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Course Standards
General Course Information and Notes
Version Description
The purpose of this course is to increase reading fluency and endurance through advanced integrated experiences in the language arts. This course incorporates reading and analysis of literary and informational selections to develop critical and close reading skills. At the end of 6th grade students are expected to read and comprehend texts in the 6-8 grade complexity band proficiently and read texts at the high end of the band with support.General Notes
Honors and Advanced Level Course Note: Advanced courses require a greater demand on students through increased academic rigor. Academic rigor is obtained through the application, analysis, evaluation, and creation of complex ideas that are often abstract and multi-faceted. Students are challenged to think and collaborate critically on the content they are learning. Honors level rigor will be achieved by increasing text complexity through text selection, focus on high-level qualitative measures, and complexity of task. Instruction will be structured to give students a deeper understanding of conceptual themes and organization within and across disciplines. Academic rigor is more than simply assigning to students a greater quantity of work.
Important Note: Reading and writing courses should not be used in place of English language arts courses; reading and writing courses are intended to be used to supplement further study in English language arts.
General Notes:
The content should include, but not be limited to, the following:
- demonstrating successful reading of argument, including recognizing bias and supporting details;
- demonstrating successful reading of fact and opinion, including recognizing inferences and main ideas;
- demonstrating successful reading of high-quality literature, including the use of text craft and literary effects to develop theme and tone;
- demonstrating knowledge of a variety of organizational patterns and their relationships in the comprehension of text, including recognizing purpose and tone of informational reading;
- demonstrating successful understanding of academic vocabulary and vocabulary in context;
- integrating reading and writing, including extensive written responses to print and digital text;
- using effective listening, speaking, and viewing strategies with emphasis on the use of evidence to support or refute a claim in multimedia presentations, class discussions, and extended text discussions;
- collaborating extensively amongst peers.
Special Notes:
Instructional Practices: Teaching from well-written, grade-level instructional materials enhances students’ content area knowledge and also strengthens their ability to comprehend longer, complex reading passages on any topic for any purpose. Using the following instructional practices also helps student learning.
- Reading assignments from longer text passages, as well as shorter ones when text is extremely complex.
- Making close reading and rereading of texts central to lessons.
- Asking high-level, text-specific questions and requiring high-level, complex tasks and assignments.
- Requiring students to support answers with evidence from the text.
- Providing extensive text-based research and writing opportunities (claims and evidence).
The College and Career Readiness (CCR) anchor standards and grade-specific standards are necessary complements—the former providing broad standards, the latter providing additional specificity—that together define the skills and understandings that all students must demonstrate at each grade level. Students advancing through the grades are expected to meet each succeeding year’s grade specific benchmarks, retain or further develop skills and understandings mastered in preceding grades, and work steadily toward meeting the more general expectations described by the CCR anchor standards.
English Language Development ELD Standards Special Notes Section:
Teachers are required to provide listening, speaking, reading and writing instruction that allows English language learners (ELL) to communicate information, ideas and concepts for academic success in the content area of Language Arts. For the given level of English language proficiency and with visual, graphic, or interactive support, students will interact with grade level words, expressions, sentences and discourse to process or produce language necessary for academic success. The ELD standard should specify a relevant content area concept or topic of study chosen by curriculum developers and teachers which maximizes an ELL’s need for communication and social skills. To access an ELL supporting document which delineates performance definitions and descriptors, please click on the following link: https://cpalmsmediaprod.blob.core.windows.net/uploads/docs/standards/eld/la.pdf
Qualifications
As well as any certification requirements listed on the course description, the following qualifications may also be acceptable for the course:
Any field when certification reflects a bachelor or higher degree plus Reading Endorsement.
General Information
- Class Size Core Required
Educator Certifications
Student Resources
Original Student Tutorials
Learn how to use context clues—including definitions, synonyms, and antonyms—to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words in this baseball-themed, interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore how an author develops the point of view of a narrating character through the incredible story of Melody, a girl who cannot speak. In this interactive tutorial, you'll read excerpts from the award-winning novel Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about Greek and Latin roots (anti, capit, bene, bon, and mal) and 12 modern words that feature those roots. In this interactive tutorial, you'll practice using these words and hopefully add them to your vocabulary!
