Unit Plan 13 (Grade 7 ELA): Informational Structures Across Articles

Focus: Sequence, cause/effect, comparison; reading across texts in a set

Grade Level: 7

Subject Area: English Language Arts (Reading Informational)

Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session

I. Introduction

Informational texts are engineered. This week, students study how authors organize ideas—sequence, cause/effect, and comparison—and how those structures shape understanding. Working with a text set (two short articles + one short feature or infographic), students will trace relationships among individuals, events, and ideas, then synthesize across texts to form clear, evidence-based explanations.

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to…

1. Analyze how a text’s structure (sequence, cause/effect, comparison) organizes key ideas and clarifies relationships (RI.7.5).
2. Explain interactions among individuals, events, and ideas (e.g., how one event influences another; how an idea changes across the text) (RI.7.3).
3. Read and comprehend a set of grade-appropriate literary nonfiction texts (within the 6–8 complexity band), using scaffolds to build independence (RI.7.10).

Standards Alignment — CCSS Grade 7

• Reading Informational 7.5 (RI.7.5): Analyze text structure and its contribution to meaning.
• Reading Informational 7.3 (RI.7.3): Analyze interactions among individuals, events, and ideas.
• Reading Informational 7.10 (RI.7.10): Read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently.

Success Criteria — student language

• I can name the structure a section uses and explain why the author chose it.
• I can map relationships (who/what affected whom/what, and how).
• I can synthesize across articles, showing where texts agree, differ, or build on one another.
• I can read grade-level articles with growing independence and use strategies when stuck.