English Language Arts

Washington State Learning Standards - Kindergarten ELA Standards

Curriculum:  Savvas myView Literacy

Content Learned

In reading, Kindergarteners are learning about letters, sounds, and how print works in the books they listen to and the books they read. They focus on meaning and engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. They read emergent texts designed with repeating language patterns, high picture support, and opportunities to use their phonics skills.  In writing, with support and guidance from the teacher, they’re using pictures, words, and dictation to write stories, share opinions, and write informative texts.

For more information about what students learn in first grade, visit the National PTA Parents’ Guide

Unit 1: Going Places

• Trimester 1
• Students consider "What makes a place special?"
• Reading Focus: Realistic Fiction
• Writing Focus: Launch writing time

Unit 2: Living Things

• Trimester 1 and Trimester 2
• Students consider "What do living things need?"
• Reading Focus: Informational Text
• Writing Focus: Informational Text

Unit 3: Tell Me a Story

• Trimester 2
• Students consider "Why do we like stories?"
• Reading Focus: Traditional Stories
• Writing Focus: Opinion

Unit 4: Then and Now

• Trimester 2 and Trimester 3
• Students consider "What can we learn from the past?"
• Reading Focus: Narrative Nonfiction
• Writing Focus: Personal Narrative

Unit 5: Outside my Door

• Trimester 3
• Students consider "What can we learn from the weather?"
• Reading Focus: Informational
• Writing Focus: Literary Nonfiction

Washington State Learning Standards - 1st Grade ELA Standards

Curriculum:  Savvas myView Literacy

Content Learned

In reading, first graders are actively using what they know about print to read and understand texts. Their expanding vocabulary, sight word knowledge, and phonics skills help them think about characters and other story elements; they learn new facts about topics when they read informational texts. They retell stories for the purpose of sharing with others.  In writing, they compose narrative, opinion, and informative texts using complete sentences, adding details, reasons, and facts to elaborate upon their ideas.  

For more information about what students learn in first grade, visit the National PTA Parents’ Guide.

Unit 1: My Neighborhood

• Trimester 1
• Students consider "What is a neighborhood?"
• Reading Focus: Realistic Fiction
• Writing Focus: Launch writing time

Unit 2: I Spy

• Trimester 1 and Trimester 2
• Students consider "How do living things grow and change?"
• Reading Focus: Informational Text
• Writing Focus: Informational Text

Unit 3: Imagine That

• Trimester 2
• Students consider "How can we use our imagination?"
• Reading Focus: Traditional Stories
• Writing Focus: Opinion

Unit 4: Making History

• Trimester 2 and Trimester 3
• Students consider "What can we learn from the past?"
• Reading Focus: Biography
• Writing Focus: Personal Narrative

Unit 5: Beyond my World

• Trimester 3
• Students consider "How do the seasons affect us?"
• Reading Focus: Informational
• Writing Focus: Informational Text

Washington State Learning Standards - 2nd grade ELA Standards

Curriculum:  Savvas myView Literacy

Content Learned

In reading, second graders continue to develop their sight word knowledge, phonics skills, and vocabulary to become more fluent readers. They expand their reading to a variety of genres as they grow their interests in longer books, chapter books, and series books. In writing, they offer reasons to support their opinions, facts and definitions to develop their points in informative texts, and elaborate on events and characters to tell their stories.

For more information about what students learn in first grade, visit the National PTA Parents’ Guide.

Unit 1: You Are Here

• Trimester 1
• Students consider "How do different places affect us?"
• Reading Focus: Realistic Fiction
• Writing Focus: Launch writing time

Unit 2: Nature's Wonders

• Trimester 1 and Trimester 2
• Students consider "What patterns do we see in nature?"
• Reading Focus: Informational Text
• Writing Focus: Informational Text

Unit 3: Our Traditions

• Trimester 2
• Students consider "What makes a tradition?"
• Reading Focus: Traditional Tales
• Writing Focus: Opinion

Unit 4: Making a Difference

• Trimester 2 and Trimester 3
• Students consider "Why is it important to connect with other people?"
• Reading Focus: Narrative Nonfiction
• Writing Focus: Personal Narrative

Unit 5: Our Incredible Earth

• Trimester 3
• Students consider "How does Earth change?"
• Reading Focus: Informational
• Writing Focus: Informational Text

Washington State Learning Standards - 3rd Grade ELA Standards

Curriculum:  Savvas myView Literacy

Content Learned

In reading, third graders are reading widely, diving into stories with more complex characters and plots that take on diverse perspectives. They identify the central message or main idea through the details in the text and use what they know about text structures to deepen their understanding as they read. In writing, their texts take on more structure; writing includes a clear introduction or beginning, topic or plot development, and a sense of closure.