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about ancient Latin roots — Ante, Post, Scrib, and Script — and practice using twelve modern words connected with these roots to build your vocabulary in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about three roots from ancient Latin and Greek — Per, Seque, and Mis — and practice using twelve modern words connected with these roots to build your vocabulary in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about five roots from ancient Latin and Greek—frag, fract, cret, syn, and sym—and practice using twelve modern words connected with these roots to build your vocabulary in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about 3 Latin roots (Am, Ab, and Ad) and 12 new words that feature those roots. In this interactive tutorial, you'll make some interesting language connections and hopefully add some new words to your vocabulary!
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In the second part of this 2-part tutorial series, you'll analyze the plot of Cinderella in order to review the parts of the plot diagram.
Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to launch "Understanding Plot: Part One."
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn all about the skill of paraphrasing in this two-part tutorial. You'll learn how to paraphrase effectively as you read about several of the most interesting locations on the planet.
Make sure to complete Planet Paraphrase - Part One before diving into Part Two.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn all about the skill of paraphrasing in this two-part tutorial. You'll learn how to paraphrase effectively as you read about several of the most interesting locations on the planet.
Make sure to complete both parts! Click here to launch Planet Paraphrase - Part Two.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In the first part of this two-part tutorial series, you'll learn about the parts of the plot diagram. In Part Two, you'll use this information to help you analyze the plot of the story of Cinderella.
Make sure to complete both parts of this series. Click HERE to view "Understanding Plot: Part 2."
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how characters' actions and responses develop the main characters and advance the plot during key events in the beginning of the novel Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore the poem “The Twelfth Song of Thunder” from the Navajo Mountain Chant. In this interactive tutorial, you'll examine how a refrain in the poem better develops a theme of the poem.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn 12 new academic vocabulary words in this interactive tutorial! You'll practice the words' synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, and context clues in order to add them to your vocabulary.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost and learn how the poem’s structure develops theme, setting, and plot as you complete this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore the poem "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost and learn about denotation and connotation. In this interactive tutorial, you will examine the impact of word choice on the meaning of a poem.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn 12 new vocabulary words, identify their parts of speech, synonyms, and antonyms, and use them in context with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Use context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words in an informational text about the Revolutionary War in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn 12 new academic vocabulary words using synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, and context clues in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn 12 new academic vocabulary words using synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, and context clues in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Read a story called “A Crooked Election" and learn to describe how the plot of a story unfolds in a series of episodes. In this interactive tutorial, you will also explore how the characters change and evolve throughout the plot of a story.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn more about that dreaded word--plagiarism--in this interactive tutorial that's all about citing your sources and avoiding academic dishonesty!
