6th Grade Language Arts and Social Studies Program

Integrated Vocabulary LANGUAGE ARTS Reading Writing Integrated Grammar Integrated Vocabulary

Reading

Reading Reader’s Workshop Whole class stories Reading Comprehension Teaching the reader; skills based instruction Whole class stories Reading Comprehension Reader’s responses such as inference, connect, predict Noticing patterns across story elements Critical Thinking Skills such as Inference, analyzing, synthesizing, finding theme Read and discuss (Socratic Seminars) elements of literature Written analysis of literature Note and Notice for literature…active reading Lot’s on this slide, acknowledge and move on to just one or two.

Workshop Model in Reading Student choice, teacher conferring, and skills application in right-fit book allow teachers to meet your student where they are. Make point that workshop model lends itself to rigor and differentiation. You can be sure that choosing traditional path

Focus skills across LA and SS in 6th grade: WRITING Focus skills across LA and SS in 6th grade: Claim/Main Idea Document based Evidence and analysis Language/Vocabulary Style/Organization Writer’s Workshop Teaching the writer Strategy and skills based Narrative Writing Explanatory Writing Argumentative Writing

Independent Reading! Students will be expected to read independently outside of school. How reading will be assessed in Language Arts: Book chats Reading logs Plot mountains Note and Notice Reading Projects

6th Grade Social Studies Curriculum aligned with Common Core Standards Curriculum Focus: Ancient Civilizations How did geography influence ancient civilizations? Emphasis on source analysis (articles, maps, images) What text explicitly states or shows Inferences based on text

6th Grade Social Studies Written and verbal expression of ideas Create a claim based on analysis of sources Support claim with specific text evidence Provide analysis explaining why evidence supports claim Focus on “social studies vocabulary” to strengthen analysis

Advanced Language Arts Recommended Test scores 4th grade SBA in ELA = 2630 or higher 5th grade report card reading grade = 4 Ask yourself, “How much support does my student need to get a ‘4’ in writing?” Are you helping a lot or is your student getting the score independently.

Advanced Language Arts Have a love of learning, reading and writing Highly motivated and organized Have excellent study habits and complete all assignments routinely Ready for homework every night Ready to actively join class discussions Ready to write extensively for various audiences Ready to read complex texts for a variety of purposes

Advanced LA – What does it take to be successful? From 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Teachers “motivated, enjoys challenges and comfortable working outside comfort zone” “intrinsically motivated to read, write, and actively engage in classroom discussion using higher level thinking skills” “Advanced Language Arts purpose is to provide a rigorous environment where topics covered may be the same or similar to regular LA, but each topic will be covered with greater depth, a faster pace, and often with more challenging literature.” “Independence and initiative is fostered through student choice and project-based learning.”

Finding the right fit for your student Should I register my student for Advanced LA? Language Arts pathway can be changed year-to-year Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop model promote rigor and differentiation in both pathways Traditional pathway in ISD is rigorous

HOMEWORK! Yes, there will be homework in 6th Grade Language Arts class: Around one hour of homework for all classes is what we aim for---but that depends on each student…. keeping the following in mind… The EXACT SAME homework assignment might take one student 10 minutes and another student an hour and a half! If the latter is the case let the teacher know!