Vocabulary
- Textbook: Vocabulary Workshop
Level A (Sadlier-Oxford)
- 20 words per unit. We will spend
two weeks on each regular unit and one week on each review unit.
- Week 1: Definitions (circle
stressed syllables), Completing The Sentence, Synonyms,
Antonyms--due Thursday. Spelling test Friday with two
bonus words, taken from other subject areas.
- Week 2: Choosing the Right Word,
Vocabulary in Context--due Thursday. Vocabulary test
Friday covers pronunciation, spelling, parts of speech,
definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and using the words in
sentences.
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English/Grammar
- Textbook: English (Houghton
Mifflin)--used as a resource
- Mostly taught through morning work.
We will cover one concept each week, with practice and
repetition each morning and a quiz on Thursday. Concepts
will build on each other until we are ready to review and test.
- Focus is on parts of speech and how they
work together to form correctly-written sentences. We will
use traditional diagrams as well as colored symbol codes to
analyze sentences.
- Editing work will show up in morning work
and on tests, and I will address errors in written work as well.
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English/Writing
- No textbook. Writing units will
generally be integrated with literature or other class projects.
- We will use the 6+1 traits of quality
writing model to guide the year. The traits are an
assessment tool, designed to teach students what good writing
looks like and how to self-assess for these traits.
Excellent writing contains:
- Fresh, original ideas--specific
and detailed and well-developed.
- Tight, coherent
organization.
- Sparkling, original, precise
word choice.
- Flowing, varied sentence
fluency.
- A clear and present sense of
the writer's authentic voice.
- Attention to the
conventions of written English.
- Neat, attractive
presentation.
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- Traits will be presented one by one, as
literature and writing projects lend themselves to their study.
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Literature/Reading
- Our focus this year will be to study the
strategies that good readers use to make sense of text.
Every reader has two voices that go inside his or her head while
reading. The "narrator voice" recites the words of the
text, while the "conversation voice" interacts with the text,
reacting to it, asking questions, making connections, forming
inferences, making predictions, summarizing, visualizing, etc.
- We've all had awkward silences in
conversations with others. When the conversation with a
text stalls, we end up reading pages and pages without
understanding or even remembering them. This year, we will
be studying a variety of ways to jump start a conversation with
that inner voice. We will focus on overcoming the
obstacles presented by new words by using context clues,
connecting to personal experience, connecting to background
knowledge and other texts, creating mental images, posing
questions, and looking for the answers to them.
- Throughout this course of study, we will
read a great variety of texts, both fiction and non-fiction, and
will study the elements of literature.
- Textbook: Literature
(Holt)--used as a resource
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| Significant units: |
- Fall (September-November): We will
read a variety of short stories and picture books to practice
making connections between the text and personal experience.
We will be looking in particular for realistic conflicts and
using these stories to brainstorm ideas for service work (the
Kindness Project--see below). We will then spend some time
with non-fiction works to research issues related to students'
service projects, and students will be doing lots of writing to
record their work, publicize their results, and explain the
issues related to their chosen projects.
- November-December: We will study
dramatic writing, characterization, and visualization using the
libretto of the Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors.
- January: We will practice
connecting new texts with old using a study of Greek mythology.
Students will study the gods and goddesses in global studies
class, and in literature we will focus particularly on the
ancient Greek accounts of creation, the entrance of evil into
the world, and the great flood. Students study Genesis in
religion class during the first semester, and so we will be
watching for similarities and differences between the accounts.
We will use lots of creative writing, and will study the voice
trait as students attempt to take on the persona of various
characters.
- February-March: We will practice
posing a variety of questions to stimulate inferences and
predictions as we read a variety of science fiction stories and
articles, all dealing with school in the future. We will
practice persuasive expository writing as we predict what St.
Ann will be like in the future, and brainstorm initiatives that
we should explore here.
- March-May: We will put all of our
strategies together and tackle a difficult but wonderful novel--The
Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. This is my
favorite book of all time, and it deals with the theme of
personal matters of consequence. We will study symbolism
and theme and determine what is "true" in this fantasy story.
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Accelerated Reader
Being a good reader requires lots of practice!
Students are required to read three novels each term, independently.
We use the Accelerated Reader program to monitor their choices and
comprehension; this program catalogs a database of comprehension quizzes for
hundreds upon hundreds of books for students. At the beginning of each
quarter, three due dates will be given, and students must take a quiz on or
before each date. The grades will count as literature tests.
Books read must be within students' reading ranges (as determined by the
STAR reading test and sent home at the beginning of each semester), and must
be worth at least two points each. Students are encouraged to test
early--should a grade be low, they can read another book before the deadline
to raise the grade! See the current
Sixth Grade Update
for test dates.
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The Kindness Project
In lieu of a traditional classroom service
partner, the sixth graders will be presented with a challenge this fall to
design their own outreach project. They will each be given $10 with
which to perform an act of kindness for someone outside their circle of
family and friends. The sky is the limit! Students may work
together or independently. They will be researching their chosen
organization and cause, and will be keeping in touch with this organization
throughout the school year. They may fundraise, collect items, write
letters, organize visits, etc. etc. etc. More information will be sent
home as the challenge draws near.
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