Instructional Units for English Language Arts

The instructional units for English Language Arts (ELA) in grades kindergarten through 12 can serve to facilitate conversations regarding assessment and curriculum development. Experienced educators designed the instructional units by considering which standards might be grouped together to maximize a student’s educational experience in ELA. While the instructional units have an order and arrangement, local districts have the flexibility to modify them to fit the needs of their student population. For example, though all student learning objectives (SLOs) appear only once, a district could modify the units to repeat the inclusion of one or more SLOs to ensure mastery.

If your district is using the Connected Action Roadmap (CAR) approach to curriculum development, you will find the standards and SLOs in the English Language Arts CAR templates on the left-hand side bar.

These instructional units were developed using the CAR framework, a tool for instructional improvement. Both are part of a larger toolkit the Department is developing, in collaboration with partner associations and organizations, to assist all districts to deliver high-quality, standards-based curriculum, instruction and assessment. Although the tools are available free of charge, school districts are not mandated to use them. Instead, school districts are free to choose, and use, the tools that they feel are best suited for the success of the students they serve.

New Jersey Department of Education

Instructional Units» Home

Instructional Units for English Language Arts

Kindergarten

First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Fifth Grade

Sixth Grade

Seventh Grade

Eighth Grade

Ninth and Tenth Grades

Eleventh and Twelfth Grades