This course integrates reading, writing, speaking, listening, and the study of vocabulary and grammar in a way that engages today’s learners and supports them in building a broad and diverse set of literacy skills. Students study classic literature as well as more contemporary forms, including media and multimedia products. Writing assignments in semester A focus on narrative and persuasive modes and emphasize the use of reasoning and details to support opinions. Each writing assignment spans several lessons and guides students through a writing process that begins with prewriting and ends by emphasizing one or more aspects of conventions of standard written English. Students also learn how to participate in collaborative discussion and peer review sessions. In each lesson, engaging and relevant models and step-by-step instruction guide students toward mastery and appreciation of 21st-century communication in all its forms and functions.

This research-based course focuses on computational fluency, conceptual understanding, and problem solving. Students will learn addition and subtraction with fractions and decimals and then will use multiplication and division to solve problems involving numbers up to the thousands place. Students will learn the names of various addition and multiplication properties. Students will be introduced to formal geometry by learning various terms and how to measure an angle. Students will also start to learn algebraic ideas including the idea of a variable and how to use it to solve problems.