Language Arts

Core Literature:

• Julie of the Wolves
• The White Mountains
• Selected Greek Myths
• Selected short stories from textbook The Language of Literature

Accelerated Reader Program:

• ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)
• Goals

Writing:

• Six Traits of Writing (Ideas, Organization, Sentence Fluency, Voice, Word Choice, and Conventions)
• ERB
• Essays: Persuasive, Personal, Research
• Newsletters
• Grammar/Mechanics lessons

Stanford Anthology for Youth is a non-profit, Stanford-run organization dedicated to encouraging local students in grades six through eight to express their creativity and insight through writing.

Every year, SAY publishes a collection of poems, short stories, and personal essays written by middle school authors (that means you!).The anthology not only provides an opportunity for students to see their own work in print, but also allows them to be exposed to and inspired by works of their peers. Once the anthology is finished, it is distributed to all students who participate, regardless if their work is published or not. Several of my students were published last year!

Guidelines:

• Each individual work must be submitted with a completed cover page stapled to the front. (I will give you the cover page.)
• The student's personal information (name, age, school, etc.) should NOT appear on the submitted work except on the cover page.
• Proofread work is encouraged. It is not cheating! However, the work should be original work done by student.
• Work needs to be fewer than 2500 words.
• Final draft must be typed.

This is also worth an English grade:
• Effort- 10 points
• Creativity- 10 points
• Grammar, spelling. etc.- 10 points
• Following directions ?10 points
  
• The rough draft you turn in must be typed.

Additional Information:

• You may also submit artwork: It should be in the form of black and white line-art preferably done with pen, marker or another dark medium on plain, unlined white paper. You may NOT do this in place of the written assignment, only as an additional activity.
• You are welcome to turn in multiple pieces of work. However, be advised I am only grading one of them.

Accelerated Reader is a program in which students read books that are in the program, and take tests on the book to test their understanding.

The Diagnostic Report indicates a student's ZPD, or Zone of Proximal Develoment. ZPD is simply reading level. For example, if your child has a ZPD of 4.4-7.4, it means that he/she reads at the fourth grade, fourth month to the seventh grade, fourth month reading level. This would also mean your child needs to read books in the AR program in that range. If your child takes book tests in their range and gets passing scores, they will be allowed to read books that are higher than their ZPD if desired.

There are many books in the school's library in the AR program. Your child has been taught how to look up which books are in the program by both the librarian, Ms. Davis, and myself. JLS has the tests for over 1800 books, so encourage your child to bring their books from home to see if they are in the program. Your child can also get books from a public library or a bookstore . They do not have to be checked out from the school library.

Many students start this program by taking tests on books they have read in the past. While I commend students for being avid readers, this program is to get your child to read new books, not to get as many points as possible. Goals are set in order to monitor student progress, not to compete with other classmates. I am only allowing students to take tests on books they have read since the first day of school.

Click here to download the AR list by Author. (Microsoft Excel document, 200KB)

Course Overview | Curriculum | Standards | SAY: Stanford Anthology for Youth | Accelerated Reader Program | Back to Top