Grade 7 English Language Arts
18 units matched to the Prince Edward Island Curriculum. Kids see this subject as “Language Arts”.
Learning focus
- Speaking and Listening. Students will be expected to speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences.
- Speaking and Listening. Students will be expected to communicate information and ideas effectively and clearly, and to respond personally and critically.
- Speaking and Listening. Students will be expected to interact with sensitivity and respect, considering the situation, audience, and purpose.
- Reading and Viewing. Students will be expected to select, read, and view with understanding a range of literature, information, media, and visual texts.
- Reading and Viewing. Students will be expected to interpret, select, and combine information using a variety of strategies, resources, and technologies.
- Reading and Viewing. Students will be expected to respond personally to a range of texts.
- Reading and Viewing. Students will be expected to respond critically to a range of texts, applying their understanding of language, form, and genre.
- Writing and Other Ways of Representing. Students will be expected to use writing and other forms of representation to explore, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and learnings; and to use their imaginations.
- Writing and Other Ways of Representing. Students will be expected to create texts collaboratively and independently, using a wide variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes.
- Writing and Other Ways of Representing. Students will be expected to use a range of strategies to develop effective writing and other ways of representing and to enhance their clarity, precision, and effectiveness.
Units
Unit 1
Reading Strategies
Children practise strategies good readers use: drawing on what they know, predicting, connecting, summarizing and reading fluently.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 4 · predicting, connecting, questioning and summarizing while reading
Unit 2
Roots & Word Parts
Children work out the meaning and spelling of new words from their roots, prefixes and suffixes, and meet figures of speech.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 4; GCO 10 · working out new words from roots, prefixes and suffixes
Unit 3
Close Reading
Reading original stories, arguments and informational passages, then identifying theme and main idea, making inferences, spotting claims and counterarguments, and explaining why an author made certain choices.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 4; GCO 6 · finding the theme, making inferences and using evidence from a text
Unit 4
Literary Devices
Recognizing the tools writers use: figurative language, foreshadowing, flashback, symbolism and the three kinds of irony (verbal, situational and dramatic), plus the parts of a plot.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 7 · irony, foreshadowing, symbolism and figurative language
Unit 5
Tone & Mood
Telling the writer's attitude (tone) apart from the reader's feeling (mood), and seeing how word choice and connotation shape both.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 7 · telling the writer's tone from the mood a reader feels
Unit 6
Whose Story?
Telling first, second and third person apart, finding the clues, and imagining how a different narrator would change the story.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 7 · first, second and third person narrators and how they change a story
Unit 7
Poetry Lab
Reading short original poems to find rhyme schemes, count stanzas, identify the speaker, recognize forms like haiku, limerick and free verse, and interpret figurative language and theme.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 6; GCO 7 · rhyme, stanzas, speakers and poetry forms
Unit 8
Fair & Inclusive Texts
Children practise noticing stereotypes, unfair or one-sided views and social issues in texts, responding with evidence, and choosing inclusive language.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 7 · noticing stereotypes and one-sided views, and choosing fair language
Unit 9
Persuasive Power
Identifying appeals to credibility, emotion and logic; spotting weak reasoning like bandwagon, false cause and slippery slope; and judging which evidence and rebuttals are strongest.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 7; GCO 9 · persuasive appeals and spotting weak reasoning
Unit 10
Source Check
Researching responsibly: judging whether a source is trustworthy and current, noticing bias, separating fact from opinion, and giving credit through quotation, paraphrase and citation.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 5 · judging sources, spotting bias and giving credit
Unit 11
Plan & Organize Writing
Children practise the steps before and while drafting: choosing a focused topic, planning tools, choosing a text form for the audience, and organizing ideas in a clear pattern.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 9; GCO 10 · choosing a topic, planning and picking a text form for an audience
Unit 12
Word Choice & Voice
Children practise choosing precise, descriptive and subject-specific words, and matching tone, sentence style and personal voice to the audience and purpose.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 8; GCO 10 · choosing precise words, tone and voice for an audience
Unit 13
Clauses & Sentences
Finding independent and dependent clauses, naming the four sentence types, and fixing fragments, run-ons and comma splices, the building blocks of varied, clear sentences.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 10 · clauses, sentence types and fixing fragments and run-ons
Unit 14
Modifiers & Parallelism
Revising sentences so describing phrases sit next to what they describe (no misplaced or dangling modifiers) and list items match in form (parallel structure).
Curriculum outcome: GCO 10 · placing modifiers clearly and using matching forms in lists
Unit 15
Punctuation Power
Using a colon before a quotation, a semicolon with words like however and therefore, and ellipses or dashes to show a pause, an omission or a break.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 10 · colons, semicolons, dashes and ellipses
Unit 16
Word Mix-Ups
Choosing correctly between commonly confused words: its/it's, their/there/they're, then/than, lose/loose, who's/whose, affect/effect, accept/except and more.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 10 · choosing between commonly confused words
Unit 17
Posters & Presentations
Children think about layout, visuals and sound that support a message, and how to organize a presentation with an introduction, body and conclusion.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 2; GCO 9 · layout, visuals and organizing a talk or poster
Unit 18
Listening & Discussion
Children practise skills for classroom talk: paraphrasing, asking and clarifying, respectful non-verbal cues, and matching language and tone to the audience.
Curriculum outcome: GCO 1; GCO 2; GCO 3 · listening well, asking questions and speaking respectfully in discussion
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