Grade 7

Inquiry, Identity, and Justice in a Changing World

Essential Questions:

• How do societies define justice?
• What is power, and how is it used or misused?
• How do individuals and communities create change?
• What does it mean to be an informed global citizen?
• How do we use evidence to understand complex issues?

The grade 7 language arts curriculum emphasizes the core principles of communication—listening, writing, reading, and speaking—through the study of short stories and diverse novels.

Students build foundational critical reading skills by mastering close reading strategies and different annotation styles to analyze character development, point of view, and symbolism. By connecting literature to the wider world, students learn to interpret complex themes and share their insights during foundational class discussions. To communicate these ideas, students write in various formats, including analytical, fiction, poetry, and expository pieces. They fully engage in all stages of the writing process, from brainstorming and drafting to final revisions. Literary analysis is taught using highly scaffolded structures that help students organize and clarify their arguments. This deliberate approach gives students the independence and tools necessary to confidently express their unique voices.

Developmental Skills:

• 7th graders learn and practice literal and inferential reading comprehension strategies, use evidence to support conclusions, and identify and use literary devices
• Students will practice the skills of generating ideas, organizing material, revising, and presenting their writing.
• In 7th grade students read The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Never Caught by Erica Dunbar and a variety of other short stories, memoirs, and poetry. 

Grade 7 math emphasizes geometric and pre-algebraic reasoning and problem-solving using Illustrative Mathematics. Based on prior math background, teacher input, and a placement assessment, students are placed into either Pre-Algebra or Algebra 1. 

Grade 7 – Pre-Algebra

• Rigid Transformation and Congruence
• Scale Drawings, Similarity, and Slope
• Equations and Inequalities
• Expressions and More Equations
• Linear Relationships
• Functions and Volume
• Exponents (only sections A and B)
• Pythagorean Theorem and Irrational Numbers

Grade 7 – Algebra 1

• Solving Equations Review
• One Variable Statistics
• Linear Equations and Systems
• Two-Variable Statistics
• Linear Inequalities and Systems
• Functions
• Introduction to Exponential Functions
• Introduction to Quadratic Functions
• Quadratic Equations

This course prepares students to think, listen, write, and speak critically on justice issues of historical and current importance. In this year of our dynamic two-year curriculum, seventh graders embark on an immersive exploration of American and world history through the lens of global commerce, structural engineering of laws, and competing cultural perspectives. By pairing profound human narratives with rigorous quantitative data, students learn to dismantle “single stories” of the past and confront the ethical complexities of how history is told.

Curriculum is frequently adjusted to address breaking news, encouraging students to trace how historical injustices “echo” into modern economic structures and current events. During major presidential and senate election years, extensive time will be focused on these current events. 

Core Units of Study

Sugar Changed the World: Commodities, Commerce, and Conquest: An investigation into how a single luxury crop linked three continents, generated massive European wealth, and drove the brutal expansion of the transatlantic slave trade. Students synthesize economic charts with primary sources, such as Olaudah Equiano’s narrative, to evaluate the human cost of global wealth.

Colonial Perspectives: Indigenous History & Northern Enslavement: A deep dive that challenges traditional narratives by exploring early European contact, present-day Indigenous continuity, and the often-overlooked history of Northern enslavement. Utilizing local records, registries, and probate data, students confront the mechanics of historical dehumanization and design a local memorial proposal to restore dignity to marginalized lives.

Who is a Founding Father?: A unit examining the transition from British subjects to independent revolutionaries. Students map out the “chain of cause-and-effect” leading to the Revolution, evaluate political propaganda, and conduct archival research to argue why lesser-known or marginalized figures deserve the title of “Founding Father.”

The Constitution: Designing the American Republic:A structural analysis of the evolution from the Articles of Confederation to a centralized federal republic. Students calculate historical “percentages of power” to see how early compromises mathematically empowered enslavers, and translate 18th-century legal frameworks into plain English to discover how amendments serve as “expansion packs” for civil rights.

Lewis and Clark: Perspectives on the Louisiana Purchase: A critical evaluation of the Corps of Discovery. Students balance the “master narrative” of scientific achievement with the realities of Indigenous dispossession, mapping spatial data and identifying dozens of specific Native homelands encountered during the 8,000-mile journey.

The Capstone Research Paper: A rigorous technical “engineering” unit where students gain full autonomy to investigate a historical choice, person, or innovation. Students master the Chicago Manual of Style (17th Edition), construct annotated bibliographies, and build a multi-source argumentative thesis paper.

Skills include:

• Analyzing and evaluating information, including use of primary sources
• Research writing: thesis arguments, outlining, footnotes, bibliographies
• Determining cause and effect 
• Building cohesive arguments using compelling evidence

Grade 7 students study Earth, Space and Environmental Science. The lessons and labs are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ curricular standards for middle school.

Skills include scientific observation, generating testable questions, design and engineering practices, data collection and analysis, and communicating findings. Students engage in writing lab reports, research papers, and scientific arguments. Topics include: Earth’s Systems, Earth and Human Activity, Earth’s Place in the Universe, Rocks and Minerals, Earth’s History, and Environmental Justice. Students have the opportunity to design and conduct experiments and to participate in the state science fair with these projects. 

In the second and third years of a three-year program, students expand their knowledge of French/Spanish grammar and vocabulary. Instruction is almost entirely in the target language. Students improve their language skills through group and paired speaking and writing activities during class and through individual work on their Chromebooks both in and outside of class.

Developmental Skills:

• Students continue to build vocabulary and increase their knowledge of grammar in order to speak and write with increasing fluency in the target language.
• Students read and recite poems and short articles related to theme-based vocabulary.

French

Seventh grade French students start the year studying verbs and vocabulary related to sports, weather, and art. They can successfully form sentences using the irregular verb faire, several newly-learned regular -re verbs and -er verbs. Students can also use interrogative adverbs effectively to ask, understand and respond to information questions. During the second part of the year, focus shifts to vocabulary themes and corresponding expressions related to food. Students learn about various Francophone breakfast foods, lunch menu items and café fare. Using the irregular verbs, partitive articles, and authentic restaurant menus, students order and pay for food during real-life skits and role plays.The year ends with an immersive unit about Haiti. Students can locate its major cities, mountains and bodies of water on a map, and they can recall important facts, early history, and essential dates leading to the slave revolt. 

Example skills and topics include:

• Sports
• Reading about and playing pétanque
• Poetry recitation
• Café skits
• Geography and history of Haiti

Spanish

Seventh grade Spanish students build directly on their foundational knowledge to advance their Spanish language skills and cultural understanding. Having mastered regular present-tense verbs, students are moving forward to work with irregular, special, and past-tense verbs, expanding their ability to talk about past events and share more detailed stories. Our curriculum focuses on practical, real-world themes, including “Let me introduce my family” and “I need some new clothes.” To wrap up the year, students will put their skills into practice by learning how to describe their houses and plan a group party. Throughout every unit, the class prioritizes steady growth in oral proficiency, listening comprehension, and accurate pronunciation.

Example skills and topics include:

• Mi familia famosa project
• Learning commands and using them to give directions during a trust walk activity
• Poetry recitation
• Restaurant skits
• Dream House project
• Planning a trip to Central or South America

In Grades 7 and 8, the focus shifts from discrete classes to using specific software applications embedded in content area curriculum.

Developmental Skills:

• Students use spreadsheets to support data analysis in social studies, use multimedia presentations to enhance persuasive speeches on social justice topics in English class, manage online portfolios, and use online collaboration for project management. 
• There is also an important focus in Growth Education on self reflection, social media use, and learning to navigate an online social world in healthy ways.

The seventh and eighth grade art program gives students the opportunity to develop an advanced foundational skill set across a variety of media.

Developmental Skills:

• The year begins with a progression of observational drawing assignments, developing new skills while experimenting with different techniques and approaches. 
• In the latter half of the year, the focus shifts towards sculptural work. Whether working with cardboard construction, clay, or papier mache, students learn to translate two dimensional ideation into three dimensional form.
• Project examples include: contour and blind contour still life drawings, figure drawing focused on gesture, monochromatic self portrait painting, mixed media collage, monoprint derived from landscape drawing

The Physical Education program is developmental and skill-based. The program includes cooperative games, standard games, such as capture the flag and ultimate Frisbee, and team sports including field hockey, soccer and basketball. Students practice motor and sports skills throughout these activities. Students develop sports skills through movement exploration, specific skill work and playing games.

Developmental Skills:

• Sports Skills:  Throw, Dribble, Kick, Bat, Catch, Shoot (basketball), Volley
• Fitness Exercises, Relays, Cooperative Games, Group Challenges, Obstacle Courses,  Lifetime Fitness Activities

Grade 7 students participate in MultiArts, a project-based performing arts program, twice weekly throughout the year. The units, sometimes in grade groups and sometimes in mixed 7th/8th grade classes, include:

• Theater Unit – students begin with the fundamentals of improvisation, building into a scene study unit with a final performance of selected scenes from plays/films/musicals. 
• Handbells Unit – students learn and perform a handbells piece for the Winter Festival assembly.
• Dance Unit – students work with a hip-hop dancer and choreographer to learn a complicated dance piece for a school-wide performance
• Stagecraft Class – students create the costumes, props, and sets for the 8th grade musical, and perform in several songs.  

Growth Education is a health and wellness class focused on the unique growth period in the teenage years. Classes are often taught by guest experts, such as EducaHealth for human development, and in collaboration with the Technology Office. Students in seventh grade explore topics including: 

• Identity & Personal Wellness – Exploring self and social identity, understanding personal values, challenging stereotypes, and cultivating a “best self”.
• Time Management & Sleep – Daily planning, prioritizing tasks, overcoming procrastination, understanding circadian rhythms, and the myth of multitasking.
• Nutrition & Energy – Understanding macronutrients, hydration, energy levels, and building balanced meals.
• Setting Boundaries – Identifying personal boundaries (green, yellow, and red boundaries), managing energy/time, and practicing healthy communication.
• The Teenage Brain & Digital Wellness – Neuroscience of adolescent brain development, synaptic plasticity, digital citizenship, and understanding the impact of algorithms and technology design