ELA 6 Syllabus
RIVERSIDE MIDDLE SCHOOL 2022-2023
6th Grade Studies Language Arts Syllabus
McQuade- bmcquade@greenville.k12.sc.us McQuade- 355.7951 Ms. McQuade rm E117
Rivers- rmcmilli@greenville.k12.sc.us Rivers-355-7953 Mrs. Rivers rm E109
RMS website: www.greenville.k12.sc.us/riverms
My expectations for your child are high. I hope to see each child work to his/her highest potential. The philosopher Aristotle taught his students centuries ago, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act but a habit….” By having definite, clear, and high expectations for your child, I hope to plant the seed for a life-long desire for excellence!
THE RIVERSIDE MIDDLE MISSION IS: Riverside Middle School is a community of learners, developing the world class skills to be productive, engaged members of a global citizenry.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Language arts is an exciting journey of discovery where students explore ideas, examine options, and problem solve. The goal of the middle school language arts program is to develop lifelong readers and writers. Students will apply their knowledge and skills and expand their use of language. This course enables students to study the elements of language arts through the study of short stories, nonfiction, drama, poetry, novels, and various writing units. A strong emphasis will be placed on vocabulary development and writing. During this course, the students will utilize listening and speaking skills emphasized in the textbook.
Textbook/Novels :
Beers, Kylene, et al. Collections. Orlando : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015.
Various novel possibilities including: Flipped, Belle Prater’s Boy, The Pinballs, Al Capone Does My Shirts, The Dark Side of Nowhere, Maniac Magee, The Tempest (GT) and any other novels deemed necessary.
Learning and Developmental Goals:
By the end of the sixth grade, students will:
Draw upon a variety of strategies to comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate what he/she reads.
Write for different audiences and purposes.
Recognize, demonstrate, and analyze the qualities of effective communication.
Access and use information from a variety of appropriately selected sources to extend his/her knowledge.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: I will be following the 6th grade standards for language arts. The standards have exciting, yet demanding requirements. It also encourages students to be intellectual risk-takers.
The following codes will be used in the gradebook, when needed:
Not Handed In – “NHI” (50)
Excused – “EX” (does not count toward student’s average - No grade assigned)
Grade Floor Applied – “GFA” (50)
Grading Scale
90-100 A
80-89 B
70-79 C
60-69 D
50-59 F
In all classes, by the conclusion of a grading period, teachers will have a minimum:
8 minor assessment grades in their gradebook
3 major assessment grades in their gradebook
***Because our primary goal is to maximize student achievement, material may be added, deleted, and/or substituted at the teacher’s discretion based upon the individual needs, levels, and learning styles of each class. Creative projects, written assignments, and supplemental materials will be included during the year as opportunities arise. Likewise, there will be ongoing assessments and standardized test preparations***
QUARTER ONE
Inquiry to formulate relevant, self-generated questions
Inquiry to consider alternative views and multiple perspectives
Text dependent questions (TDQ)
Pronoun and antecedents
Punctuation (colon, semi-colon, dashes, hyphens)
Paraphrasing/plagiarism
Dialect vs. Standard English
Character development
Plot structure
Inference
Point of view
Opinion, fact, bias
Explicit textual evidence
Central ideas/details/theme
QUARTER TWO
Novel study: Flipped
Text dependent analysis (TDA)
Punctuation/capitalization
Paraphrasing ideas
Character responses
Point of view
Central ideas/key details
Anecdotes
Informative writing
Text features/structure
Author’s purpose
Information in different media
Argument
Poetry/figurative language
QUARTER THREE
Novel study: Al Capone Does My Shirts
Text dependent analysis (TDA)
Theme
Irony
Characterization
Figurative language
Author’s style
Euphemisms
Analyzing a prompt
Poetry
Main Idea
Stems as needed
Irregular Verbs
QUARTER FOUR
Novel study
Text dependent analysis (TDA)
Short stories
Narrative writing
Stems review
Alliteration, figurative language
Dialect
Poetic forms
Narrative nonfiction
Technical language
Author’s style
Cause and Effect organization
Weekly and Ongoing Assignments:
Students will follow the steps in the writing process:
1. Pre-write, explore, web, diagram, brainstorm
2. Draft and discover
3. Revise the writing
4. Proofread
5. Publish, present, and display
6. Reflection
Materials and Resources:
3 or 5 subject spiral notebook for language arts
pens~any color
pencils
loose leaf notebook paper (kept in 3-ring binder or folder)
highlighters
3 X 5 index cards
a small size pencil sharpener
pencil pouch (filled with pencils, pens, highlighters, a pencil sharpener, individual pack of TISSUES, etc!)
