• Grade Level: 6 - Sixth Grade English Language Arts

    Unit 1: Facing Fear- In this unit, students will explore how people experience fear and how fear affects the brain and the body.

    Anchor Texts

    • Hatchet. Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet. Simon & Schuster, 2008.

    • “The Ravine” by Graham Salisbury

    • “Fine?” by Margaret Peterson Haddix

     

    Unit 2: Dealing with Disaster- In this unit, students will discover how people react in the face of disaster.

    Anchor Texts

    • “The Banana Tree” by James Berry

    • “Mammoth Shakes, Monster Waves” by Brenda Guiberson

     

    Unit 3: Making Your Mark- In this unit, students will explore the many ways people express their ideas–and themselves, as well as the outcome.

    Anchor Texts

    • The Watsons Go To Birmingham- 1963. Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963. New York, Scholastic Inc, 1995. 

    • “Sweet, Difficult Sounds” by I.M. Desta

    • “Before Rosa Parks, There was Claudette Colvin” by Margot Adler

     

    Unit 4: Lesson Learned- In this unit, students will explore how and why people make certain choices in their lives and the outcome of those decisions.

    Anchor Texts

    • Crash, Spinelli, Jerry. Crash. Random House, 2004.

    • “Inside Out” by Francisco Jimenez 

    • “Laura’s Key” by Anne-Marie Reidy

     

    Unit 5: Animal Intelligence- In this unit, students will explore various perspectives on the intelligence of animals.

    Anchor Texts

    • “The Mixer” by P.G. Wodehouse

    • “How Smart Are Animals” by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

     

    Grade Level: 7 - Seventh Grade English Language Arts

    Unit 1: Courage for Change- In this unit, students will explore what it means to face challenges fearlessly, even if it means failing in the attempt for change. 

    Anchor Texts

    • “After Twenty Years” by O. Henry

    • “Amigo Brothers” by Piri Thomas

    • “Malala’s Address to the United Nations, 2013” by Malala Yousefzai 

    • “Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott” by USHistory.org

    • “If” by Rudyard Kipling

    • “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson

     

    Unit 2: Perception vs. Reality- In this unit, students will explore how things in life are not always how we perceive them to be. 

    Anchor Texts

    • “Autumntime” by Anthony Lentini

    • “Charles” by Shirley Jackson

    • “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick” by Chris Van Allsburg

    • “Sorry, Wrong Number” by Lucille Fletcher

    • “Truth” by Nikki Grimes

     

    Unit 3: Outside Looking In- In this unit, students will explore what it means to be an outsider, and if, perhaps, we are more alike than different.

    Anchor Texts

    • The Outsiders

    Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. Penguin Books, 1967.

    • “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost

     

    Unit 4: Guided By a Cause- In this unit, students will consider the questions: What inspires people to take action to improve their world? 

    Anchor Texts

    • excerpt from Uprising

    Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Uprising. New York, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2007

    • “The Story of the Triangle Factory Fire” by Zachary Kent

    • “Chocolate from Children” by Deb Dunn

     

    Unit 5: Greek Mythology- In this unit, students will explore the traditional tales to learn about the values of a specific culture. 

    Anchor Texts

    • D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths

    D'Aulaire, Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire. Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths. New York, Dell, 1992.

     

    Grade Level: 8 - Eighth Grade English Language Arts

    Unit 1: The Search for Identity and Belonging- In this unit, students will explore how people develop their own identities. 

    Anchor Texts

    • The Giver

    Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Laurel Leaf, 1993. 

    • “The Moustache” by Robert Cormier

    • “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara

    • “Bonnee Annee” by Jean-Pierre Benoit 

    • “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Duckworth

    • “PowWow at the End of the World” by Sherman Alexie

    • “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

    • “I’m Nobody, Who Are You?” by Emily Dickinson

     

    Unit 2: The Fascination with Horror- In this unit, students will examine why the horror genre both terrifies and fascinates.

    Anchor Texts

    • Coraline

    Gaiman, Neil. Coraline. New York :Harper Perennial, 2006.

    • “TheTell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe

    • “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl

    • “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs

    • “Why is it fun to be frightened?” by Margie Kerr

    • “What is the horror genre” by Sharon A. Russell

    • excerpt from Macbeth: Act 4, scene 1 by William Shakespeare

     

    Unit 3: The Struggle for Freedom and Equality- In this unit, students will focus on the quest for freedom that led to the American Civil War.

    Anchor Texts

    • Chasing Lincoln’s Killer

    Swanson, James L. Chasing Lincoln's Killer Scholastic Press, 2009.

    • excerpt from Autobiography of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

    Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Dover Publications, 1995.

    • “The Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln

    • “The Scottsboro Boys” by Jessica McBirney

    • “Plessy v. Ferguson” by Jessica McBirney

    • “An Overview of the Great Depression” by Jessica McBirney

     

    Unit 4: The Enduring Legacy of the Holocaust- In this unit, students will learn about the lasting impact of the Holocaust. 

    Anchor Texts

    • “Who Was Anne Frank?” by Ann Abramson

    • “Death Marches in the Holocaust” by The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

    • “Anti-Jewish Legislation in Prewar Germany” by The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum