1st Year Program: Ancient Cultures
1st Year English (grades 6 & 7) introduces students to beginning literary analysis through paragraphs, timed essays, and research projects. Students must complete at least 36 revisions and 4 peer edits each Quarter. Reading in the 1st Year comprises short stories and the following novels: Mara, Daughter of the Nile; D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths; [Selected] Canterbury Tales; A Proud Taste for Scarlet & Miniver; and The Green Book.
Typical 1st Year students will complete 25-30 pieces, each comprising 5-10 drafts, for a total of 125-300 pieces of writing, just in English class, during the school year.
Required written pieces include:
1st Person Narratives
A Creation Myth
Peer Interview paragraphs
Epic Similes
Greek Pantheons
Five different analytical paragraphs using quotes from a text (short stories and novels)
Study guide for chapters of Mara, Daughter of the Nile, with vocabulary and short answer essays
Class newspaper: The Grecco-Roman Times, including interviews, reviews, opinion pieces, games, comics, plays, ads, articles on "current events," artwork, etc.
An Independent Research project on a theme that carries through the whole year and includes:
5 distinct ancient cultures, with timeline dates and artworks
An illustrated timeline that includes all those cultures and references others that we study
A hand-painted map of the ancient world with cultures highlighted
A research report on the thematic focus of the project (architecture, weapons, fashion, food, etc., which includes a paragraph on each of three ancient cultures as well as an interview with a contemporary practitioner of that topic (a chef, a fashion designer, a veteran)
A stand-alone graphic of all project elements for presentation to the public
Pink poetry: figurative language >>> four free verse poems, including:
a poem of feeling, painting pictures with words, general to specific, and the right words, as well as work on onomatopoeia, alliteration, similes & metaphors, homophones
A personal SKILLS LIST, which contains 30-40 stylistic and grammatical writing skills by the end of the 1st Year
See our Middle School Curriculum Map to understand how our programs work together.
Learning in MDSD schools, and attending North Fork from grades 6 through 12, Toby Johnson, class of 2005, has worked in Beijing, China since 2009, using North Fork techniques with his students to make learning English fun and challenging.
In 2009, Toby founded USA English in Beijing and Shanghai, China. Go to his website to see Toby’s Chinese Myths series, which translates 25 traditional myths (edited by Marie) into English for an American audience. The 1st Year program offers a deep dive into myths of various cultures. His immersion at North Fork followed his mother’s introduction to myths and helped initiate Toby’s passion for finding creative solutions for elementary learners.
Toby’s FUN Phonics (Phunics) series of 101 stories in four levels also helps new readers and English Language Learners enjoy the reading process.
