The language arts program reflects the belief that the curriculum should integrate all areas of the language arts, including reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing. The curriculum is designed to build upon and extend the language arts skills and strategies taught in the elementary grades. In addition, the program has been developed to meet the needs of heterogeneously grouped, early adolescent students.
The program for sixth, seventh and eighth graders is literature based. The students read a wide variety of classic and modern literature, including biographies, short stories, plays, poems and essays. The readings include literature representing many different cultures and time periods.
Sixth graders read a wide variety of novels as part of a separate reading class (see description below). A description of that program can be found in the Curriculum Guide for Parents for Grade 6 Reading. The general theme "differences" is a common thread in the seventh grade novels. The core program includes the novels Tom Sawyer (Twain), Journey to Jo'burg (Naidod), and The Sign of the Chrysanthemum (Patterson). The eighth grade selections often relate to the theme "belonging" and include the novels The Light in the Forest (Richter), The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Avi), and the play, The Diary of Anne Frank. Independent reading is an important component of the program in all three grades.
A process writing approach is used to teach a wide variety of writing styles and skills. Much of the writing is done in response to the students' reading and includes reading response sheets and journals. In the sixth and seventh grade, persuasive writing is emphasized. Students write several formal pieces in response to prepared prompts. The papers must include an introduction, a conclusion, and a body of at least three paragraphs. Skills which are emphasized include focus, organization, awareness of audience, and elaboration.
Eighth graders write a variety of expository papers in response to literature.
Emphasis is placed 
on
comparison/contrast techniques, character interpretation, relating concepts
in literature to societal and personal experience, and understanding motivation
and point of view. In all grades, students experiment with writing poetry.
At times, students engage in "free writing" in a writing workshop
setting.
The teaching of grammar, spelling and vocabulary is integrated with the teaching of literature and writing. Editing skills are emphasized in the process writing lessons. Students also use a "high utility" list for spelling and vocabulary.
Students have varied opportunities to practice their listening, speaking, and critical viewing skills. There is a natural progression from seventh to eighth grade in terms of the difficulty of the material and the level of sophistication of the skills and strategies taught.
The following key concepts and skills are covered in the language arts curriculum:
1. Students will use comprehension strategies to help them think, process, and understand as they read.
2. Students will analyze, elaborate, and respond critically to reading selections.
3. Students will understand and use the elements of fiction and nonfiction to aid comprehension.
4. Students will use a variety of reference materials.
5. Students will develop vocabulary for reading and writing.
6. Students will identify or infer information in response to a listening or viewing activity.
7. Students will use speaking skills effectively.
8. Students will use process writing techniques to produce a variety of narrative and expository writing pieces. Persuasive writing is the focus for 6th and 7th grade. Writing in response to literature is the emphasis in 8th grade.
9. Spelling and grammar are integrated with reading and writing programs.
The major resources used in the language arts program include:
Literature and Language McDougal Littell Vocabulary from Classical Roots Warriner's English Grammar and Composition Harcourt Brace Quickword Handbook for Practical Writers Novels and plays.
In grade six the novels, The Cay, The Big Wave, Call It Courage, Number the Stars, Maniac McGee, Nothing But the Truth, and Sixth Grade Will Really Kill You are a required part of the instructional program in reading. Two optional novels may also be included.
These novels represent a wide variety of cultures, time periods, and themes. Many different instructional techniques are used, including individual, small group, and whole class activities. The goal of the program is to reinforce reading skills and strategies to ensure that each student will:
- prepare for reading using previewing, recall of prior knowledge, setting purpose, and predicting.
- determine and use an appropriate strategy for a particular reading task.
- monitor comprehension and self-correct for meaning during and after reading.
- identify and use elements of fiction and non-fiction to aid comprehension, such as character traits and goals, plot, relationships, main idea, details.
- use common organizational patterns like story maps or graphic organizers, to aid comprehension.
- interpret information to aid comprehension during and after reading, like predicting outcomes, summarizing, making inferences.
- analyze, elaborate on, or respond critically to written works.
- identify forms of fiction and non-fiction.
- identify literary techniques.
- use a variety of cueing systems to decode new words.
- use context clues to determine the meaning of an unknown word.
- identify word relationships.
- develop vocabulary for reading and writing purposes.
- write in response to reading.