All 7th grade students in the state of California are responsible for learning five types of writing. The following is a list of the required writing applications as mandated by the state of California.
Writing Applications 2.0
2.1 Write Fictional or Autobiographical Narratives
2.2 Write Responses to Literature
2.3 Write Research Reports
2.4 Write Persuasive Compositions
2.5 Write Summaries of Reading Materials
On Team Aloha, we take writing seriously and have put together a comprehensive writing program to make sure that our students write in all five of these areas across the disciplines. This page is dedicated to the projects that we will be completing on Team Aloha throughout the year.
The Projects
2.1 Write Fictional or Autobiographical Narratives
The Short Story Project - English Class
The focus of this project is to make sure that the students understand the structure of a short story by examining a plot map and then creating a story that is focused around a protagonist overcoming one central conflict.
2.2 Write Responses to Literature
The Arroyo Seco 7th Grade Writing Project - English Class
The focus of this essay is to get students familiar with a Jane Shaffer writing method. Students must clearly define a theme within a piece of literature, and then find support within the literature to back it up. Students will also be introduced to summary writing at this point.
2.3 Write Research Reports
Middle Ages Research Project - History Class
The focus of this project is to get the students comfortable using the library as a source for information, learning how to take useful notes, and finally creating a project with the information that they have found.
2.4 Write Persuasive Compositions
The Stargirl Persuasive Essay - English Class
The Persuasive Essay and Speech Project - English Class
The purpose of these two essays it to learn how to write a five paragraph essay with an opening paragraph (with thesis), three supporting paragraphs (the body), and a conclusion.
2.5 Write Summaries of Reading Materials
The Summary Writing Project - English Class
The students are first introduced to summary writing in the first paragraph of the Response to Literature Project. We continue working with this skill in this summary writing assignment.
The Jane Shaffer Writing Method
Human Body Systems Paperfold Project - Science Class
Cells Writing Prompt - Science Class
The Reformation Essay - History Class
The Response to Literature Project - English Class
The purpose of the Jane Shaffer Writing Method is to understand what a thesis sentence looks like, what makes up a topic sentence, and how to write commentary and concrete details. Even though the structure of each essay may differ, the elements of a Jane Shaffer essay are all similar.