In English This Year...
This is a general plan as to where our LA curriculum will take us throughout 6th grade. Units will be taught at various times throughout the school year & with using specific topics that are relevant to the student's lives.
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In English This Year... |
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This is a general plan as to where our LA curriculum will take us throughout 6th grade. Units will be taught at various times throughout the school year & with using specific topics that are relevant to the student's lives. |
Getting to Know You
We will spend some time getting
to know each other and becoming comfortable working together as a new community
of 6th graders.
Becoming familiar with this new building, organizing materials, learning
classroom expectations, following a new 9 period schedule, and meeting a number
of different teachers and people will make our middle school transition a little
confusing.
It is helpful to start this year with a pre-assessment essay called "Why My Best Friend is the Best"...which becomes an easy gage for us to see what writing elements and concepts need to be addressed from the school year's start.
We will also spend some time this month working through our "Me Bag" writing reflection and presentations. This is another great way for our students to better get to know each other and realize how much they might actually have in common with some new faces on their team!
Grammar and Mechanics
Throughout this unit we will "get back to the basics" with grammar; studying the
8 parts of speech, types of sentences and sentence structure, punctuation, and
even focus on some other basic writing mechanics that are crucial to becoming a
more successful writer.
**Not always, but this unit
is often taught with the assistance of the Newspaper. By providing
this real life connection, the students are better able to relate grammar
concepts to something more concrete, and there are numerous resources available
to the children in the paper that many are not yet aware of.
When studying the Newspaper, we will also complete some additional writing
pieces that include, but are not limited to, letters to the editor,
advertisements, object obituaries, and classified ads.
Word
of the Day
These words are ways for us to further expand your student's vocabulary, and are usually taught as 15 minute large group mini-lessons at the beginning of class.
Students work all year to learn the words along with their definitions & practice using synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, & examples for using those words within their writing!
Learning & Practicing the Writing Process
This is an ongoing "unit" throughout the entire school year. Towards the beginning of the year, the students will practice and become more familiar with developing topic, supporting, & concluding sentences.
With this, the students
practice developing paragraphs which will lead them to the process of writing.
They include: selecting topics, planning ideas, creating rough drafts,
editing/peer editing, revising, & drafting.
Children's Book Unit
Throughout this unit the students will have the opportunity to share some of
their favorite childhood picture books with their classmates.
Through those readings, we will study different components of and techniques
used when writing a successful children's book.
We will spend a large amount of time developing our own 10 page book, that will display personal illustrations, self selected characters, and whatever "problem" or lesson they want to teach other children about.
This book will also be another way for the students to display their understanding of the grammar we discussed this far. Each book will have to portray different types of sentences and color coded examples for each of the 8 parts of speech.
ELA Writing & Reading Comprehension Preparation
We will be working on
New York State English Language
Arts Exam Preparation which includes improving reading comprehension
skills, writing & essay development, hi-lighting techniques, & connecting
writing back to the text!
ELA exams
will be held on April 26-28th, 2010
Three parts of the ELA exam:
1. Reading Comprehension w/ multiple choice questions
2. Reading and Writing
3. Listening and Writing
**At the same time we are also doing some personal journal
writing and reflecting, completing a "self expression" drawing activity, and
working through a word of the day story with other classmates!
Poetry Unit
Throughout this unit the students will explore different
types of poetry including, but not limited to:
Acrostic, Haikus, Cinquains, Diamantes, Couplets, Quatrains, Limericks, Shape, and Circle/Spiral
poems.
Students will also explore some useful tips on how to better
understand the poetry they read, and even explore the different parts of and
strategies used while writing poetry.
Focusing on the different categories of poetry...Free Verse,
Lyrical, and Narrative, the students will read and analyze a number of different
poems for elements of alliteration, personification, onomatopoeia, rhyme,
rhythm, repetition, and the use of similes and metaphors within the writing.
Students will not only practice
writing a variety of
different types of poetry, but will also celebrate their success and share their
personal ideas during our "Poets Cafe"
at the end of the unit!
Research Paper/Project
Interdisciplinary LA & Science Unit
Through this unit the students will
learn more about how to conduct research,
using a variety of different resources to obtain factual information. They
will become exposed to using online databases
and reference sources, textbooks and periodicals, and even internet sources
to find the information needed for their natural
disaster research paper.
The students will practice making
source cards, work cited/ bibliography pages, and internal citations
within their written text to prevent from
plagiarism.
Along with an
individually written research paper, the students
will also be working with small groups to complete
and present a group selected final project to
display their knowledge learned about their specific natural disaster.
**Specific paper and project requirements, due dates,
research guidelines, and grading rubrics will be discussed and provided to the
students at the start of this unit.
Business Letters
Throughout this unit, the students will be
writing formal business letters
of compliment or complaint
to a company of their choice expressing their likes or dislikes towards a
product they have purchased and used!
Compare & Contrast
Throughout this unit, the students practice the skills of comparing and contrasting at least 2 topics. They will use graphic organizers & logical reasoning to better understand how to compare & contrast 2 topics based on similar points. These findings will lead them to developing a written essay of their findings.
Greek Mythology
This unit explores the Ancient Greek culture through their highly
valued story telling.
We will learn and discuss the
"core" of Greek Gods that "ruled" from Mount
Olympus, and how their stories, adventures, and even mistakes taught the people of Greece life
lessons.
Greek Gods and Goddesses, Mortal Humans, Superhero Beings, and even horrifying
Monsters were all an important part of Greece and its history.
Not only will the students read about, discuss, and watch some of these
interesting myths, but they will also conclude the unit with the
development of
their own Greek characters and story!
Expository Writing
This is where students practice process writing. Students will be able to
select any topic that they would like to "teach the class" & take us through the
process from start to finish.
Throughout this unit, the students practice the writing process from planning to rough draft writing, to peer editing and drafting, to creating a final copy of their plans.
The final goal of this unit is for the students to present their process and actually teach the class how to become experts on their topic.
**At the same time we are also doing some personal journal writing and reflecting, and will be working through words of the day.
Supporting a
Position
Throughout this unit, the students will practice supporting a position (persuasive writing) based on some sort of current issue or topic. The students will practice collecting data from multiple sources to make and accurately support their view.
The final goal in this unit is to develop some sort of written piece along with possibly conducting a larger group debate!
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