What to Teach in Grade 7
A full school year across every subject, week by week — thirty-six weeks, laid out so you can see what Monday looks like before September starts.
The year at a glance
Thirty-six weeks, five days a week. Three subjects are planned here in detail — English 7: Reading, Evidence & Expression, Life Science & Scientific Inquiry, U.S. & New York History: Indigenous Nations to Reconstruction — and each is a complete year's course with its own lessons, practice and exams. For mathematics at this grade most families use Grade 7 Math, though placement depends on the track a child is on rather than on their age.
You do not have to follow the weeks in order or at this pace. The plan exists so that there is always an answer to “what now”, not so that falling behind means anything.
The thirty-six weeks
| Week | English | Science | Social Studies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Read Closely, Infer & Summarize · Theme & Central Message | 1.1 Questions, Variables & Fair Investigations | 1.1 Historical Inquiry: Questions, Sources & Evidence |
| 2 | Theme & Central Message · Character Development: Motives, Choices & Change · Plot & Conflict: How Events Change the Stakes | 1.2 Measurements, Microscopes & Scale | 1.2 Reading Maps, Timelines & Historical Change |
| 3 | Plot & Conflict: How Events Change the Stakes · Point of View: What a Narrator Can Know | 1.4 Models, Claims, Evidence & Reasoning | 1.4 Haudenosaunee & Neighboring Nations in New York |
| 4 | Plan and begin · Develop and seek feedback · Revise and reflect · Close Reading & Literary Analysis | Chapter 1 investigation | Chapter 1 workshop |
| 5 | Figurative Language & Imagery · Poetry: Speaker, Tone & Shifts | 2.1 Cell Theory & Discovering Cells | 2.1 European Exploration: Motives, Navigation & Claims |
| 6 | Poetry: Speaker, Tone & Shifts · Poetry: Sound, Lines & Form · Drama: Dialogue, Stage Directions & Performance | 2.2 Cell Structures & Organelles | 2.2 The Three Colonial Regions: Economy, Geography & Variation |
| 7 | Drama: Dialogue, Stage Directions & Performance · Compare Literary Texts: Shared Questions, Different Choices | 2.4 Membrane Transport, Diffusion & Osmosis | 2.4 Slavery, Indentured Service & Colonial Resistance |
| 8 | Plan and begin · Develop and seek feedback · Revise and reflect · Poetry, Drama & Comparison | Chapter 2 investigation | Chapter 2 workshop |
| 9 | Consolidate and confer · Central Idea & Supporting Details | 3.1 Levels of Organization: Cells to Organ Systems | 3.1 French & Indian War: Empire, Alliances & Debt |
| 10 | Text Structures: Relationships That Organize Information · Author’s Purpose, Audience & Perspective | 3.2 Digestion, Absorption & Food Molecules | 3.2 Road to Revolution: Taxation, Representation & Resistance |
| 11 | Author’s Purpose, Audience & Perspective · Media Literacy: Captions, Charts & Missing Information · Citing Text Evidence & Explaining Inferences | 3.4 Bones, Muscles & Structure-Function Models | 3.4 The Revolutionary War: Strategy, Alliances & New York |
| 12 | Citing Text Evidence & Explaining Inferences · Plan and begin · Develop and seek feedback · Revise and reflect | Chapter 3 investigation | Chapter 3 workshop |
| 13 | Information, Media & Evidence · Consolidate and confer · Evaluate Arguments: Claims, Reasons & Evidence | 4.1 The Nervous System, Senses & Responses | 4.1 From the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution |
| 14 | Evaluate Arguments: Claims, Reasons & Evidence · Argument Writing: A Defensible Claim | 4.2 Homeostasis, Feedback & Interacting Systems | 4.2 Federalism, Three Branches & Checks on Power |
| 15 | Counterclaims & Fair Responses · Paragraphs: Evidence, Commentary & Coherence | 4.4 Sexual & Asexual Reproduction | 4.4 The Bill of Rights & Constitutional Change |
| 16 | Paragraphs: Evidence, Commentary & Coherence · Revise an Argument: Logic, Scope & Language · Plan and begin | Chapter 4 investigation | Chapter 4 workshop |
| 17 | Develop and seek feedback · Revise and reflect · Argument, Counterclaims & Revision · Midterm preparation | Midterm | Midterm |
| 18 | First-semester portfolio check · Midterm | Flexible session 2 | Flexible session 2 |
| 19 | Research Questions: Scope & a Search Plan · Source Credibility, Relevance & Corroboration | 5.1 DNA, Genes & Chromosomes | 5.1 The Early Republic: Finance, Parties & National Authority |
| 20 | Source Credibility, Relevance & Corroboration · Research Notes, Quotation & Paraphrase · Informative & Explanatory Writing | 5.2 The Cell Cycle & Mitosis | 5.2 War of 1812: Maritime Rights, Native Nations & Consequences |
| 21 | Informative & Explanatory Writing · Integrate & Cite Evidence in Your Writing | 5.4 Inheritance, Probability & Punnett Squares | 5.4 Market & Industrial Change: Production, Labor & Technology |
| 22 | Plan and begin · Develop and seek feedback · Revise and reflect · Research & Explanatory Writing | Chapter 5 investigation | Chapter 5 workshop |
| 23 | Narrative Writing: A Meaningful Change · Scene, Dialogue & Descriptive Detail | 6.1 Energy Flow, Food Chains & Food Webs | Flexible session 1 |
| 24 | Scene, Dialogue & Descriptive Detail · Revising & Editing: Improve the Reader’s Experience · Reading a Complete Novel: An Evidence Notebook | 6.2 Energy Pyramids & Transfer Efficiency | 6.2 Indian Removal: Sovereignty, Resistance & Enforcement |
| 25 | Reading a Complete Novel: An Evidence Notebook · Novel Analysis: Decisions, Narration & an Ending | 6.4 Decomposition, Soil & Nutrient Availability | 6.3 Reform Movements: Religion, Education & Public Action |
| 26 | Plan and begin · Develop and seek feedback · Revise and reflect · Narrative Craft & Complete Novel Study | Chapter 6 investigation | 6.5 Cotton, Domestic Slave Trade & Enslaved People’s Agency |
| 27 | Consolidate and confer · Phrases & Clauses | 7.1 Interactions & Ecosystem Change | Chapter 6 review |
| 28 | Sentence Types: Relationships & Variety · Commonly Confused Words & Precise Meaning | 7.2 Biodiversity, Variation & Ecosystem Resilience | 7.2 Compromises, Fugitive Slave Law & Kansas |
| 29 | Commonly Confused Words & Precise Meaning · Context Clues, Nuance & Dictionary Checks · Greek & Latin Roots, Affixes & Word Families | 7.4 Sampling Ecosystems & Comparing Evidence | 7.3 Dred Scott: Citizenship, Courts & Constitutional Conflict |
| 30 | Greek & Latin Roots, Affixes & Word Families · Plan and begin · Develop and seek feedback · Revise and reflect | Chapter 7 investigation | 7.5 The Civil War: Strategy, Resources & Turning Points |
| 31 | Language, Vocabulary & Sentence Craft · Consolidate and confer · Evidence-Based Discussion: Prepare, Contribute & Revise | 8.1 Fossils, Rock Layers & Life History | Chapter 7 review |
| 32 | Evidence-Based Discussion: Prepare, Contribute & Revise · Listen, Question & Summarize Another View | 8.2 Natural Selection, Adaptation & Population Change | 8.2 Wartime Life, New York Draft Riots & Civilian Choices |
| 33 | Present a Claim: Structure, Visuals & Delivery · Compare a Story, Script & Performance Choices | 8.4 Selective Breeding & Genetic Diversity | 8.3 Reconstruction: Reunion, Labor, Community & Its Limits |
| 34 | Compare a Story, Script & Performance Choices · Portfolio Capstone: Compare, Present & Reflect · Plan and begin | Chapter 8 investigation | 8.5 History Capstone: Build, Test & Revise an Explanation |
| 35 | Develop and seek feedback · Revise and reflect · Discussion, Presentation & Portfolio · Sample exam rehearsal | Flexible session 1 | Chapter 8 review |
| 36 | Sample corrections and readiness · Final | Flexible session 2 | Final |
Each cell names what that subject covers that week. Open the course for the lesson itself, the practice and the printable version.
How much time this is
Each course plans about five sessions a week for thirty-six weeks — roughly 180 sessions a year. Three subjects at that rate is about fifteen sessions a week, plus mathematics. At forty-five minutes a session that is somewhere near four hours a day, which in practice is less than it sounds: a session is not a school period, and most families find the work takes considerably less time at home than the same material takes in a classroom.
What this does not cover
Health, physical education, art, music and world languages are not taught here. Several states require some or all of them, so it is worth checking what yours asks for — the requirements for all fifty states and DC — and planning them separately. Families commonly meet them through sports, lessons, clubs and documented family activity.