1. Carole Pinkwasser 6C

2.  Grew up in New York and went to Brooklyn College where I received my B.A. in Education  Received my Masters in Education from NAU in 1994  My husband and I moved to Arizona in 1979  Have two grown children, my son is married and we have a 5 year old granddaughter  This is my 3rd year at Altadena  Previously, taught ELA at Akimel A-al for 13 years  Before that, taught Kindergarten in Mesa for 9 years  Also taught 6 years in a preschool in Tempe  Highly qualified to teach English Language Arts and World History

3.  Please have a 3 section spiral notebook just for ELA  Grammar, test prep questions, journals  Spelling/vocabulary practice- weekly Wednesday to Wednesday, test each week  Reading Skills- read it, understand it, think it through  Writing Skills- sentence structure, paragraphing  Students are expected to hand write drafts AND edit/revise their own work. Adult help will come after the student process.

4.  Common Core State Standards/ ELA Clear and consistent standards for teachers, students, and parents Relevant, real world skills to prepare for college and careers Be prepared to compete in the global economy “I Can” statements, learning goals, check understanding AZ MERIT in the spring

5.  Lexile  Difficulty of the text is considered  www.lexile.com (6 th gr. 850-1050 and 7 th gr. 950-1075) www.lexile.com  Informational Text*  Major basis of reading material across the core subjects  Literary Text  Genres, structure of stories, real-life connections, and perceptions

6.  Key Ideas and Details  Read closely—cite specific textual evidence; make logical inferences  Determine theme and analyze development; summarize  Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact  Craft and Structure  Technical, connotative and figurative meaning  Analyze structure  Point of view and purpose  Integration of Knowledge and Ideas  Integrate and evaluate content  Delineate and evaluate claims  Analyze two or more texts

7.  Reading will be more connected with written responses  Defending answers by citing the author/author’s purpose  Using Shared Inquiry Method, an active and collaborative search for answers to questions of meaning about a text. It is a research-supported method of learning that promotes deeper thinking through reading, discussion, and writing. It always involves interpretive questions (questions that have more than one answer that can be supported by the text), close reading, collaboration, and reflective and critical thinking.  Making arguments based on informational reading  Close Reading Strategies: a careful and purposeful re- reading of the text to search for purpose, structure, words, ideas, and flow of the text.  Using annotation (highlighting, underlining, circling, writing in the margins, etc.) to help make connections

8.  Text Types and Purposes  Support claims using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.  Informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately  Narratives to develop real or imagined experiences  Production and Distribution of Writing  Produce clear and coherent writing appropriate to task  Develop and strengthen writing  Use technology to produce/publish  Research to Build and Present Knowledge  Conduct short and long research projects  Gather relevant information from multiple sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each and avoid plagiarism  Draw evidence from texts to support analysis, reflection, and research

9.  Written Responses to reading text  Journals, notes, short responses  Writing Applications  Argumentative/Opinion  Narrative  Expository/Informational  Literary Responses 6 + 1 Trait of Writing will be used along with scales and rubrics to score teach and score writing.

10.  Students will use the “stoplight” method to highlight information in a text.  They will use the same method to structure their writing.  Green- topic/concluding sentence  Yellow- main ideas/points  Red- examples, evidence

11.  Read each night (20-30+ minutes)answer questions on Reading Log  Re-read classroom stories,  Spelling/vocabulary practice (10 mins.) -Due each Wednesday  Grammar practice (10 mins.)  Unfinished class work (???)  Occasional time for research/writing if doing a project

12.  Please use the Parent Vue Portal on Kyrene web site to check grade and work completion status. Usually updated weekly.  Student receive daily grades for class work and homework. This includes “walk-ins”.  Larger assignments such as projects, reader’s response, research, creative writing work will receive more points than daily work.  Grading: 80% quizzes, projects, assessments 20% classwork and homework

13.  Skits, plays, performances  School Spelling Bee  Word games/Brainteasers  Friendly competitions in class

14. Class website- resources and handouts Team website- homework The best way to contact me is through email cpinkw@kyrene.org 480-541-6102 Thanks for coming !

15.  Placed if scored at or above the 97 th percentile on national norms in one or more of three areas- verbal(language), quantitative(math), and nonverbal(spatial) reasoning.  Students should maintain a “B” or better average to stay in class. Will set up a parent meeting to discuss if an issue or problem occurs.

16.  Vocabulary program-Classical Latin & Greek roots  Introduction to Shakespeare  Above grade level stories (Literature book, novels)  Higher levels of comparing/contrasting  Challenge the views of the author and discrepancy between texts(literary analysis)  Higher level speaking skills(multi-media)  Kyrene website (Programs & Services-Gifted Programs)-organizations, resources, activities, and gifted web links