English and World Literature

List of 4 items.

• Grade 5

  English 5 is designed to tap into the students’ enthusiasm about reading and writing and their own burgeoning literary abilities. Students read increasingly challenging texts of several genres, learning to check their suppositions against the words on the page through discussion, annotation, and the writing of interpretive paragraphs. Students also write stories, poems, memoirs, and plays for puppet theater. The writing is supported by instruction in planning, outlining, and note-taking. Group and individual grammar instruction comes through lessons, practice in a workbook, and directed revision. Vocabulary is culled from the texts; students will keep a “word farm” of index cards where they can cultivate correct usage and harvest words for their writing. Regular grammar and vocabulary assessments are also part of the instruction. The works studied include a selection of myths, with some stories from In the Beginning; a selection of poems, including excerpts of The Book of Questions; A Single Shard; a selection of memoirs that includes age-appropriate excerpts of A Day of Pleasure, Soldier, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, This One Summer, and Everything Comes Next; The People Could Fly; One Crazy Summer; and The Giver.

• Grade 6

  In Grade 6 English, students read a number of texts that explore the relationship between individuals and their society. Starting with a beautiful version of the Mesopotamian tale Gilgamesh, a story that follows the transformation of a leader from oppressor to liberator, and concluding with George Orwell's brilliant allegory Animal Farm, we read literature—novels, poetry, graphic novel, memoir—that depicts the experience of young people who are trying to make sense of themselves and their world. As we engage with questions of leadership, citizenship, and individual freedom, we focus on the importance of self-expression. Students tell their own stories in personal and creative writing pieces and express their ideas about the literature in expository paragraphs. The study of vocabulary and grammar forms an integral part of the curriculum, allowing students to articulate their observations with greater accuracy and specificity.

• Grade 7

  This course explores the theme of "The World We Inherit, The World We Create and The World We Imagine" through texts that capture our attention, challenge our perspectives, inspire our creativity and cultivate deeper thinking about what it means to control our own stories. Our units are designed around the following texts: Before We Were Free, Lord of the Flies, Piecing Me Together, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a poetry unit. Through assigned tasks and projects, guiding questions and specific expectations, we will collaboratively deepen our understanding of literature. Students will write analytical paragraphs, creative pieces and personal narratives emphasizing imitation as inspiration. In-class workshops will give practice to writing with detail, description, explanation and specificity when speaking and writing. Grammar and vocabulary work is designed to help students to express their increasingly complex thoughts and creativity.

• Grade 8

  In this course students study a number of classic coming of age stories that offer different perspectives on growing up. As we read Romeo and Juliet, The House on Mango Street, Go Tell It On The Mountain, and Jane Eyre, we explore how forces outside the self— society, race, class, culture, and family—affect the ways we define ourselves. Students practice expository writing in paragraphs and essays and develop their narrative voice through personal stories. Grammar and vocabulary work help students to express their increasingly complex thoughts in precise, controlled sentences.