Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Grade 9 Unit 1: Literary - Character
Common Core Grade Level Standards
9.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over
the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific
details; provide an objective summary of text.
Curriculum Teaching Points
1.3 Readers recognize how a theme develops throughout a given text by: identifying the patterns and
using specific details from the text to support
1.5 Readers write an objective summary analyzing the given theme of a given text.
9.3 Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations)
develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or
develop the theme.
1.7 Readers identify character traits by using characters’ words and actions.
1.9 Readers examine characters by identifying and analyzing internal and external conflicts
9.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including
figurative and connotative meaning; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word
choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how
it sets a formal or informal tone).
9.5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events
within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such
effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
SCSD Recommended Text
Picture Books / Short Stories
 The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
 The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty
Novels
 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
* Additional scaffolds, supports, resources, and tools can be found in the district
curriculum.
1.13 Readers explain and differentiate between tone by identifying formal and informal
1.14 Readers identify figurative language and explain its effects on meaning and tone within a given
text.
1.15 Readers will identify flashback, foreshadow, setting, plot, structure, parallel plots, etc. in given
texts.
Supplemental Texts and Resources for ELLs
Short Stories
 The Dragon’s Pearl by Julie Lawson, (Bridges to Literature II)
 Midas and the Golden Touch by Tana Reiff, (Bridges to Literature I)
 A Dinner of Smells by Penny Cameron, (Bridges to Literature I)
 The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, (Bridges to Literature III)
 Ali, Child of the Desert by Jonathan London, (Keystone B)
 The Lady and the Tiger by Frank L. Stockton, (Bridges to Literature III)
 The Day the Sun Came Out by Dorothy M. Johnson, (Bridges to Literature II)
 Ginger for the Heart by Paul Yee, (Keystone D)
 The Stolen Party by Liliana Heker, (Bridges to Literature III)
Poems
 Old Snake by Pat Mora, (Bridges to Literature II)
 Desert Women by Pat Mora, (Keystone B)
Picture Books
 Listen to the Wind by Greg Mortenson
 Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
 A Picnic in October by Eve Bunting
Website – Hip Hop Song:
 Story Elements
 Writing Resource
Other: Bilingual dictionaries and glossaries
September 2014 Grade 9
page 1
Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Grade 9 Unit 2: Informational Text
Common Core Grade Level Standards
RI.9.1 Readers will analyze an informational text using specific and thorough textual
evidence.
RI. 9.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the
text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an
objective summary of text.
RI.9.3 Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events including the
order in which points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the
connections that are drawn between them.
RI .9.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word
choices on meaning and tone (e.g. how the language of a court opinion differs from that of a
newspaper).
RI .9.5 Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by
particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g. a section or chapter).
Curriculum Teaching Points
2.1 Readers will make inferences about the text by incorporating and discussing textual evidence.
2.3 Through the use of textual evidence readers will identify the central idea of a text to determine
the authors goal and what the reader is supposed to take away from the text.
2.4 Readers will be able to recognize how a central idea is developed throughout a given text by
providing an objective summary.
2.5 Readers will analyze and discuss the order in which points are made by examining textual
evidence.
2.12 Readers will examine how a claim is developed by identifying specific sentences, paragraphs
or larger portions of a text that support it.
2.14 Readers will describe and evaluate the argument and claims in a given text by determining if
there is enough strong evidence.
2.15 Readers will describe and evaluate the argument and claims in a given text by determining if
the evidence is false.
RI.9.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether
the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements
and fallacious reasoning.
SCSD Recommended Text
Novels
 No Choir Boy by Susan Kuklin
Other Resources
 Syracuse City School District Too Young to Die
* Additional scaffolds, supports, resources, and
tools can be found in the district curriculum.
Supplemental Texts and Resources for ELLs
Short Stories
 Water and Living Things (Keystone B)
 Amelia Earhart American Pilot by Carlotta Hacker
(Bridges to Literature II)
 The Eye of Conscience by Milton Meltzer and Bernard
Cole (Keystone D)
 A Voice for Change by Marian Anderson (Keystone D)
 The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (Keystone D)
 World War I (Keystone D)
Poems
 In Flanders Fields by John McCrae (Keystone D)
 Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen
(Keystone D)
Picture Books
 Listen to the Wind by Greg Mortensen
Grade 9, Unit 2
Other
 Three Wonderful Letters from Home a song by Joe Goodwin
and Ballard MacDonald (Keystone D)
 Letter Home by Frank Earley (Keystone D)
 Bilingual dictionaries
 Teaching Main Idea and Detail –page 49 Keystone B text
 Are Girls Meaner then Boys? by Kathryn R. Hoffman (Time
for Kids)
Websites
 Informational Reading: Helping Students with Theme
 Graphic Organizers
 Text Structures Writing Resource
Other: Bilingual dictionary and glossaries
September 2014 Grade 9
page 2
Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Grade 9 Unit 3: Literary and Informational Texts - Strengths
Common Core Grade Level Standards
RL.9.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its
development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped
and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of text.
RI. 9.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific
details; provide an objective summary of text.
RL .9.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative and connotative meaning; analyze the cumulative impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense
of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
RI .9.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative
impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g. how the language of a
court opinion differs from that of a newspaper).
RL.9.5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order
events within (e.g. parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g. pacing, flashbacks)
create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
RI .9.5 Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and
refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g. a
section or chapter).
RI.9.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing
whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false
statements and fallacious reasoning.
Curriculum Teaching Points
3.1 Readers identify textual evidence of where the theme emerges by highlighting and
discussing relevant chunks of text.
3.2 Readers recognize how a theme develops throughout a given text by Identifying the
patterns and using specific textual evidence from the text to support.
3.4 Readers recognize at what point the author develops the central idea from the beginning
to the end by using textual evidence to track it throughout the text.
3.6 Readers recognize how a theme/central idea emerges and develops throughout different
texts (with similar themes) by:
 Identifying the patterns
 Using textual evidence from the text to support
3.7 Readers determine the meaning of unknown words and phrases by pausing after
reading a chunk of text and discussing context clues.
3.8 Readers identify figurative language and its effect(s) on meaning and/or tone by
picking out the words with double meanings and explaining the connections to tone.
3.10 Readers examine the meaning of words and phrases in a text by asking “Why did the
author choose this work instead of another one?”
3.11 Readers identify literary devices (flashback, pacing/ sequence of events, parallel plots,
etc) that the author uses.
3.13 Readers examine how a claim is developed by asking “What is the author trying to say
in this section? What evidence supports his /her claim?”
3.14 Readers examine how a claim is clarified by identifying specific sentences, paragraphs
or larger portions of a text that support it.
September 2014 Grade 9
page 3
SCSD Recommended Text


Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Supplemental Texts and Resources for ELLs
Fences by August Wilson
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Poems about Family
 Look Me in the Eyes
 Tell Me
 Hey Daddy (Please Come Back)
 My Papa’s Waltz
 Good Night, Willie Lee, I’ll See You in the Morning by Alice Walker
Poems about Choices
 Choices by Nikki Giovanni (Glencoe Course 4, pg 517)
 The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (Glencoe Course 4, pg 542)
Mini Biographies
 Octavia Butler
Articles

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
Wilson vs. Brunstein
Raising Great Teens: Parent-Teen Relationships
Raising Teens
Problems with Parent-Teen Relationships
Parent-Teen Relationship Interactions
Strengthening Father-Son Relationships
Kindred Brings Slavery Era to Life
Slavery in Maryland: A Guide
Parallel Lives from the Eastern
Short Stories
 Thank You Ma’am by Langston Hughes
 Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges (Keystone B)
 I am Rosa Parks by Rosa Parks with Jim Haskins (Bridges to Literature I)
 A Slave by Virginia Hamilton (Bridges to Literature III)
Poems
 Harlem and Dreams by Langston Hughes (Keystone B)
 I, too, sing America by Langston Hughes
 Haiku by Issa (Bridges to Literature III)
Picture Books
 My Uncle Martin’s Big Heart by Angela Farris Watkins, PH.D
 Our Children Can Soar by Michelle Cook
Others
Martin Luther King Jr. Article
Bilingual dictionaries and glossaries
Pictures of Ruby Bridges, Martin Luther King Jr., boycotts, etc.
Websites
 Civil Rights Movement Resource
 Figurative Language Video
 Poetry Website
Other: Bilingual dictionary and glossaries
* Additional scaffolds, supports, resources, and tools can be found in the district
curriculum.
Grade 9, Unit 3
September 2014 Grade 9
page 4
Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Grade 9 Unit 5: The Makings of a Hero
Common Core Grade Level Standards
RL.9.2 Readers explain how a theme emerges and is shaped using textual
evidence.
RL.9.3 Readers analyze how characters actions / choices advance the plot
and/or develop the theme.
RL.9.4: Readers will analyze the importance word choice has on the meaning and
tone of a text.
RL.9.5 Readers will know how an author’s choice of structure creates an effect of
tension and / or surprise.
RL.9.6: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a
work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of
world literature.
RL.9.7 Readers will examine a key scene or character in different mediums
and will identify critical elements that are included and that are absent.
RL.9.9 Readers will examine author’s words to determine how the work is
transformed.
RI.9.2 Readers will determine and trace the central idea of informational text
and provide specific details that support it.
RI. 9.3 Readers will identify how an author develops his/her analysis and the
connections that are made between his / her points.
RI.9.8 Readers will examine an author’s arguments and/or claims to determine
the strength of the given arguments and/or claims.
RI.9.7 Readers will examine multiple mediums of a subject and identify unique
details from each account.
RI 9.9 Readers will examine historical documents, primary and secondary
sources and identify and analyze a given theme
Curriculum Teaching Points
5.1 Readers analyze and discuss textual evidence of where the theme emerges and develops
by: -identifying themes -identifying patterns -highlighting textual evidence in chunks of
text.
5.6 Readers will examine an author’s historical and /or cultural experiences by highlighting
and discussing cultural influences within a given text.
5.7 Readers examine an author’s cultural experiences by highlighting identified cultural
and/or historical influences within a given text.
5.8 Readers analyze the representation of key scenes from a piece of literature by identifying
and discussing similarities and differences in different artistic mediums.
5.9 Readers analyze the representation of a hero in different mediums (art, articles, epic
myths, video, etc.) by examining and highlighting different portrayals of heroes.
5.12 Readers will identify and analyze textual evidence of where central idea emerges and
develops by –identifying themes - identifying patterns -highlighting textual evidence in
chunks of text.
5.13 Readers will examine the order in which points are made to determine:
-how points are made and developed by examining textual evidence
-connections that are drawn between texts by identifying how points are made and developed
5.15 Readers examine how a claim is developed and clarified by identifying specific
sentences, paragraphs or larger portions of a text that support it.
5.18 Readers describe and evaluate the argument and claims in a given text by determining if
there is enough strong evidence or if the evidence is false.
5.19 Readers will determine the key elements /details/points to analyze when comparing two
different mediums on the same subject.
5.20 Readers will analyze and discuss the representation of the heroism by examining many
different mediums (print and multimedia).
5.21 Readers analyze characteristics of heroism by examining and discussing historical
documents.
September 2014 Grade 9
page 5
SCSD Recommended Text
Curriculum Instructional Resources for ELLs
SCSD ESL Department
Supplemental Texts and Resources for ELLs
 From the Odyssey by Homer Parts 1-4 (pg. 834 Glencoe Course 4)
 Oedipus the King
 Waiting from The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (pg. 904 Glencoe
Course 4)
Poetry:
 Ithaca by C.P. Cavafy (pg. 902 in Gelncoe Course 4)
 An Ancient Gesture by Edna St.Vincent Millay (pg. 901 in Glencoe Course
4)
 Penelope's Song
 Siren Song
 A Hero
 A Collection of Poems about Heroes
Articles related to the Odyssey:
 Homecoming of Odysseus
Short Stories:
 Midas and the Golden Touch by Tana Reiff (Bridges to Literature I)
 The Trojan War: The Wooden Horse by Tana Reiff (Bridges to Literature I)
 How Gloskap Found the Summer (Keystone B)
 Persephone and the Pomegranate Seeds (Keystone B)
Novels:
 Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan
Picture Books:
 D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar D’Aulaire
Other:
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Articles related to Heroism:
 See Through the Illusions of a Sports Hero
 Its Hard to Find a Sports Hero
 Its Hard to be a Hero
Quotes related to Heroism:
 Option #1
 Option #3
The War of the Worlds a play adapted by H.G. Wells by Howard Koch (Keystone B)
Tales from the Odyssey by Mary Pop Osbourne
Bilingual dictionaries and glossaries
Use Keystone B Unit 6 for building background and vocabulary of myth, hero, and
heroine
Percy Jackson film clips
Websites:
 Figurative Language Video
 Informational Reading - Greek Mythology
 Scholastic Global Trek - Explore Ancient Greece
 Teacher Resource for Mythology
Other: Bilingual dictionary and glossaries
* Additional scaffolds, supports, resources, and tools can be found in the district
curriculum.
Grade 9, Unit 5
September 2014 Grade 9
page 6