Unit Plan 8 (Grade 7 ELA): Informative Writing Foundations
Grade 7 ELA unit: students write clear informational essays with focused theses, organized sections, and precise vocabulary. They use facts, definitions, and examples to explain ideas with a formal, objective tone.
Focus: Clear thesis; facts/definitions/examples; logical organization; domain vocabulary
Grade Level: 7
Subject Area: English Language Arts (Writing—Informative/Explanatory; Language—Usage & Conventions)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Informational writing should teach something clearly. This week, students build the foundations of strong explanatory writing: craft a focused thesis/controlling idea, plan a logical organization, develop sections with facts, definitions, examples, and quotations/paraphrases, and use domain-specific vocabulary with a formal, objective style. We’ll finish with a polished one–two section informative piece and a quick on-demand check.
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to…
- Introduce a topic with a clear controlling idea and preview of organization (W.7.2a).
- Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations/paraphrases, and explanation (W.7.2b).
- Use appropriate transitions to create cohesion and clarify relationships among ideas (W.7.2c).
- Choose precise language and domain-specific vocabulary; maintain a formal style (W.7.2d–e).
- Provide a concluding statement that follows from and supports the information (W.7.2f).
- Plan–revise–edit for grammar/usage (phrases/clauses, sentence completeness, agreement) and conventions (capitalization, punctuation, spelling) (L.7.1, L.7.2).
Standards Alignment — CCSS Grade 7
- Writing 7.2a–f (W.7.2): Introduce/organize topic; develop with facts/definitions/details/quotes; use transitions; precise language & domain vocabulary; formal style; concluding statement.
- Language 7.1 (L.7.1): Command of grammar and usage (phrases/clauses; sentence variety; agreement).
- Language 7.2 (L.7.2): Conventions of capitalization, punctuation (incl. commas with coordinate adjectives; appositives), and spelling.
Success Criteria — student language
- I can state a clear controlling idea and preview my sections.
- I can support my idea with relevant facts/definitions/examples and explain them.
- I can keep readers oriented with transitions and logical order.
- I can use precise, domain-specific words and a formal, objective tone.
- I can end with a conclusion that follows from the information.