Enrichment Placement 7Th Grade Language Arts

Enrichment Placement 7th Grade Language Arts

Millbrook Middle School

Mrs. Diggs

Purpose: Enrichment Placement is a curriculum that focuses on skills and concepts for building success in Advanced Placement classes and on Advanced Placement tests. It is based on the following beliefs: (1) Students can perform well at rigorous academic levels. (2) We can prepare students for higher intellectual engagement by starting the development of skills and acquisition of knowledge as early as possible. (Adapted from )

At the middle school level, Enrichment Placement classes give students the opportunity to practice, at the appropriate level, skills that will enable them to be successful in Pre-AP and AP classes at the high school level. The classes will expose students to the type of expectation and activities required by the AP program. Enrichment Placement classes lay the foundation for success for the AP program at the high school level and the groundwork for college readiness.

Class Description:Enrichment Placement Language Arts includes extensive reading and writing. It is writing intensive. Students complete a major project/essay each grading period. Student performance is assessed for the analysis and synthesis level of thinking. Successful Enrichment students are organized, task oriented, proficient readers who are able to set priorities with regard to time and responsibilities.

The Seventh Grade Language Arts Course for MMS students will emphasize the following in addition to the seventh grade Elmore County Curriculum:

Thinking Skills: Students will be challenged to practice higher-level thinking skills, such as applying, evaluating, and creating.
Close Reading: Students will be able to identify and incorporate the three levels of reading: reading on the line (literal level), reading between the lines (inferential level), and reading beyond the lines (thematic level). Thus, students will highlight and annotate texts, write text-based analysis in reading journals, practice analytical skills one at a time, read for meaning and personal relevance, recognize and analyze basic literary elements, read many different kinds of text, and look for diction, imagery, and detail that reveal tone and theme.
Independent Reading: Students must develop the habit of reading independently at home because class time will be devoted to working with the texts to examine their meaning.
Grammar: Students will practice grammar skills in the context of their study of literature and composition. They will know and use the basic forms of sentence structure, construct sentences with proper agreement, and use capitalization and punctuation correctly and effectively. Students will be required to completed grammar warm-ups daily.
Composition: Students will experiment with sentence structure and forms of organization, use vocabulary to express exactly the right feeling and meaning for writing, use quotations as evidence, and practice techniques that develop effective body paragraphs. Students will be required to keep a journal.

Tentative list of Enrichment Placement Skills Goals for the upcoming school year.

First Nine Weeks Goal: Students will use close reading strategies (diction, imagery, details, and figures of speech) to extract meaning from a variety of texts and write analytically.
Students will …

Understand and apply annotation skills to works studied
Create and use dialectical journals
Analyze a visual text, make inferences, and support those inferences with specific references to the text
Analyze a non-fiction text
Identify purposeful use of figurative language, tone and mood
Actively participate in purposeful discussions of the selected texts in both small and whole groups
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words
Compose edit, and revise paragraphs
Cite textual evidence
Compose an expository essay

Second Nine Weeks Goal: Students will apply close reading strategies (diction, imagery, details, figures of speech) to extract meaning from a variety of texts in order to discuss how literary and plot elements contribute to character development.
Students will…

Understand and apply annotation skills to visual, nonfiction, and literary texts
Compare written drama with its filmed version
Identify purposeful use of figurative language
Participate in purposeful discussions of selected texts in both small and whole groups
Successfully compose and edit compound sentences
Compose, edit, and revise paragraphs
Incorporate quotations effectively
Compose a character analysis essay
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words

Third Nine Weeks Goal: Students will apply close reading strategies (diction, imagery, details, and figures of speech) to extract meaning from a variety of texts and to write analytical compositions.
Students will…

Understand and apply annotation skills to works studied
Successfully edit and compose complex sentences
Create and use powerful journals from their annotations
Identify purposeful use of figurative language
Actively participate in purposeful discussions of the selected texts in both small and whole groups
Determine fact, opinion, and bias
Compose, edit, and revise paragraphs
Compose an expository essay
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words
Analyze a text to determine how an author communicates purpose

Fourth Nine Weeks Goal: Students will continue to use close reading strategies to extract meaning from a variety of texts in order to discuss the way literary elements and characterization support an author’s theme.
Students will…

Understand and apply annotation skills to works studied
Successfully edit and compose compound-complex sentences
Identify purposeful use of figurative language
Actively participate in purposeful discussions of the selected texts in both small and whole groups
Analyze author’s purpose
Compose, edit, and revise paragraphs
Compose an essay on theme using character analysis
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words
Cite textual evidence

Grading Policy

Grades will be based on the following:

Test and Major Projects / 50%
Daily Grades / 50%
Total Points / 100%

Pre-AP Yellow Pages: Students will be given yellow pages to file in the reference section of their 3-ring notebook that they will bring to class with them daily. The yellow pages are designed to provide students with a ready reference for information that they will need in order to complete some course requirements and class assignments.

Monitoring Assignments: Some students grades may lower in Enrichment classes than in classes considered regular. It is imperative that both parents and students check grades on-line through the district’s website on a weekly basis. Parents, please encourage students to begin assignments early and keep a calendar of dates when assignments are due. Organization is imperative to success. Elmore County Policy will be followed concerning absences and make-up work. However, any assignment that has been given a due date of more than one week in advance must be turned in on time. If the student knows that he or she will be absent the date that the assignment is due, he or she must make arrangements to turn the assignment in ahead of time. Late assignments will result in the deduction of points.

Homework: Homework reinforces skills learned in class, provides an opportunity to complete long-term assignments in small chunks, and allows students to complete work started at school or to prepare for an upcoming lesson. In addition, students will need to spend some time reading at home. Since reading and writing rates vary greatly among seventh graders, homework time is hard to predict.

Cheating/Plagiarism

Cheating shall be defined as giving or receiving information on a test or submitting duplicate work for outside assignments. Using technology (e.g., computer, Internet, cell phone, PDA, or calculator) to cheat or copy the work of another is prohibited. Plagiarism consists of using another person’s ideas or writing as one’s own. Plagiarism is a form of cheating. Please refer to the district policy concerning cheating and plagiarism.

Class Rules: Be a P.R.O! Students are to be prepared, respectful and on task. These qualities are essential to being successful in Pre-AP Language Arts. Being unprepared, disrespectful, and off task in class hinders the learning environment for the individual as well as the rest of the class.

Contact Information: I look forward to working with each of you to ensure your child’s success this year. If you need to contact me, you may e-mail me at . You can also access this e-mail through the school’s website at clicking the “School Staff” link, then clicking my name. This will take you to my homepage, which contains different information about the class and about me. Join me on Remind. Enter this number 81010in your cell phone and text this message: @gf2gb.

Mrs. Diggs’s Supply List

1 3" Binder (all 4 core subjects can be included in the one binder) with subject dividers

Notebook paper

1 bound composition book (not spiral bound) for warm-ups

1 folder with pockets and prongs for writing assignments

Pens (black or blue only)

Highlighters

Color pencils (8 pk. traditional colors) for corrections and paper revisions

Index cards (4X6) for research and studying

Post It Notes for marking reading passages

USB drive for saving computer projects and essays

If possible, please donate any of the items listed below. These items will be needed throughout the year. Thank you!!!!

Hand Sanitizer Copy paper

Kleenex Clorox wipes

Paper Towels Band-Aids

Ink Cartridge Yellow Copy Paper (Enrichment Students)

Dry Erase MarkersConstruction Paper