American Language Arts Curriculum for Middle School

I was able to get the full curriculum from my local school district in Colorado (LPS). This is what Colorado Middle School students in this district are reading and writing. I am using it to supplement my daughter's English while we live in Taiwan.

Supplementary Reading List:

6th Grade

• The Outsiders – http://www.sehinton.com/books/outsiders.html
• The Westing Game – http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0525471375.asp
• The White Mountains –Epseranza Rising – http://www.pammunozryan.com/esper.html
• Sleepers Wake – http://www.amazon.com/Sleepers_Wake_Paul_Jacobs/dp/0785798994
• Forgotten Door – http://www.amazon.com/The-Forgotten-Door-Apple-Paperbacks/dp/0590431307
• The Cay –  http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/307134/The-Cay-by-Theodore-Taylor/
• Freak the Mighty – http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/307138/Freak-the-Mighty-by-Rodman-Philbrick/
• True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle- http://www.shmoop.com/true-confessions-charlotte-doyle/
• The Black Pearl –  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Pearl_(Scott_O%27Dell)
• Number the Stars – http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/157477/Number-the-stars/
• Slake's Limbo – http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/slakes.html

7th Grade

• Night –  http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/482182/Night-by-Elie-Wiesel/
• Goodnight Mr. Tom – http://readers.penguin.co.uk/nf/Document/DocumentDisplay/0,,P000100000034,00.html
• Island on Bird Street –  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_on_Bird_Street
• Upon the Head of a Goat – http://www.nancykeane.com/booktalks/siegal_upon.htm
• The Cage – http://mandelproject.us/elavsky_rev.htm
• The Man Who Was Poe – http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/230011/The-Man-Who-Was-Poe-by-Avi/
• All Creatures Great and Small – http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18929854-all-creatures-great-and-small
• Hope Was Here – http://www.kidsreads.com/reviews/0399231420.asp
• A Long Way From Chicago – http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/alongway.html
• Christmas Carol –  http://literature.org/authors/dickens-charles/christmas-carol/
• Grace In The Wilderness – http://www.amazon.com/Grace-Wilderness-After-Liberation-1945-1948/dp/0374427941
• Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl –http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/1401/Anne-Frank-The-Diary-of-a-Young-Girl/ 
• Friedrich –  http://allreaders.com/book-review-summary/friedrich-24701
• Forbidden City - http://www.angelfire.com/alt2/forbidden_city/plot.html
• Wild Child -  http://www.iblist.com/book34711.htm
• Walkabout – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkabout_(novel)
• Visions - Collection of Short Stories (No publisher site available)
• Sixteen - Collection of Short Stories (No publisher site available)   
• Monster by Walter Dean Myers: http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/monster-0
• ​The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/gloryfield.html 

8th Grade

• Johnny Tremain – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Tremain
• To Kill a Mockingbird – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_A_Mockingbird 
• The Call of the Wild – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_of_the_Wild
• White Fang –  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43035.White_Fang
• Z for Zachariah – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_for_Zachariah
• April Morning – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Morning
• Touching Spirit Bear –   http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780380977444/Touching_Spirit_Bear/index.aspx
• Monster - http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0060280778.asp
• Tangerine -  http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/tangerine-discussion-guide
• Stonewall's Gold - http://extras.denverpost.com/books/book497.htm
• The Giver – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver
• The Million Pound Bank Note - http://www.iblist.com/book22282.htm
• The Glory Field – http://childlit.sdsu.edu/reviews/r-Myers.htm
• The Pigman – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pigman

Writing Expectations:

Seventh-grade students will write an argument, expository, and narrative texts using clear
development, organization, and style.  The writing process will be used to help plan, revise,
edit, and redraft the students’ work so that their ideas are clear and concise to their audience.  
Students will use technology and the Internet to produce, collaborate, and publish their writing
in a classroom, school-wide, and/ or world-wide setting. Seventh-grade students will create
research questions and find reliable sources to help them answer what they want to know.  
After gathering information from multiple print and digital sources, students will analyze for
validity and draw conclusions from their findings to demonstrate their learning.

Eighth-grade writing focuses on the development of a sophisticated five-paragraph essay.
Special emphasis is placed on an introduction that includes a hook, bridge, and thesis statement.
The structured use of textual evidence, the development of sophisticated and embedded transitions,
and the creation of an effective conclusion paragraph including a restated thesis, summary ideas,
and significant parting thought are additional areas of writing instruction.

RESOURCES:
https://littletonpublicschools.net/schools/powell-middle-school/curriculum-resources
LPS Curriculum Guide