Language Arts

Ministry of Education
Gr 7 LA outcomes/indicators
Gr 8 LA outcomes/indicators

Saskatoon Public Schools places significant emphasis on literacy skills. For 2022, our division has implemented new tools for assessment. The intent is to help teachers better understand the literacy needs of individual students. LA consists of six strands; reading, writing, listening, speaking, interpreting, representing. Each day, one or more of them is addressed. Ongoing efforts to improve literacy skills this year will include:

• formal reading assessments

• specific instruction for reading strategies

• scheduled reading periods

• stories and novels read by me with response activities

• instruction and practice of various writing techniques such as the newspaper format, short essay, letter and poetry

Reading Requirements and Lists

Our classroom has a reading requirement. For the most part, students choose their own books with communicated expectations for level and content. Completed books are recorded in a log kept in the classroom. A sample version can be seen here. Using books from this record, students are asked to complete assignments. These will be due about every three weeks, usually on a Friday. In class reading time is offered at least once, sometimes twice a week. Regular visits to Alice Turner Library are planned to support reading.

Reading log - sample

Current Focus - Public Speaking

For the next few weeks, we're focusing on the speaking strand in LA. We will revisit it a bit later in the year working with readers' theatre materials. This round the focus is on improving both the delivery and the organization of individual presentation. Specific aspects are listed below. Cueing, an element of speech in drama, will be added once we tackle the readers' theatre material. For now, students will practice each of the aspects here and then deliver one or two speeches in front of the class.

Elements of Effective Delivery

• Intelligibility

• Gestures and Facial Expressions

• Volume and Force

• Pitch (inflection) and Tone

• Phrasing (pace and cadence)