This list will get you started! We will be adding additional supplies throughout the year as needed. ☺
One of my goals as a language arts/reading teacher is to inspire children to love to write! First and foremost, I want them to enjoy writing. Then they will grow as individual writers. We will strive to write well by writing often.
Students must view themselves as writers and realize that all writers make choices. They need time to experiment with writing. I will encourage good writing habits by teaching students that writing is thinking and that all good writers:
1. make choices.
2. must care about what they write.
3. must take ownership and pride in their work.
4. explore and discover as they write
Writing Curriculum
Students will view themselves as writers. I have a lot of faith in them as writers. I will also demand a lot from them as writers so they achieve. Writing enables students to integrate grammar as they elaborate upon their writing, revise, and proofread. In the classroom, we will have various types of responses to the writing assignments. We will incorporate private writing, pure sharing, limited feedback, and full feedback. Sometimes students need opportunities to share writing and get responses, but not get criticism. By putting this into practice, students will discover what is possible the most useful kind of feedback~learning how readers understand what it is that they have written.
Rules and Procedures:
My classroom rules clear and reviewed as needed. Our classroom rules are:
BE PROMPT
⮚ Be in your seat before the bell rings
BE PREPARED
⮚ Have your materials every day
⮚ Bring a novel to class every day
BE POLITE
⮚ Respect other people and their belongings
⮚ Respect me
⮚ Respect yourself
Procedures for non-instructional routines
1. The school tardy policy will be followed in class. Students may present a note to the teacher if they are tardy.
2. In the case of a fire drill, earthquake drill, tornado drill, or bomb threat, students will leave the classroom in an orderly fashion and will follow all appropriate procedures as outlined in the faculty handbook.
3. An accurate record of attendance will be taken each class period.
4. Sharpen pencils at the beginning of class or with permission from the teacher.
Presentation of Rules and Procedures
During the first week of school I explain all expectations, responsibilities, and procedures to all students to ensure EACH student I teach is successful! Rules and consequences are posted in the classroom and reviewed when needed.
Communication with parents
Parents of students will be contacted several times during the school year. Parents will receive:
▪ Report cards
▪ Telephone calls or emails when necessary
▪ Positive notes given to the student
▪ Parent and teacher conferences as needed where the student attends
Each of my language arts classes will discuss and create a social contract in which we agree upon procedures and expectations for the class. Each student in that period will initial the social “family” contract. I reserve the right to be creative in dealing with discipline problems, as the situation warrants. The basic class rules are clearly posted and there should be no confusion in this regard.
Parent contact is made as needed. I respond promptly to all messages from parents. Positive notes are given to students for a variety of reasons ☺. Parents may contact me through the school (355-7969) or directly through my email address listed at the beginning of this document.
Homework Policy:
When homework is assigned in language arts, it will be due on the assigned date and will be clearly posted on my board. Students are required and will be reminded to write down the ELA/reading HW in their agendas. We will (as a class each and every period) discuss the assigned homework. Most homework in language arts is to actively and excitedly read each day for approximately 20 minutes, study any class notes we have completed together and/or work on editing/revising our quick writes (QW). As stated in the RMS handbook, it is the student’s responsibility to complete work.
Extra Help will be available all mornings from 7:45 until 8:10. It is the student’s responsibility to request an extra help session.
eLearning Days-
During days students are eLearning Monday-Thursday I will be available from 2:30-3:15 to answer questions or concerns.
2:20 - 2:30 ELA
2:30 - 2:40 Math
2:40 - 2:50 Science
2:50 -3:00 Social Studies
During Plans 1&2 I will be available Friday to conduct Google Meets and answer questions based on the following schedule.