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Practice identifying themes in poetry and how they're conveyed to readers. In this interactive tutorial, you'll practice identifying the examples of imagery and diction within several classic poems. These include "The Guest House" by Rumi, "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost, and "Take Home a Smile" by Edgar Guest. You'll examine how authors use both imagery and diction to help express their intended theme.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how arguments are formed with claims, reasons, and evidence. In this interactive tutorial, you'll read several short speeches from students hoping to be elected president of the Student Council. We'll trace the claim made by each student and the reasons and evidence they use to support it.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn to evaluate argumentative claims based on evidence with this interactive tutorial. You'll also learn about statistics, facts, expert quotations, and anecdotes, and how each kind of evidence can strengthen an argument.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, you'll study written arguments and claims. You'll examine four specific types of evidence that can be used to support a claim: facts, statistics, anecdotes, and expert quotations.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn to identify and analyze the central idea of an informational text. In this interactive tutorial, you'll read several informational passages about the history of pirates. First, you'll learn the four-step process for pinpointing the central idea. Then you'll analyze each passage to see how the central idea is developed throughout the text.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to determine the meaning of "mysterious" words by analyzing context clues, word roots, prefixes, and suffixes in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to identify an author's purpose and attitude toward a specific topic. In this interactive tutorial, you'll practice identifying the key differences between argumentative and informative writing. You'll also practice determining an author's attitude and beliefs toward a topic using several short informational texts.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how authors of informational texts "hook" readers and introduce information. In this interactive tutorial, you'll learn how authors engage readers by using interesting or unusual information, anecdotes, and quotes.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about the common text structures used in informational texts. In this interactive tutorial, you'll practice identifying these four frequently used text structures: problem/solution, cause and effect, sequence, and compare and contrast. You'll also learn to recognize the signal words that often accompany each type of text structure.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to analyze what a literary text states directly and indirectly. In this tutorial, you will learn how to support conclusions based on what is directly and/or indirectly stated in a text.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn the difference between summarizing a story and describing its theme. In this interactive tutorial, you'll practice summarizing the important details of a fiction text. Then, you'll practice describing the theme of the text in your own words.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Practice identifying the use of similes and metaphors in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Village Blacksmith." In this interactive tutorial, you'll analyze Longfellow's tone and how it's conveyed through the use of similes and metaphors.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn to identify the central idea of an informational text. In this interactive tutorial, you'll read an article about cutting-edge robots. Using this text, you'll practice identifying important details in the article to help determine the central idea.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about 3 Greek and Latin roots (spect, path, and omni) and 12 modern words that feature those roots. In this interactive tutorial, you'll practice using these words and hopefully add them to your vocabulary!
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Tutorials
Use this interactive tutorial to explore how to select print resources for a research assignment. The tutorial demonstrates tips on how to evaluate the author, select images, and use text features to gather information prior to writing. To get started, click on the Go to Demo arrow to learn more about these tips, then select the Try It arrow to download a worksheet that will allow you to use these tips on your own project.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with two words that are commonly misused: whose and who’s. For each practice item, you must type the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen. If you don’t know which word to type, the “I Give Up” button will help you out.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with two words that are commonly misused: its and it’s. For each practice item, you must choose the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with two words that are commonly misused: its and it’s. For each practice item, you must type the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen. If you don’t know which word to type, the “I Give Up” button will help you out.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with two words that are commonly misused: lose and loose. For each practice item, you must choose the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with two words that are commonly misused: lose and loose. For each practice item, you must type the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen. If you don’t know which word to type, the “I Give Up” button will help you out.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with two words that are commonly misused: loss and lost. For each practice item, you must type the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen. If you don’t know which word to type, the “I Give Up” button will help you out.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with two words that are commonly misused: who and whom. For each practice item, you must choose the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with two words that are commonly misused: who and whom. For each practice item, you must type the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen. If you don’t know which word to type, the “I Give Up” button will help you out.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with two words that are commonly misused: whoever and whomever. For each practice item, you must type the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen. If you don’t know which word to type, the “I Give Up” button will help you out.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with three words that are commonly misused: to, too, and two. For each practice item, you must choose the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with three words that are commonly misused: to, too, and two. For each practice item, you must type the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with two irregular verbs that are commonly misused: lie and lay. For each practice item, you must select the correct irregular verb and its appropriate tense to complete a sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are also provided. There's also an explanation of the rules for using these irregular verbs; simply click the hyperlinked word "rules."
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with two words that are commonly misused: whose and who’s. For each practice item, you must choose the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with three words that are commonly misused: their, they’re, and there. For each practice item, you must type the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen. If you don’t know which word to type, the “I Give Up” button will help you out.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice with three words that are commonly misused: their, they’re, and there. For each practice item, you must choose the appropriate word to complete the sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are provided at the top of the screen.
Type: Tutorial
In this tutorial from ReadWriteThink, you will learn about the hero's journey, an ancient story pattern that can be found in texts from thousands of years ago to newly released Hollywood blockbusters. This interactive tool will provide you with the background of the hero's journey and give you a chance to explore several of the journey's key elements. Also, you can use the tool to record examples from a hero's journey you have read or viewed or to plan out a hero's journey of your own.
Type: Tutorial
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