Welcome to Sixth Grade!! Literature and Language Arts

The goal of the advanced reading program is to develop thoughtful and strategic readers who value reading. Students will be provided with challenging opportunities aimed at helping develop critical thinking skills.

Class Objectives Students will analyze works of literature as they learn to annotate text. Students will recognize literary elements from different genres of reading. Students will use multiple strategies to construct meaning before, during, and after reading. Students will analyze literary skills such as conflict, theme, and plot structure in reading selections. Students will explore and reflect on universal themes and issues from the text.

Focus of the Class Students will read various forms of fiction and non- fiction. Short stories, novels, myths, folk tales, biographies and autobiographies. Students will use their textbook, reading workbook and class novels. The Extended Reading Response format will be reviewed and incorporated throughout the year.

Class Expectations Complete a large amount of out-of-class reading and writing. Demonstrate high effective time-management skills and the ability to advocate for themselves. Maintain an 83% in both reading and writing. Conduct in-depth research. Develop focused, long-term projects.

Independent Reading Trimester OneTrimester TwoTrimester Three Student Choice Project Choice of genre and and project from “choice” list. Historical Fiction Historical Fiction selected book – teacher selected project Rebecca Caudill Project Student selected book from the Rebecca Caudill Award winners list Genre Project - Mystery Teacher selected genre – student selected book within the genre Biography/Autobiogr aphy Biography/Autobiogr aphy selected book – teacher selected project Book Float Project Student selected book - teacher selected project

Skill Development Intellectual curiosity and courage Perseverance Self-confidence and reliance on reason The ability to analyze and synthesize information (critical thinking) The ability to consider all sides of an issue

Reading Logs Our goal is to encourage regular independent reading! Due the first day of the month Worth 50 points Includes date, title of reading selection, pages read, minutes read, and reading strategies used. Goal: 800 minutes a month Fiction and non-fiction

Contact Information Mrs. Mazzocchi – Room – extension My website: SDS:

Advanced Language Arts The goal of advanced language arts is to develop the strategies necessary to enhance the growth of fluent writing skills. Students will explore writing strategies using anecdotes, examples, facts and statistics.

Class Objectives Students will: Produce various types of written work products. Use the five steps in the writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing. Expand their vocabulary by determining meanings of words using word structure and context clues.

Focus of the Class The Writing Process Different genres of writing: Narrative, Descriptive, Persuasive, Expository Vocabulary / Spelling Grammar

The Writing Process Students will use the writing process to produce various written products with an emphasis on narrative, persuasive and expository writing. Student work will be collected in a portfolio that will be added to during the course of the year.

Writing Tools W riter’s Notebook – weekly tool used to develop writing fluency. Rubrics and checklists Conferencing My Access - web based tool that provides feedback to students about their writing. Aligned to state standards.

Vocabulary and Spelling A new vocabulary unit is introduced on the first day of the week. Student are assigned the unit and it is due on Thursday. Vocabulary and spelling quizzes are on Friday. Students are expected to study both the spelling and meaning of the words throughout the week to prepare themselves for the quizzes. Ongoing practice with analogies

Cross Curricular Units Mystery Unit: October/November “Who Stole King Tut’s mask?” Mythology/Middle Ages Unit -January/February-”Middle Ages Day” GREECE/ROME-April/May

6 th grade success “Character Counts” every day! Homework – due on assigned due dates. Responsibility for assignment notebook. Homework is posted in classroom and on teacher websites. Parent + Student + Teacher = SUCCESS