READING & ELA
WONDERS CURRICULUM
Wonders is a comprehensive literacy solution which is designed to meet the challenges of today’s classroom and reach all learners. This is the main resource used in the Reading/ELA classroom during times when there is no focused literary unit. Wonders provides a wealth of research-based print and digital resources to provide unmatched support for building strong literacy foundations, accessing complex fiction and nonfiction texts, writing to sources, and building social emotional learning skills. Whether in the core classroom, an English language learner, or benefiting from intervention support, Wonders provides students equity of access to rich texts and rigorous instruction.
NOVEL: THE GIVER
The Giver by Lois Lowry was our first novel study of the school year and our introduction to the dystopian fiction genre which has become a class favorite. The Giver is a story of a brilliant boy named Jonas who happens to live in a society that is being controlled by the rules and tradition of The Elders. Through his wisdom and mannerism, Jonas is selected as the Receiver of Memory, a post that distinguishes him from others and gives him authority. This beautiful story gives a glimpse of a world in which the attempt to eliminate human problems such as pain and fear ultimately leads to a society lacking in emotion and individuality.
SHORT STORY UNIT
In this comprehensive short story unit, students' learning focus was on a variety of important literary terms and elements and how these elements are used uniquely in the format of short stories. Students were split into groups to read, annotate, and analyze a short story and present before the class the literary elements used.
Short stories presented by groups included:
"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson
"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury
"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs
"The Lady or the Tiger" by Frank Stockton
"The Bet" by Anton Chekhov
"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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Other short stories read in class during this unit:
"Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" by Jack Finney
"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury
"A Visit of Charity" by Eudora Welty
"Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl
"Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros
"To Build a Fire" by Jack London
"Marigolds" by Eugenia Collier
"The Scholarship Jacket" by Marta Salinas
"Tobermory" by Saki
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NOVEL: Z FOR ZACHARIAH
In keeping with our class's enjoyment of dystopian literature, this post-apocalyptic novel was our second book study of the school year. Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien tells the story of Ann Burden, a teenage girl who believes she is the last survivor of a nuclear war. Since her family's disappearance on a search expedition, she has lived alone on her farm in a small valley spared from radiation poisoning. A year after the war, a stranger in a radiation-proof suit approaches her valley. With the introduction of this stranger, Ann slowly realizes that perhaps being alone isn't the worst thing after all. This is a tale of survival, one in which the reader is asked to question how they would handle similar circumstances. The culminating project for this novel unit was a survival essay in which students described their own attempts at survival in an apocalyptic setting.
NOVEL: THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne is a fictional Holocaust story that serves as a fable. This novel offered a slightly different perspective from the haunting stories of the Holocaust the students studied with Ms. Scott. In this story, through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences. This story gave us the opportunity to examine some of the most urgent underlying questions related to the Holocaust, particularly the question of how such things could ever take place and why even good people could do little to stop it.