Skip To Main Content

6-8 English Language Arts

Jump to different grade levels on this page here:

Grade 6 | Grade 7 | Grade 8 

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