6 th Grade CORE: Social Studies Language Arts

Schedule for Social Studies Periods 1, 3, & 6 Language Arts Periods 2 & 4

Teacher web page Check school web page greenfield/ dle_School/

Social Studies 6th Grade Social Studies World History and Geography: Ancient Civilizations The sixth grade curriculum covers a broad sweep of time from early human development to the Roman Empire. Students study the people and events that ushered in the dawn of the major Western and non-Western civilizations. Students develop higher levels of critical thinking by considering why civilizations developed where and when they did, why they became dominant, and why they declined. Students examine the connections between the various cultures, emphasizing their lasting contributions, and the link between our world today and ancient worlds.

6th Grade Social Studies (Continued) The following topics are covered throughout the year:  Geography and Map Skills  Archaeology  Development of humankind from the Paleolithic era to the agricultural revolution  Geographical, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of:  ｧ Mesopotamia  ｧ Egypt, Kush  ｧ Israel  ｧ Greece  ｧ Indus Valley (India)  ｧ China  ｧ Rome

6 th Grade Language Arts Students will be focused on the following standards: Reading –Word Analysis, fluecy, and systematic vocabulary development Word Recognition Vocabulary & Concept Development –Reading Comprehension Structural Features of Informational Materials Analysis of grade-level-appropriate texts –Expository Critique Literary responses and analyses Structural features of literature Narrative analysis of texts Literary criticism

6 th Grade Language Arts (Continued) WRITING Writing Strategies Organization & focus Research & technologies Evaluation & revision Writing Applications Narratives, expository composition, research reports Interpretation of literature & persuasive compositions WRITTEN & ORAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS Sentence Structure Grammar Punctuation Capitalization Spelling

6 th Grade Language Arts ( Continued ) LISTENING & SPEAKING –Listening & Speaking Strategies Comprehension Organization & delivery of oral communication –Speaking Applications Delivery of narrative, informative, & persuasive presentations Delivery of an oral response to literature Presentations on problems & solutions

Lucy Calkins & IBD Programs In keeping with the goals set forth in the California Common Core standards, the district has purchased and supplied middle schools with materials from the Inquiry By Design program. This focuses on the development of close and careful reading, writing, and interpretive discussions with increasingly complex texts. During the year, students will receive student readers which are theirs to mark up and keep. In conjunction with this program, our structure for language arts will be in a modified workshop format, which includes mini-lessons, independent writing/classwork time, and teacher input and support. We will be focusing on a variety of writing purposes throughout the year, including narrative, reflective, informative, persuasive, and research based. In sixth grade, we will be implementing the Lucy Calkins personal narrative writing unit, which includes initial assessments and post-unit assessments to determine individual writing growth.

Flu Prevention -Out of consideration for other people, please keep your child HOME if they are sick! If your child has flu-like symptoms, they should stay home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever, or signs of a fever, without use of medicines. If they are sick, we will send them home. -Encourage your child to wash hands and use hand sanitizer often! - If your child needs to sneeze or cough, teach them to cough into their shirt or elbow and to use tissues if they need to sneeze.

SAFETY- Please help us by… -Making sure your child does not arrive before 8:25 am on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and before 9:35 on Wednesdays. There is no supervision for your children during this time. -Not coming onto campus during the school day without checking into the office. If you have a lunch to drop off, drop it off in the office. This is out of concern for student’s safety. -Practicing courteous and safe driving in the morning. Avoid unnecessary u-turns and stops. Watch out for pedestrians and bikers.

How Can You Help? -Check up with your child on what they’re doing in class. Have discussions on topics that we might be studying. -Model reading at home. Set aside a time that everybody can read together. Get quality books at home, either through the library, or through Scholastic. -Encourage independence. 6th grade is a time of transition and change. They still need support, but they also need the gentle prodding to take responsibility of their own work. The least beneficial thing you could do for them is to do their work.

How Can You Help? (cont) –Encourage your child to take risks. Learn lessons from failure. Our children will never learn to take risks if there is always a negative stigma attached to failure. –Talk about current events. Keep track of the news, and encourage your child to read the news. –Set aside a quiet place for your child to work. –Please, no computers in child’s room. Know what your child is doing on the computer.

Magazines Junior Scholastic Scope Magazine

CONTACT INFORMATION! Steve Greenfield PH: , ext PREFERRED METHOD: EM: