Diegueño Middle school
2150 Village Park Way
(760) 944-1892 Ext. 6604
Encinitas, CA 92024
“A California Distinguished School”
Bjorn Paige, Principal • Corey Bess, Assistant Principal • Laura Martin, Counselor
Course Description for English 7 & 8
The curriculum at both grade levels includes study of short stories, novels, drama, poetry, expository texts, and
grammar. Students participate in meaningful class discussions, creative projects, presentations, and theater arts.
Seventh and eighth graders write multi-paragraph papers in a variety of genres, including argumentative essays,
fictional and personal narratives, summaries of fictional and expository works, and responses to literature (analysis
of character, theme, and author’s style).
In addition to short stories, poetry, and expository text from Holt Literature and Language Arts First Course, all
seventh graders will read at least three selections from the following:
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Redwall by Brian Jacques
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
The Children’s Story by James Clavell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
The Messenger by Lois Lowry
Kind of Shadows by Susan Cooper
Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
Downriver by Will Hobbs
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Treasure Island by Robert Lois Stevenson
Bearstone by Will Hobbs
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Monsters are Due on Maple Street by Rod Serling
In addition to short stories, poetry, and expository text from Holt Literature and Language Arts Second Course, all
eighth graders will read at least three selections from the following:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D.
Taylor
Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
Call of the Wild by Jack London
Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye
Holes by Louis Sacher
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Witness by Karen Hesse
All But My Life by Gerda Weissman
Night by Elie Wiesel
Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
The Diary of Anne Frank (play), Frances Goodrich and Albert
Hackett
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Diegueño Middle school
2150 Village Park Way
(760) 944-1892 Ext. 6604
Encinitas, CA 92024
“A California Distinguished School”
Bjorn Paige, Principal • Corey Bess, Assistant Principal • Laura Martin, Counselor
College Prep and Honors English
We have two levels of English classes at both the seventh and eighth grade. College prep classes
(informally referred to as “regular” English) provide a rigorous curriculum that meets the needs
of the majority of students. Honor classes are designed for students who excel in English
language arts and require a faster-paced, more in-depth and challenging course of study.
Both college prep (CP) and honors classes have the following attributes:
• Follow a rigorous curriculum
• Require students to work toward mastery of the California Common Core State Standards
• Prepare students for high school English
• Develop critical thinking skills
• Write argumentative essays, expository essays, narratives, responses to literature, and
summaries.
• Select novels from the same board-approved list of titles
• Use the same textbook
• Utilize technology to help improve reading and writing skills
Honors classes differ from CP in the following ways:
• Greater depth and complexity of study
• Students work independent of teacher assistance more often
• Pacing is quicker
• Writing is more sophisticated (stronger vocabulary, more complex and varied sentence
structure, greater depth of thought and analysis) and more extensively researched
• Assigned readings may be at a higher level of difficulty
General Expectations for Students Entering Honors Classes
An honors student…
• reads above grade level and is passionate about reading (if a student does not enjoy
reading, honors is not the right class!)
• enjoys the writing process and understands the need for multiple revisions
• is highly motivated to do well and is a self-starter
• works independently when needed
• works collaboratively and productively in groups
• thinks critically about issues related to the assigned reading and writings (goes beyond
surface meanings, makes connections and inferences)
• recognizes the figurative as well as the literal
• masters concepts quickly manages time well (able to juggle schoolwork, family
obligations and extra-curricular activities)
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Diegueño Middle school
2150 Village Park Way
(760) 944-1892 Ext. 6604
Encinitas, CA 92024
“A California Distinguished School”
Bjorn Paige, Principal • Corey Bess, Assistant Principal • Laura Martin, Counselor
Specific Prerequisite Skills and Knowledge
When students enter an honors class, they are expected to be able to:
7th grade
• write insightful and well-developed paragraphs using a variety of sentence structures and
above grade-level vocabulary
• write a well-organized, multi-paragraph essay independently
• understand the function of a thesis statement in expository writing
• identify the eight parts of speech
• find the simple subject and predicate in a sentence
• define the most common literary techniques and terms and identify examples of them
• go beyond surface summarization and discover deeper meaning in a piece of literature
• use correct punctuation and capitalization
• find and correct proofreading errors in their own rough drafts
• show a command of keyboarding skills sufficient to write a minimum of three pages in
one sitting and to format the paper as directed by the teacher (e.g. set margins, spacing,
font size and type)
8th grade
In addition to mastery of the skills and knowledge above, eighth graders entering honors English
should also be able to:
• discover the theme in a piece of writing and support it with textual evidence
• identify characterization techniques in a narrative and write about them using textual
evidence
• write commentary that offers fresh insight into supporting evidence in an essay
• use research and other supporting evidence in an essay
Additionally, 8th grade honors students should have received a grade of A or B in 7th
grade honors English or an A in college prep English.
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Diegueño Middle school
2150 Village Park Way
(760) 944-1892 Ext. 6604
Encinitas, CA 92024
“A California Distinguished School”
Bjorn Paige, Principal • Corey Bess, Assistant Principal • Laura Martin, Counselor
Frequently Asked Questions – Incoming Seventh Grade
1. My student has always been an A student, so Honors English is the right class for
her…right?
Maybe! There are many variables, and each child is an individual whose skills, desires, and ability to
handle change should be considered before making a selection. Our Honors curriculum has been
designed to challenge Honors students, so it moves faster and goes deeper than what many
students experience in elementary school when they are in a multi-level class. Many of the students
are used to being big fish in a small pond, and now they’re in a big lake with a lot of other big fish,
some who have more knowledge about certain concepts than they do, so it can be intimidating. In
the Honors course, the majority of the assignments will require students to not just show they know
information, but to take that information and apply it in a new situation, or to make a statement
about a character or a theme and then support it with textual evidence. Also, they will need to truly
study for quizzes and tests. After we read a story, for example, the quizzes won’t just test basic
reading comprehension, but will have multi-level questions where students will have to apply
concepts they’ve learned to an aspect of the story. A question may ask how a story would be
changed if it were written in a different point of view or had a different setting. Another question
may ask students to read a nonfiction article that relates to a the literature the class has read and
draw conclusions using both the story and the article. Some struggle is normal as students adjust to
the rigor, but a student should not be overwhelmed by the coursework and expectations.
2. I want my student to be ready for Honors English in high school. Does he have to take
Honors in middle school as a prerequisite?
Sometimes students who fit the Honors “profile” may not be ready to tackle Honors in seventh
grade. The transition to middle school alone can be stressful, and the well-being of the child is
always paramount. Sometimes it just takes an extra year or two for a student to gain some maturity
and organization skills, or develop critical thinking skills to the level that will make Honors
manageable. Many students take College prep English in middle school and successfully go on to the
high school Honors classes. Middle school Honors is not a prerequisite for Honors in high school.
3. What if I think my child can do well in an Honors course, but my child doesn’t want to
take it?
A general rule of thumb is that if the parent wants it more than the child, usually the child ends up
miserable, and nobody wins. To do well in an honors course, the student must be passionate about
English and demonstrate a desire to push him/herself. Putting a child in this accelerated course
against his or her will is not advisable. The best advice we can give is to give your child time to
adjust to middle school, and bring up the topic again as the student is about to enter eighth grade.
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