Seventh Grade

Learning Objectives

• To develop his/her analytical reading practices
• To analyze theme and the interaction of literary elements including conflict, setting, symbolism, and figurative language
• How literary nonfiction informs readers about a topic in an entertaining and interesting way
• About the art of memoir
• How to take task, purpose and audience into consideration when writing to a prompt

Students will:

• Get to know him/herself as a reader and a writer and set reading and writing goals
• Participate in class discussions and book clubs
• Keep a reader’s and writer’s notebook
• Study mentor text (a published piece of writing) to understand the writing he/she is expected to do
• Immerse him/herself in reading and understanding the scope of literary nonfiction
• Analyze various genres and styles of nonfiction and literary texts (literary nonfiction, novels)
• Write a wide variety of texts including literary analysis, memoir, prompted and letter essays
• Share his/her letter essays electronically
• Submit a letter essay to The Massachusetts Letters about Literature competition

In Grade 7, instructional time should focus on four critical areas:

• developing understanding of and applying proportional relationships;
• developing understanding of operations with rational numbers and working with expressions and linear equations;
• solving problems involving scale drawings and informal geometric constructions, and working with two- and three-dimensional shapes to solve problems involving area, surface area, and volume; and
• drawing inferences about populations based on samples.

Visit the District Math Department website to learn more >>

In 2019-2020, new/revised units will be rolled in our 7th grade classrooms. As with all new units districtwide that will be rolled out in the future, these units are driven by engaging phenomena that spark student questions and interest. Students are using science and engineering practices to figure out the phenomena as they build their understanding individually and with each other using all forms of literacy (reading, writing, talking and listening). Literacy connections are built into the units, as well as engineering and connections to professional scientists. Learn more >>

Seventh grade students in the Cambridge Public Schools explore World History, Philosophy, and Religion. At the end of the seventh grade, students will be able to:

• Describe the contributions of a range of civilizations, including Rome, Islamic civilizations, West Africa, India and China.
• Explain the impact of religion and philosophy on history and culture.
• Analyze primary and secondary sources to understand the author’s purpose.
• Write essays with clear arguments and ample historical evidence.
• Conduct historical research projects that draw on several sources.

Units of Study	Year-long Essential Questions
Ancient Israel and Judaism	What do we believe and why? Why should we learn people’s stories? How do our beliefs shape our actions?
Ancient Rome, Byzantine Empire and Christianity
Islam to 1500
West Africa and the Swahili Coast
Indian Civilizations, Hinduism and Buddhism
Chinese Civilizations, Confucianism, Legalism and Daoism

All seventh grade students complete a range of Common Core-aligned writing assessments, including at least two Document Based Questions (DBQs) and a three to five page research paper with multiple sources and MLA citations.

Learning Objectives

• The content of the first half of a level 1 program of study— building on the concepts learned in grade 6
• An in-depth study about the use of articles, adjectives, verbs, negative expressions, and idiomatic phrases;
• Short dialogues in context situations;
• Oral and written communication skills in the target language
• Computer links and internet sites for audio/oral practice;
• Thematic units concerning family, school, travel, hobbies, food, and restaurants.

Students will:

• Collaborate and communicate with classmates and the teacher in the target language;
• Create projects that integrate the study of grammar and vocabulary into oral presentations;
• Work in groups and in pairs to practice the language structures and vocabulary;
• Prepare dialogues and make oral presentations with the content provided by the teacher;
• Play games and use computer websites to practice the language;
• Access and use proficiently computer technology to research data about oral and written projects.

View Madame Kratzig's Website >>