Seventh Grade Courses
Reading, Grade Seven Transition College Preparatory (TP)
Seventh grade Transition reading is a year-long college preparatory reading course. Reading literature from various genres, students identify basic story elements, study character development, and identify literary themes. Reading expository selections, students identify main ideas and supporting details, recognize authors' purposes and inferences, and summarize and paraphrase selections. In addition, students increase their reading vocabulary through learning unfamiliar words selected from their reading, through analyzing the structure of words, and through using context clues. Finally, students learn specific reading strategies to improve their independent reading. Students practice and apply these strategies to strengthen the following areas: vocabulary development, reading comprehension, and reading fluency.
Reading, Grade Seven Enriched College Preparatory (EP)
Seventh grade reading is a year-long college preparatory course designed to increase the student's capabilities to translate, integrate, analyze, synthesize, extrapolate, apply, and evaluate encoded information. Reading instruction stresses a variety of literary skills and concepts, such as the development of vocabulary, literary analysis, comprehension, and reading fluency. Through direct instruction, students learn specific strategies to improve their understanding of literary terminology and are able to practice these strategies to increase their overall comprehension. This course enables students to read a diverse selection of literature from various genres and recognize the fundamental elements of a story, study character and theme development, and identify an author's style. The reading course also allows students to expand their ability to read expository selections that focus on the following: identifying main ideas and supporting details, recognizing authors' purposes, forming educated inferences, summarizing and paraphrasing select passages, and varying reading speed.
Eighth Grade Courses
Reading, Grade Eight Transition College Preparatory (TP)
The eighth grade transition reading class is a year-long developmental reading program designed to further skills, strategies, and interest in reading. The year-long course is divided into three segments. Each student takes a semester of CRITICAL READING instruction where selected novels, short stories, and skill books are used to review and strengthen reading skills acquired in seventh grade. Next, SAT PREP is a nine week course designed to introduce students to the verbal section of the SAT I. This class focuses on developing vocabulary, learning strategies for sentence completion, and practicing in the area of critical reading. Last, INDEPENDENT READING is a nine week course designed to enhance and instill an enjoyment of leisure reading beyond the academic requirements of the classroom. All three segments of the eighth grade reading program work together to provide the necessary review of skills, strategies, and vocabulary while developing maximum reading potential.
Reading, Grade Eight Grade Enriched College Preparatory (EP)
The eighth grade prep reading class is a year-long developmental reading program designed to further skills, strategies, and interest in reading. The year-long course is divided into three segments. Each student takes a semester of CRITICAL READING instruction where selected novels, short stories, and skill books are used to review and strengthen reading skills acquired in seventh grade. Next, SAT PREP is a nine week course designed to introduce students to the verbal section of the SAT I. This class focuses on developing vocabulary, learning strategies for sentence completion, and practicing in the area of critical reading. Last, INDEPENDENT READING is a nine week course designed to enhance and instill an enjoyment of leisure reading beyond the academic requirements of the classroom. All three segments of the eighth grade prep program work together to provide the necessary review of skills, strategies, and vocabulary while developing maximum reading potential.
Reading, Grade Eight Honors College Preparatory (HP)
Eighth grade honors reading is an elective, year-long course for selected students designed to develop maximum reading potential. Teacher recommendation, superior grades, standardized test scores, and the ability to complete assignments with minimum supervision, indicate students with the necessary background of academic skills for the accelerated pace of the curriculum.
The objectives of the course are the same as the eighth grade reading class but the skill level of the student permits a greater variety of materials as well as a much faster pace for instruction. Some group selection of reading matter is also incorporated into the curriculum, allowing for individualization according to interests or needs. The essential component of the program is the heavy emphasis placed upon the development and evaluation of the written response(s) of the student(s) to directed analysis of the literature covered.