

Writing: Short stories

Unit 5 Extraordinary People: What makes people extraordinary? Reading: short story, video, graphic novel, nonfiction narrative, creature article, informational article biography historical fiction; Writing: Research paper and Research-based essay

Teacher syllabus - Ms. Hartman

Teacher syllabus - Ms. Becca

Textbooks used: Boy of the Painted Cave, A Long Walk to Water, Tuck Everlasting, Hatchet, My Perspectives by Savvas, Grammar for Writing by Sadlier

Secondary ELA

Throughout the year, students will build their skills in reading, writing, listening, speaking, and language as outlined in the Common Core State Standards. Students will expand the range and complexity of texts they read through a variety of sources, which include: novels, non-fiction books, articles, poems, short stories, and plays. Students will analyze the structure, composition, and key ideas of the material they engage with and make broader connections to other works, society at large, and the human condition. In addition, students will build their vocabularies as well as learn to distinguish facts, opinions, and reasoned arguments.

Students will develop their writing skills using clear and coherent organization to compose narrative, response to literature, explanatory, and argumentative pieces. With support from their peers and the teacher, students will also engage in the revision process to improve their writing while deepening their command and sophistication in all aspects of language use and conventions. Furthermore, students will gather resources from multiple print and digital sources to support conclusions, while evaluating the quality of source material and correctly citing information so as to avoid plagiarism. Finally, students will become more proficient at presenting and consuming information from multiple sources. They will engage in structured discussions as well as craft individual and group presentations that employ diverse media and formats.