Walk into any of our 8th Grade ELA classrooms and you will most likely find our students in conferences with teachers or building reading stamina through Self-Selected Independent Reading. Student-Teacher conferences are the norm here and our teachers know this is a great way to connect with our students personally and intellectually. (use translation feature)

This is a time for all students to peruse and read books independently at their personalized reading level. The goal of self-selected reading is to create an authentic opportunity for students to see themselves as competent and engaged readers. (use translation)

Self-selected Independent Reading time may include:

mini-lessons

• adapted to the classroom's reading needs and aligned with the grade level standards

conferencing

• the teacher conferences with individual students to observe and provide support so that students can grow in their independent reading.

student choice

• students are free to choose what they read and are encouraged to apply what they are learning in class to their independent reading novels.

teacher read-alouds

• From a whole class novel, selected informational text paired to the novel, a passage or other text, to model fluency and demonstrate "think alouds". Often, Higher level questioning is embedded in the read-aloud and students are offered opportunities to engage in classroom discussions centered on these questions.

Our 6th graders have started "diving" into the Adventure Genre Unit. Students will be given the opportunity to experience an Adventure novel during the shared reading portion of class time and engage in activities that develop each students' understanding of plot, figurative language, grade level and academic vocabulary, as well as writing skills. They will be expected to select an Adventure book of their own to read and compare against the novel they are reading in class. By the end of the unit, students should be able to write their own adventure story that demonstrates understanding of the Adventure Genre as well as elements of plot and literature.

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Our 7th graders have started Quarter 3 with our annual Genre Unit. They are exploring the elements of mysteries while reading a Mystery Novel in class. The unit of study will invite them to engage in activities that develop each students' understanding of plot, figurative language, grade level/academic vocabulary, as well as strengthen writing skills. They will also be expected to select a Mystery book to read and compare against the novel they are reading in class. By the end of the unit, students will be able to write a mystery story that demonstrates understanding of the Mystery Genre as well as elements of plot and literature. (use translation)

After reading the Core Novel, have students write down 1 Takeway they have from the reading. Then have them locate three quotes from the reading that supports their takeaway. They can explain how the quotes support the takeaway as well. (Adapted from GADoe.org)

Visit their site for more suggestions and adaptations. (use translation)

Our students are experts on synergizing. ELA students in both 6th and 7th grade enjoy working collaboratively. Learning from one another is a great way to build relationships, increase confidence and boost background knowledge. use translation