Welcome back!

 Elboya School English Language Arts 

Grade 7 Course Outline

2019-2020

Ms.Bly: lmbly@cbe.ab.ca

Goal

The goal of the ELA program is for you to develop the skills necessary to become an effective communicator. Those skills would be: reading, writing, managing information, speaking, listening, and representing your ideas. ELA is a continuing curriculum that builds on the current skills and understanding of each student with room for interest based projects and creativity in addition to functional skills. 

                                                   Course Content

The course content is based on the Alberta program of studies.  For the complete Program of Studies, please see the following government website:

http://www.learnalberta.ca/ProgramsOfStudy.aspx?lang=en

                                                 Tentative Outline

September - January

Speaking, Listening and Group Work – students will build skills in these areas that are necessary for future projects and assignments 

Creativity project - An introductory project that will focus on writing and representing a passion of each student

Word Work – variety of tasks and games that help students become more fluent with grammar, vocabulary and spelling

Guided reading - students will participate in small group reading groups with a comprehension strategy focus 

Research for persuasive essay – review and introduction of research skills including question creation, data-collection, note taking, organization and reporting

February – June

Story-telling/Creating Original text – learning the elements of a story and how to develop them.  This includes main and supporting characters, rising action, suspense, flashback, foreshadowing and formatting

Debate – developing a sense of different perspectives and how media influences this, culminating with a class debate on a current event issue

Media project – looking at a variety of media and analyzing the usefulness, effectiveness and limitations of each

Throughout the year there will also be a focus on presenting ideas and collaborating respectfully with other.

*This timeline is tentative and flexible depending upon the needs of the students, availability of resources, and time constraints.

 

Evaluation/Assessment

Learner Outcomes:

o Reads to explore, construct, and extend understanding

o Writes to develop, organize, and express information and ideas

o Manages and evaluates information and ideas

o Constructs meaning and makes connections through speaking

o Constructs meaning and makes connections through listening

o Represents ideas and creates understanding through a variety of media

Students will be assessed using both formative and summative tasks based on the learner outcomes that will appear on the report card. Formative assessment may include observations, conversations, a variety of learning proofs including written assignments, student reflections, portfolios, digital images of student work, audio and visual recordings.  Summative assessments are culminating tasks and activities independently undertaken by the student to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of a curricular outcome.  These tasks may include quizzes, unit tests, final projects, and in-class assignments. 

Report Card Indicator Scale:

4 – Excellent: The student has demonstrated excellent achievement of grade level expectations.

3 – Good: The student has demonstrated good achievement of grade level expectations.

2 – Basic: The student has demonstrated basic achievement of grade level expectations.

1 – Not Meeting: The student is not meeting grade level expectations.

Assessment will be based on projects; tests and quizzes of basic skills; descriptive, narrative, persuasive, and expository writing; presentations and discussions; comprehension activities; and fulfillment of your reading contract.  Major pieces of writing will still be evaluated using the government scale.

Materials

For this a soft binder is most preferable and effective to help students keep organized. Students will be provided with a notebook. Other supplies (rulers, scissors, glue, felts, paper) will be shared communally in the class as needed.

Parent/Teacher Communication:

I will regularly post information regarding topics of study, assignments and projects on the classroom website. To access the classroom website, please visit the Elboya school website, click on Elboya VLC and choose the students grade and teacher.  The students will be shown how to access this in class. Parents are invited to communicate with me by email or phone calls.  My preferred method of communication is by email and am also available to meet with you by appointment should you have concerns.