7th grade English Language Arts
13 units matched to the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards. Kids see this subject as “Language Arts”.
Focus areas
- Reading: theme and analysis across texts
- Writing, speaking and listening: research, and argument with evidence and counterclaims
- Language: building vocabulary and using grammar, spelling and punctuation
Units
Unit 1
Literary Devices
Recognizing the tools writers use: figurative language, foreshadowing, flashback, symbolism and the three kinds of irony (verbal, situational and dramatic), plus the parts of a plot.
Benchmark: 7.1.8.1; 7.1.5.1 · figurative language, and how the telling of events builds meaning
Unit 2
Tone & Mood
Telling the writer's attitude (tone) apart from the reader's feeling (mood), and seeing how word choice and connotation shape both.
Benchmark: 7.1.8.2; 7.2.3.2 · how word choice sets tone, and keeping voice and tone consistent
Unit 3
Persuasive Power
Identifying appeals to credibility, emotion and logic; spotting weak reasoning like bandwagon, false cause and slippery slope; and judging which evidence and rebuttals are strongest.
Benchmark: 7.1.7.1; 7.2.4.2 · claims, evidence and sound reasoning in an argument
Unit 4
Clauses & Sentences
Finding independent and dependent clauses, naming the four sentence types, and fixing fragments, run-ons and comma splices, the building blocks of varied, clear sentences.
Benchmark: 7.2.1.3 · phrases, clauses and sentence structure
Unit 5
Modifiers & Parallelism
Revising sentences so describing phrases sit next to what they describe (no misplaced or dangling modifiers) and list items match in form (parallel structure).
Benchmark: 7.2.1.3; 7.2.1.1 · placing modifiers and editing for correct grammar
Unit 6
Word Mix-Ups
Choosing correctly between commonly confused words: its/it's, their/there/they're, then/than, lose/loose, who's/whose, affect/effect, accept/except and more.
Benchmark: 7.2.1.2; 7.2.1.1 · spelling and using commonly confused words
Unit 7
Poetry Lab
Reading short original poems to find rhyme schemes, count stanzas, identify the speaker, recognize forms like haiku, limerick and free verse, and interpret figurative language and theme.
Benchmark: 7.2.6.2; 7.1.5.1 · the structure of poems and other literary forms
Unit 8
Punctuation Power
Using a colon before a quotation, a semicolon with words like however and therefore, and ellipses or dashes to show a pause, an omission or a break.
Benchmark: 7.2.1.1 · colons, semicolons, ellipses and other punctuation
Unit 9
Whose Story?
Telling first, second and third person apart, finding the clues, and imagining how a different narrator would change the story.
Benchmark: 7.1.6.1; 7.2.6.1 · how an author develops point of view, and narrator perspective
Unit 10
Roots & Word Parts
Children work out the meaning and spelling of new words from their roots, prefixes and suffixes, and meet figures of speech.
Benchmark: 7.2.1.2; 7.1.8.2 · word study in spelling and reading academic words
Unit 11
Research Skills
Children practice primary and secondary sources, conflicts of interest, focused searches, checking AI answers and online images, quoting, paraphrasing and citing.
Benchmark: 7.2.7.2; 7.2.8.1 · research from many sources, and quoting, paraphrasing and citing them
Unit 12
Framing the Message
Children look at how headlines, graphs, camera angles, loaded words and sponsored posts shape a message, and how a reader's community and feelings affect their reaction.
Benchmark: 7.1.5.3; 7.1.8.2 · how images, headlines and word choice shape meaning
Unit 13
Spelling: Prefixes and Patterns
Children practice US spelling: -cede, -ceed and -sede, prefixes and suffixes that create double letters, -able and -ible, irregular plurals and commonly misspelled words.
Benchmark: 7.2.1.2 · spelling patterns and rules
Ready to try Gradelings?
Curriculum-matched practice for Kindergarten to Grade 9 in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Nunavut, and in Washington, Oregon, California, New York, Texas, Maine, Minnesota, Alaska, Alabama, Arizona and Arkansas, with kind hints, learning games and no ads. Subscribe now, or try everything free for 30 days with no card.