ELA, or English Language Arts, is where students study reading and writing. We want all of our students to be successful thinkers, and in order for them to accomplish that task, they must be able to read about new ideas and translate those ideas into written work. In our classes, the students will learn about many different genres. We will focus our studies on fiction, literary fiction, poetry, informational texts, persuasive texts, procedural texts, media, and research. As new genres are being read in class, students will also use those texts as models for writing their own works in that genre. Students will work on writing, revising, and editing their own stories and those of their peers.

ELA has high expectations for our students, so our goal is for our students to read on a daily basis. Research tells us that reading on a daily basis improves stamina and fluency. With research to support our goals, w e just need you to support us in the home. Please see that your student spends between 20 and 30 minutes each night reading. With the implementation of the STAAR test, our students need to have reading stamina. They are asked to read 4,600 words on STAAR in the 6th and 7th grades, and in the 8th grade, they are asked to read 5,000 words on the STAAR test. If we work together, we can help our students reach the level of success that is expected of them.