The ELA department offers a rigorous curriculum with spiraling Common Core standards throughout the three grade levels.  Students are offered a balanced course load that improves student skills in the areas of reading fiction, reading non-fiction, writing, speaking and listening, and language conventions.  

6th Grade

Sixth-grade English offers students the opportunity to deepen their understanding of key concepts learned in elementary school, including writing non-fiction, using academic language in structured student conversations and speeches, identifying themes, writing narratives, and analyzing poetry.  The instruction in sixth grade ELA is divided into six engaging, thematic units that include challenging tasks in reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

7th grade

The seventh-grade English class provides students with the opportunity to master the Common Core Standards through six engaging, rigorous units.  Each unit features key standards and a culminating project.  The units balance the reading of fiction and non-fiction with a focus on higher-level thinking a citing evidence from the text.  Writing genres include personal narrative, argument writing, and response to literature.

8th grade

ELA 8 is a California Common Core standards-based course. During the year, students participate in writing narratives, expository essays, research papers, persuasive/argument essays, literary analysis essays, and other various smaller-scale writing tasks. In order to improve reading skills, students will read and analyze both fiction and non-fiction texts independently, in small groups, and as a whole class throughout the year. Students will work on improving speaking and listening skills through various presentations, group discussions, Socratic Seminars, and other highly academic activities. The goal of this 8th-grade course is to improve student achievement in all of the areas specified above and to prepare them for the rigor of high school English courses.

The Sunnyvale School District is committed to providing equal opportunity for all individuals in education. District programs, activities, and practices shall be free from unlawful discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying, including discrimination against an individual or group, on the basis of actual or perceived ancestry, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, actual or potential marital or parental status, pregnancy, actual or potential family status, physical or mental disability, nationality, race or ethnicity, ethnic group identification, medical condition, genetic information, homelessness or foster status; a perception of one or more of such characteristics; or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.