1. Monday Mentoring Sept. 11, 2017
Copy the following mentoring sentence in the notes/bellwork section of your composition notebook:
His clothes were old and worn, but he had an unusual, gentle manner.
Bang, Molly. The Paper Crane. New York: Greenwillow, (1985)
Write three (3) things you notice about the sentence.
Success Criteria: I can understand the structure of an independent clause.

2. Monday Mentoring Sept. 11, 2017
His clothes were old and worn, but he had an unusual, gentle manner.
Bang, Molly. The Paper Crane. New York: Greenwillow, (1985)
The sentence above consists of TWO independent clauses.
What is an independent clause? It is a sentence that can stand by itself because it contains a subject, a predicate, AND a complete thought.
Examples:
Independent clause-- The students at SCMS show GRIT.
NOT an independent clause– So when the students show GRIT.
Success Criteria: I can understand the structure of an independent clause.

3. Monday Mentoring Sept. 11, 2017 Try it!
On a post-it note, write one independent clause about why we must show GRIT in life. (You have two minutes to complete this task.)

4. Tuesday Terms Sept. 12, 2017
Review your Monday Mentoring sentence from yesterday:
His clothes were old and worn, but he had an unusual, gentle manner.
Bang, Molly. The Paper Crane. New York: Greenwillow, (1985)
Circle the word manner.
Below the Monday Mentoring sentence in your composition notebook, write in your own words elaborating on what you believe the word manner means.
Word Wall Word: formal writing—is not personal and does not use the first person or second person point of view
(You will see an example of formal writing in the RACES PPT you will view shortly.)
Success Criteria: I can understand the meaning of 6th grade level vocabulary words and word wall words.

5. We Got This Wednesday Sept. 13
Review your Monday Mentoring sentence from yesterday:
His clothes were old and worn, but he had an unusual, gentle manner.
Bang, Molly. The Paper Crane. New York: Greenwillow, (1985)
Why is a comma placed before the conjunction but? Why is a comma placed between the words unusual and gentle?
In your composition notebook below your Monday Mentoring sentence notes, write in your own words why you believe the two commas above are placed where they are in the sentence. You must write your answer in a complete sentence(s).
Success Criteria: I can use commas correctly in a sentence.

6. Glue your comma rule notes into the notes section of your composition notebook. Today, we will focus on comma rule #2.

7. Comma Rule #2.
Use commas with coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) to join 2 independent clauses. FANBOYS: for and nor but or yet so Remember: You put the comma BEFORE the FANBOY! You also have to have 2 subjects, 2 verbs, and both sentences must be a complete thought!

8. Friday Free-for-All Sept. 15, 2017
Directions: Use the notes you wrote and glued into the notes/bellwork section of your composition notebook this week to complete the assignment you picked up off the back counter.

10. RACES (RACECES in 6th grade)
We will use the RACES writing strategy to write short responses to writing prompts. (You will use this writing strategy mostly in your other subject areas such as math, science, and social studies.)
R= Restate the Topic
Means: Reword or restate the topic and make it into a statement as part of your answer. Your R and your A go together in ONE sentence!
For instance, if you were asked, “What color is the sky?”, you would NOT simply answer, “Blue”. Instead, you would answer, “The color of the sky is blue.”
Imagine: If you were asked in a writing prompt to explain reasons why people bully in the article “Tales of Bullying,” then you would NOT simply answer, “Because they are insecure.”
Instead, you would restate the topic:
Example:
In the article “Tales of Bullying,” people bully others because_____________.
Now we’re going to add our A!

11. RACES
A= Answer
Means: Answer the question you are being asked or the writing prompt to which you are being instructed to respond. Your R and your A should be combined into ONE RA sentence!
Imagine: If the writing prompt is to explain reasons why people bully in the article “Tales of Bullying,” then your RA sentence would look something like this:
Example:
In the article “Tales of Bullying,” people bully others because bullies feel insecure about themselves.

12. RACES C= Cite Specific Evidence
Means: Cite evidence from the text to support your RA statement. This must be relevant evidence! (This is your I and your C from your ICE strategy for citing evidence.)
Example: According to the text, “Some kids bully because they want to fit in.”
“C” for cited evidence
“I” sentence stem

13. RACES
E= Explain—
Means: Explain how or why the evidence supports the topic. This is how you show your evidence actually proves the answer in your RA statement.
Example: This proves that bullies lack the courage to be individuals instead of going along with the crowd.
Your whole ICE’d piece of evidence, your C AND your E in RACES, looks like this:
(C) According to the text, “Some kids bully because they want to fit in.” (E) This proves that bullies lack the courage to be individuals instead of going along with the crowd.
“E” sentence stem

14. RACES
BUT in the sixth grade, you have to use TWO pieces of evidence in your response. Therefore, you should have TWO C’s and TWO E’s! (You now have TWO ICE’d pieces of evidence!) (C) According to the text, “Some kids bully because they want to fit in.” (E) This proves that bullies lack the courage to be individuals instead of going along with the crowd. (C) Additionally, on page 5, it states, “Some people are just insecure or jealous.” (E) It can be inferred that bullies feel the need to put others down because of a flaw within themselves that has nothing to do with someone else. PSSST--- Don’t forget to include transition words when changing ideas or when adding to an idea! 

15. RACES
S= Sum It Up
Means: Sum up the explanations for the evidence you used to support your topic in different words.
Example: In conclusion, bullies make others feel bad about themselves simply because it makes them feel more popular or because they lack confidence.

16. RACES (RACECES)
The basic RACES (RACECES) structure should now look like this: (RA statement) In the article “Tales of Bullying,” people bully others because bullies feel insecure about themselves. (C) According to the text, “Some kids bully because they want to fit in.” (E) This proves that bullies lack the courage to be individuals instead of going along with the crowd. (C) Additionally, on page 5, it states, “Some people are just insecure or jealous.” (E) It can be inferred that bullies feel the need to put others down because of a flaw within themselves that has nothing to do with someone else. (S) In conclusion, bullies make others feel bad about themselves simply because it makes them feel more popular or because they lack confidence.

17. Directions: Follow the directions on your PPT notes to color code and label your RACECES example:
(RA statement) In the article “Tales of Bullying,” people bully others because bullies feel insecure about themselves. (C) According to the text, “Some kids bully because they want to fit in.” (E) This proves that bullies lack the courage to be individuals instead of going along with the crowd. (C) Additionally, on page 5, it states, “Some people are just insecure or jealous.” (E) It can be inferred that bullies feel the need to put others down because of a flaw within themselves that has nothing to do with someone else. (S) In conclusion, bullies make others feel bad about themselves simply because it makes them feel more popular or because they lack confidence.