For more information about what students learn in first grade, visit the National PTA Parents’ Guide.

Unit 1: Environments

• Trimester 1
• Students consider "How does our environment affect us?"
• Reading Focus: Traditional Tales
• Writing Focus: Personal Narrative

Unit 2: Interactions

• Trimester 1 and Trimester 2
• Students consider "How do plants and animals live together?"
• Reading Focus: Informational Text
• Writing Focus: Informational Text

Unit 3: Heroes

• Trimester 2
• Students consider "What makes a hero?"
• Reading Focus: Historical Fiction
• Writing Focus: Narrative

Unit 4: Events

• Trimester 2 and Trimester 3
• Students consider "How do communities change over time?"
• Reading Focus: Biography
• Writing Focus: Opinion Essay

Unit 5: Solutions

• Trimester 3
• Students consider "How does the world challenge us?"
• Reading Focus: Informational
• Writing Focus: Poetry

Washington State Learning Standards - 4th Grade ELA Standards

Curriculum:  Savvas myView Literacy

Content Learned

In reading, fourth graders continue to read widely and deeply; the stories they read contain complex characters and problems. They actively use text features, text structures, and their own background knowledge to construct new meaning as they read informational texts.  In writing, they provide depth to their stories, opinions, and informational writing by including dialogue, sensory details, reasons with supporting facts and details, definitions, and domain-specific vocabulary; they provide clear introductions and conclusions to support their topic or narrative.

For more information about what students learn in first grade, visit the National PTA Parents’ Guide.

Unit 1: Networks

• Trimester 1
• Students consider "How can a place affect how we live?"
• Reading Focus: Narrative Nonfiction
• Writing Focus: Personal Narrative

Unit 2: Adaptations

• Trimester 1 and Trimester 2
• Students consider "How do living things adopt to the world around them?"
• Reading Focus: Informational Text
• Writing Focus: Informational Text

Unit 3: Diversity

• Trimester 2
• Students consider "How can we reach new understandings through exploring diversity?"
• Reading Focus: Fiction
• Writing Focus: Narrative

Unit 4: Impacts

• Trimester 2 and Trimester 3
• Students consider "How do our stories shape our world?"
• Reading Focus: Traditional Literature
• Writing Focus: Opinion Essay

Unit 5: Features

• Trimester 3
• Students consider "Why is it important to understand our planet?"
• Reading Focus: Informational
• Writing Focus: Poetry

Washington State Learning Standards - 5th Grade ELA Standards

Curriculum:  Savvas myView Literacy

Content Learned

In reading, fifth graders read longer texts that require they “sustain attention and remember information and connect ideas over many days of reading” (Fountas &Pinnell, Literacy Continuum, 2017). They determine themes and main ideas in longer texts in a variety of genres, including fiction, poetry, drama and informational texts. They analyze texts to compare points of view, ideas, and to detect bias. In writing, they provide depth to their stories, opinions, and informational writing by including narrative techniques, ordered reasons with supporting facts and details, focus and logical organization, definitions, and domain-specific vocabulary. Their writing may be several paragraphs long and will include a clear introduction and conclusion to support their topic or narrative.

For more information about what students learn in first grade, visit the National PTA Parents’ Guide.

Unit 1: Journeys

• Trimester 1
• Students consider "How do journeys change us?"
• Reading Focus: Informational
• Writing Focus: Personal Narrative

Unit 2: Observations

• Trimester 1 and Trimester 2
• Students consider "How do we learn through our observations?"
• Reading Focus: Informational Text
• Writing Focus: Informational Text

Unit 3: Reflections

• Trimester 2
• Students consider "How do the experiences of others reflect our own?"
• Reading Focus: Realistic Fiction
• Writing Focus: Opinion Essay

Unit 4: Impacts

• Trimester 2 and Trimester 3
• Students consider "How do our stories shape our world?"
• Reading Focus: Traditional Literature
• Writing Focus: Opinion Essay

Unit 5: Liberty

• Trimester 3
• Students consider "What does it mean to be free?"
• Reading Focus: Historical Fiction
• Writing Focus: Science Fiction

