English - Miss Killelea

2008-2009  School Year

The middle school English curriculum is comprised of the study of four areas: vocabulary, literature, grammar and writing. It is the philosophy of the teachers that all four disciplines be integrated throughout the year to develop adept thinking, writing and processing skills.

The goal of the middle school English curriculum is to prepare students for high school level work. In addition to academic preparation, students will gain autonomy and responsibility in regard to their work. Students will graduate from Bishop Dunn with the reading, writing and cognitive skills required for a successful high school experience. We offer a traditional grade-level program as well as an accelerated course of study for all three grades.

Textbooks

The following series are used in the English program:

Literature: Copper, Bronze and Silver, Prentice Hall

Elements of Writing: Introductory Course, First Course and Second Course, Holt, Rhinehart, Winston (grammar text)

Vocabulary Workshop A-C, Sadlier Oxford (grade-level program)

Vocabulary From Classical Roots A-C, EPS (accelerated program)

Grades 6, 7 and 8

Vocabulary
The study of vocabulary is continuous on all three grade levels, with an assessment at the end of each lesson or unit. Children are expected to learn the definitions of words, as well as be able to use the words correctly in their writing. Children in the accelerated program also learn the Latin or Greek roots of words and are expected to know the origins of the words they are studying.

All students in the middle school program are introduced to etymology and learn how to discern the meaning of a word, based on its root word(s).

Grade Six

Literature

The children are exploring plot, character, setting and theme in the form of short stories from our literature text and the novels The View From Saturday, Holes, Crispin and the Cross of Lead, The Thief Lord, The Bronze Bow and The Witch of Blackbird Pond. The sixth graders also perform a Shakespeare Readers' Theatre in the spring.

Grammar

The sixth graders will be concentrating on identifying sentences. They will be able to identify the four kinds of sentences, as well as determine fragments and run on sentences. We will also review basic grammatical concepts such as subject/predicate and identifying the eight parts of speech in sentences.

Grade Seven

Literature

The seventh graders read short stories in our literature text, Prentice Hall Literature: Bronze.  They study plot structure and character development by reading short stories and plays including ones written by Ernest Hemingway, Gary Soto, Pearl S. Buck, Isaac Asimov, Washington Irving, Charles Dickens and Gwendolyn Brooks. The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963, The Primrose Way and The Outsiders are the novels we will be reading.  The students will write a variety of pieces including both informal and formal essays.

Members of the accelerated class will be reading the abovementioned novels as well as Murder on the Orient Express, The Chosen and Hoot. These students will also study the poetry of Seamus Heaney, Robert Frost, Tennyson, Langston Hughes, as well as other poets.

The seventh graders also create a Nature Journal throughout the school year.  This project is a cross-curricular activity with our science teacher, Mrs. Bernadette Kleister.  The students write, draw and react to the living world around them in their journals. Included in this unit are a hike up Black Rock Mountain, experiments, an introduction and study of Thoreau's writing and creative writing based on the natural world.

Grammar
We are reviewing the eight parts of speech and identifying them in sentences.  The students are reviewing kinds of sentences, identifying sentence fragments and run-on sentences as well as subject verb agreement. Accelerated students will be introduced to subject complements.

Grade Eight

Literature
The eighth graders will read short stories and poems in our literature text, as well as the novels, Stargirl , Hoot,  and the play, "The Diary of Anne Frank". We will also view the 1996 BBC version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

The eighth grade accelerated students read the classics, The Killer Angels, My Name Is Asher Lev and The Secret Life of Bees. The eighth graders will also study the poetry of Walt Whitman,Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Seamus Heaney, W.B. Yeats, Shakespeare and others.

The eighth graders will also complete a semester-long project on a songwriter of choice.  Each student will present his/her songwriter as a writer and explore the themes and images expressed in the songwriter's work.

Grammar
Topics being reviewed include subject-verb agreement and identifying the eight parts of speech in paragraphs. The honors class is reviewing parts of speech, subject complements, verbals and phrases and clauses.