7th grade English Language Arts
20 units matched to the New York State Learning Standards. Kids see this subject as “Language Arts”.
Focus areas
- Reading: literary devices, tone and mood, poetry and point of view
- Writing: research with primary and secondary sources, quoting and citing
- Speaking and listening: persuasive appeals and how media frame a message
- Language: clauses, modifiers, punctuation and commonly confused words
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.
Learning standard: 7R3; 7R5 · irony, foreshadowing and symbolism
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.
Learning standard: 7R4; 7L5 · tone and mood
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.
Learning standard: 7R8; 7SL3; 7W1 · persuasive appeals and logical fallacies
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.
Learning standard: 7L1 · simple, compound and complex sentences
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).
Learning standard: 7L1 · placing modifiers and keeping sentences parallel
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.
Learning standard: 7L2; 7L3 · 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.
Learning standard: 7R5 · poetic forms, stanzas and speakers
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.
Learning standard: 7L2 · colons, conjunctive adverbs and ellipses
Unit 9
Whose Story?
Telling first, second and third person apart, finding the clues, and imagining how a different narrator would change the story.
Learning standard: 7R6 · first, second and third person
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.
Learning standard: 7L4; 7L6 · Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes
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.
Learning standard: 7W6; 7W7 · primary and secondary sources, focused searches, quoting and citing
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.
Learning standard: 7R4; 7SL2 · how headlines, images and word choice frame a message
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.
Learning standard: 7L2 · spelling correctly with prefix, suffix and plural rules
Unit 14
Reading Strategies
Children practice strategies good readers use: drawing on what they know, predicting, connecting, summarizing and reading fluently.
Learning standard: 7R1; 7R2 · predicting from evidence in the text, making connections and summarizing
Unit 15
Plan & Organize Writing
Children practice the steps before and while drafting: choosing a focused topic, planning tools, choosing a text form for the audience, and organizing ideas in a clear pattern.
Learning standard: 7W2 · planning tools, text forms and patterns for organizing writing
Unit 16
Word Choice & Voice
Children practice choosing precise, descriptive and subject-specific words, and matching tone, sentence style and personal voice to the audience and purpose.
Learning standard: 7L6; 7SL6 · precise and subject-specific words, voice and formal or informal tone
Unit 17
Posters & Presentations
Children think about layout, visuals and sound that support a message, and how to organize a presentation with an introduction, body and conclusion.
Learning standard: 7SL4; 7SL5 · organizing a talk and designing slides and posters
Unit 18
Listening & Discussion
Children practice skills for classroom talk: paraphrasing, asking and clarifying, respectful non-verbal cues, and matching language and tone to the audience.
Learning standard: 7SL1 · listening, paraphrasing and disagreeing respectfully in discussions
Unit 19
Texts, Versions and Judging Quality
Your child compares a written text with its film, audio, staged or digital version and the techniques each uses, chooses fair criteria to judge the quality of stories, poems and articles, and connects texts across eras and cultures.
Learning standard: 7R7; 7R9 · comparing a written text with its audio, filmed, staged or digital versions, judging quality with criteria and connecting texts
Unit 20
Stories, Responses and Evidence
Your child chooses narrative techniques (openings, dialogue, pacing, flashback, foreshadowing, reflective endings), creative responses such as monologues and scripts, and evidence that supports analysis, reflection and research.
Learning standard: 7W3; 7W4; 7W5 · narrative technique, creative responses to texts, and drawing evidence for analysis, reflection and research
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