Washington State Learning Standards: 6th Grade ELA Standards

Curriculum: SpringBoard Grade 6 

Content Learned 

In units built around the theme “Change,” students will:

• Read work by Langston Hughes, John Steinbeck, and Sandra Cisneros
• Write narrative, explanatory, and argumentative texts
• Learn strategies for planning, drafting, revising, and editing their own writing
• Explore the fundamentals of research, including citations and how to evaluate the credibility of sources
• Deepen their understanding of topics through film and multimedia

Washington State Learning Standards: 7th Grade ELA Standards

Curriculum: SpringBoard Grade 7 

Content Learned 

In units built around the theme “Choice,” students will: Read work by Nelson Mandela, Robert Frost, Sojourner Truth, and Shakespeare

• Learn close reading strategies to discover the explicit and implicit content of texts
• Write in argumentative, explanatory, and narrative modes
• Examine how ideas are conveyed in film and multimedia

Washington State Learning Standards: 8th Grade ELA Standards

Curriculum: SpringBoard Grade 8 

Content Learned 

In units built around the theme “Challenges,” students will:

• Read works by Ray Bradbury and Walt Whitman, an essay about Civil War heroes, narratives about the Holocaust, and Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech
• Learn about the hero archetype and hero’s journey narratives
• Write narrative, explanatory, argumentative, and other texts
• Research an issue in current events and then create a multimedia presentation
• Read scenes from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, analyze how the film adaptation differs from the source

Washington State Learning Standards: 9th Grade ELA Standards

Curriculum: SpringBoard Grade 9 

Content Learned 

• In units that examine the uses of language, students will:
• Read works by authors such as Margaret Atwood, Louise Erdrich, William Shakespeare, Joshua Bennett, Toni Morrison, as well as selected nonfiction
• Learn to gather evidence from texts and incorporate it into written and oral responses
• Write in argumentative, informational, narrative, and other modes
• Research and present findings around a current issue

Washington State Learning Standards: 10th Grade ELA Standards

Curriculum: SpringBoard Grade 10 

Content Learned 

In units that study the power of language to persuade, students will:

• Read works such as Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Sophocles’ Antigone, Susan B. Anthony’s “On Women’s Right to Vote,” and Kofi Annan’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech
• Examine how culture influences worldview
• Incorporate textual evidence into a written argument
• Write in argumentative, narrative, information, and other modes
• Research a culture and present findings in a collaborative presentation using digital media

Washington State Learning Standards: 11th Grade ELA Standards

Curriculum:

• Bridge to Bridge
• College in the High School
• ERWC
• International Baccalaureate (IB)
• AP Language

Content Learned 

Content learned in the various ENG 3 course offerings focus on the TPS Priority Standards for 11^th Grade. Schools choose from a variety of programs to meet these standards. Additionally, students have the opportunity to earn college credit in AP, and College in the High School classes.

AP English Language and Composition is an introductory college-level composition course. Students cultivate their understanding of writing and rhetorical arguments through reading, analyzing, and writing texts as they explore topics like rhetorical situation, claims and evidence, reasoning and organization, and style.

College in high school programs, such as dual enrollment, concurrent enrollment, and early college high school, are partnerships between school districts and accredited institutions of higher education that provide high school-age students an intentionally-designed authentic postsecondary experience leading to officially transcripted and transferable college credit towards a recognized postsecondary degree or credential.

Washington State Learning Standards: 12th Grade ELA Standards

Curriculum:

• Bridge to Bridge
• College in the High School
• ERWC
• International Baccalaureate (IB)
• AP Literature

Content Learned 

Content learned in the various ENG 4 course offerings focus on the TPS Priority Standards for 12^th Grade. Schools choose from a variety of programs to meet these standards. Additionally, students have the opportunity to earn college credit in AP, and College in the High School classes.

AP English Literature and Composition is an introductory college-level literary analysis course. Students cultivate their understanding of literature through reading and analyzing texts as they explore concepts like character, setting, structure, perspective, figurative language, and literary analysis in the context of literary works.

College in high school programs, such as dual enrollment, concurrent enrollment, and early college high school, are partnerships between school districts and accredited institutions of higher education that provide high school-age students an intentionally-designed authentic postsecondary experience leading to officially transcripted and transferable college credit towards a recognized postsecondary degree or credential.