Seventh Grade Program

Following the N.C. Standard Course of Study for English Language Arts, seventh graders develop skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language through experience with print and digital resources. Students read a wide range of text, varying in levels of sophistication and purpose. Through print and non-print text, they increase comprehension strategies, vocabulary, as well as high order thinking skills. They read a balance of short and long fiction, drama, poetry, and informational text such as memoirs, articles, and essays and apply skills such as citing textual evidence, analyzing points of view and presentation, and examining how parts of the text affect the whole. Experience with a variety of text types and text complexity helps students develop a knowledge-based essential for recognizing and understanding allusions.

Students learn about the writing-reading connection by drawing upon and writing about evidence from literary and informational texts. Writing skills, such as the ability to plan, revise, edit, and publish, develop as students practice skills of specific writing types such as arguments, informative/explanatory texts, and narratives. Guided by rubrics, students write for a variety of purposes and audiences. Seventh graders also conduct short research projects drawing on and citing several sources appropriately.

They hone skills of flexible communication and collaboration as they learn to work together, express and listen carefully to ideas, integrate information and use media and visual displays to help communicate ideas. Students learn language conventions and vocabulary to help them understand and analyze words and phrases, relationships among words, and nuances that affect the text they read, write, and hear. Students are encouraged to engage in daily independent reading to practice their skills and pursue their interests.

The N.C. Standard Course of Study for Mathematics consists of two types of standards -- Standards for Mathematical Practice that span K-12 and Standards for Mathematical Content specific to each course. The Standards for Mathematical Practice rest on important “processes and proficiencies” with longstanding importance in mathematics education. They describe the characteristics and habits of mind that all students who are mathematically proficient should be able to exhibit. The eight Standards for Mathematical Practice are:

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
• Model with mathematics.
• Use appropriate tools strategically.
• Attend to precision.
• Look for and make use of structure.
• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

The Standards for Mathematical Content in Grades 6 – 8 are organized under domains: The Number System, Ratios and Proportional Relationships, Functions, Expressions and Equations, Geometry, and Statistics and Probability.

Math 7

The foci of Math 7 are outlined below by domain.

• Ratios and Proportional Relationships: Analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real world and mathematical problems.
• The Number System: Apply and extend previous understandings of operations with fractions to add, subtract, multiply, and divide rational numbers.
  Expressions and Equations: Use properties of operations to generate equivalent expressions; solve real-life and mathematical problems using numerical and algebraic expressions and equations.
• Geometry: Draw, construct and describe geometrical figures and describe the relationships between them; solve real-life and mathematical problems involving angle measure, area, surface area, and volume.
• Statistics and Probability: Use random sampling to draw inferences about a population; draw informal comparative inferences about two populations; investigate chance processes and develop, use, and evaluate probability models.

The North Carolina Science Essential Standards were developed with the ultimate goal of assisting students in seeing how science directly relates to their lives and the larger human population. There is a shift of emphasis from content specific objective science to science processes, with a great emphasis on the thinking skills used in problem solving. Student engagement in scientific investigation provides background for understanding the nature of scientific inquiry. In addition, the science process skills necessary for inquiry are acquired through active experience. The process skills support development of reasoning and problem-solving ability and the core of scientific methodologies.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Understand how the cycling of matter (water and gases) in and out of the atmosphere relates to Earth’s atmosphere, weather and climate and the effects of the atmosphere on humans.
• Understand the processes, structures and functions of living organisms that enable them to survive, reproduce and carry out the basic functions of life.
• Understand the relationship of the mechanisms of cellular reproduction, patterns of inheritance and external factors to potential variation among offspring.
• Understand motion, the effects of forces on motion and the graphical representations of motion.
• Understand forms of energy, energy transfer and transformation, and conservation in mechanical systems.

Students in seventh grade will continue to expand upon the knowledge, skills and understanding acquired in the sixth grade examination of early civilizations. Seventh graders study the world from the Age of Exploration to contemporary times in order to understand the implications of increased global interactions. The focus will remain on the discipline of geography by using the themes of location, place, movement, human-environmental interaction and region to understand modern societies and regions. This course will guide students through patterns of change and continuity with a focus on conflict and cooperation, economic development, population shifts, political thought and 15 organization, cultural values and beliefs and the impact of environment over time. Through an investigation of the various factors that shaped the development of societies and regions in the modern world and global interactions, students will examine both similarities and differences. A conscious effort will be made to include an integrated study of various societies and regions from every continent (Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and Australia).

Healthful Living is required for all 7th grade students and includes health education and physical education. These two courses complement each other as students learn how to be healthy and physically active for a lifetime. Because our health and physical fitness needs are so different from a generation ago, the nature of healthful living is changing. Poor health choices (i.e., use of alcohol and other drugs, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity) now account for more than 50% of the preventable deaths in the United States.

Through a quality healthful living education program, students will learn the importance of health and physical activity and develop skills to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Students will learn how to apply the concepts of proper exercise in their daily lives, discover ways to handle stress, avoid harmful and illegal drugs, learn about the relationship between nutrition and weight management, develop healthy interpersonal relationships (including conflict resolution skills), develop teamwork and character-building skills, and learn how to achieve positive health and fitness goals.

In seventh grade, students will appraise their own health status, apply communication and stress management skills to prevent serious health risks, employ a variety of injury prevention techniques, understand the dietary guidelines, learn about the benefits of abstinence until marriage and the risks of premarital sexual intercourse, comprehend negative media messages, and demonstrate refusal skills related to peer pressure. Students will understand the risks associated with the use of alcohol and other drugs. In addition, students will learn how to encourage others not to engage in risky behaviors. Students will establish personal fitness goals and participate in social dance, small-sided games, and demonstrate advanced movement/skill sequences. Students will display appreciation toward the varying skill levels of teammates while enjoying the many benefits of physical activity.

Because of the nature of health education, discussion may include sensitive topics. By contacting the school’s teacher and principal, parents may request to view taught curriculum. Additionally, parents may request in writing that their child be excluded from certain health topics owing to personal/religious beliefs.