In seventh grade we strive to support students to be successful in a safe and encouraging academic environment where failure is not an option.

Seventh Grade Curriculum

Religion
Students learn about God’s love through classroom experiences, weekly attendance at Mass, daily prayer and using our Be My Disciples religion program and student materials.  The curriculum focuses on the New Testament including the Good News of Jesus, Proclaiming the Gospel and The Revelation of God.  We participate in Christian Service continually throughout the year including assisting with the biweekly prayer service at Healthsource, making cards for our elderly shut-ins and participating in food drives.

Language Arts
Many areas will be covered and students will learn how to do the following:
Reading Genres

• Analyze the kinds of genres such as mystery, poetry, memoir, drama, myths and legends
• Analyze non-fiction texts such as persuasive essays, brochure, personal correspondence, autobiography and biography
• Narrative/information text

Comprehension

• Use their own experiences to help understand new ideas and connect to ideas in texts
• Recall and summarize the main idea(s) and details for narrative and informational text
• Remember and use what has been read from other subject areas such as Science, Social Studies and Math
• Recognize when having difficulty understanding while reading, writing, and listening and use strategies to improve comprehension such as predicting, rereading, asking questions, summarizing and making a mental picture

Writing Genres/Writing Process

• Use the writing process to produce narratives, expository, research to support ideas, argumentative dialog
• Follow the writing process, relying heavily on editing and revising skills to publish 4 to 5 high quality pieces of writing
• Introduction to the MLA format

Grammar and Usage

• Write complete sentences using correct grammatical structure and conventions
• Write neatly in all compositions

Vocabulary/Word Recognition

• Identify and understand unknown words by using reading strategies
• Fluently read beginning grade level text and more difficult texts as the year progresses

Textbooks 

• Literature text - Adventures for Readers I, Harcourt
• Class Novels - The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank, The Outsiders, S.E.Hinton
• Writing text - Write Source, Houghton Mifflin    

Math
The Seventh Grade Pre-Algebra curriculum contains several chapters, printable worksheets, tests and quizzes.  The program is aligned with our Diocese Curriculum.  The Accelerated Math program is also used on a weekly basis to monitor student progress throughout the year.

The lessons are organized into several chapters that introduce and cover:
    •    Number Systems
    •    Rational Operations
    •    Number Theory
    •    Ratio, Proportion, and Percent
    •    Rational Numbers
    •    Expressions and Equations
    •    Plane Geometry
    •    Graphing
    •    Linear Relationships
    •    Probability
    •    Data and Statistics

Textbook Used: Glencoe Mathematics, Pre-Algebra

The Seventh Grade also has a competitive Pre-Algebra class.  This class is for advanced students that want to push themselves to learn at a faster pace and go more in-depth into the same topics as the regular Pre-Algebra curriculum.  Math problems from local math competitions, such as; Mathcounts and The Delta Math Competition, will be incorporated into the students learning.  

Textbook Used: Glencoe Mathematics, Pre-Algebra

Science
Seventh grade science is organized into three primary topics that correlate with the latest state standards:  Earth/Space Science, Life science and Physical Science.  In Life Science students cover material on the characteristics of living things, plant and animal cell structure, the characteristics of unicellular and multicellular life, genetics and classification of living organisms.  Physical Science covers chemical and physical changes, atoms and elements, mixtures and solutions, the periodic table, states of matter, gravity, density, heat, energy, the properties of waves and light.  Earth Science includes the water cycle, climate and weather, solar energy, human interactions on the environment and the atmosphere.  All of the topics are taught through differentiated hands-on, individual and small group activities.  Students demonstrate their understanding through experimentation, data analysis and drawing conclusions.

Textbooks and supplements:  Science insights: Exploring Matter & Energy, and Exploring Earth & Space, Glencoe Biology, Holt Science Cells, Heredity and Classification and Discovery Education

Social Studies
The Seventh Grade students focus on the Eastern Hemisphere.  The students learn about the five themes of Geography, and apply it to the Eastern Hemisphere.  The curriculum is aligned with the Michigan Grade Level Content Expectation.

    Topics Include:
    •    Pre-History Era
    •    Fertile Crescent
    •    Ancient Egypt and Nubia
    •    History and Culture of Africa
    •    Regions of Africa
    •    Ancient India
    •    Ancient China
    •    History and Culture of the Middle East
    •    History and Culture of Asia
    •    Australia and the Pacific

Textbooks Used: World Studies: The Ancient World - Prentice Hall and Eastern Hemisphere - Prentice Hall