Mrs. DiMartino's
English Class

Mrs. DiMartino teaches 7th & 8th grade English. 

English 7

In English 7, students continue to build on the acquired basic skills in language arts through a wide variety of reading, writing, listening and speaking activities, assignments and projects. Students apply acquired skills to more challenging texts and more sophisticated writing assignments. Students continue practice with text annotation and effective methods of note taking. Attention is focused on composing thesis statements and writing unified multiparagraph expository and analytical essays. Among the core reading pieces currently selected for this course are Once on this River by Sharon Dennis Wyeth, The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter, and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. Students also read short stories, essays, articles and poetry. Students are encouraged to think independently and to use language as a means of self expression as well as method of sharing information. All English 7 students are required to sit for both a mid-term exam administered in January and a final exam given in June.

English 8 is designed to meet the needs of a heterogeneously grouped class in which students represent a wide range of ability levels. The focus is on developing and refining skills students need for success in eighth grade and beyond. Close reading of a variety of texts and expository and creative writing are the centerpieces of the course, the literary vehicles through which the essential sub-skills of language arts and independent learning are developed. The core reading pieces include The Pearl by John Steinbeck, The Giver by Lois Lowery, The Diary of Anne Frank, A Separate Peace by John Knowles and Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers. In addition, students read short stories, essays, articles and poetry and also complete several long range projects. As the year progresses, students are expected to demonstrate increasing levels of individual responsibility and personal organization in anticipation of the demands they will meet in high school. All eighth grade students are required to sit for the New York State English Language Arts Assessment administered in January. The course culminates in a final examination in June.

email me at: sdimartino@pocanticohills.org

BACK

This page was last edited November 12, 2005.