This I Believe Speech Academic Assembly

Every year our students write and present speeches that detail one strong belief they hold. These speeches are performed at an academic assembly during third term.

Listen to some past speeches on the podcast below, organized and produced by Ellen Blanchard and her 6th grade classes.

How can I be the primary educator?

The Ultimate Library Catalog and Wish List

Our 6th grade library is missing many awesome, inspiring titles! Visit 6 Blanchard's "The Ultimate Library Catalog and Wish List" to see which titles are available in our classroom and which we are still actively searching for. This is a great resource for gift ideas, recommendations and even a place for you to start reading too! For more information about this list, read this letter.

Be a Passionate Reader!

It's no secret that kids who read have sophisticated vocabularies and grammar usage. Take on a monkey-see, monkey-do approach with reading. If you take time out of your busy day to read a few chapters, it will communicate to your child that reading is useful.

Listen to Books on Tape (or App)

Not everyone is willing or able to sit down and read. Try downloading the Audible App onto your smart phone for thousands of audio books. Your child could listen on their way to swim practice or school. If you're both listening at the same time, you can react to plot twists at the same time or ask questions while the book progresses. 

"Say more about that"

Utilizing the English language during conversation is as important in our E.L.A. classroom as reading and writing. Push your child to be specific and use evidence by listening and stating "say more about that." You might be surprised by what inspires their input. 

Read with your child!

Take about 20 minutes a night to sit with your child and silently read your chosen books. 

Journal

Keep a journal for yourself and journal with your child, about your day, dreams and wishes, short stories, creative writing, etc.

Where can my child find books?

Classroom Library

We have a small but growing classroom library (See "The Ultimate Wish List" above). I collect young adult books from the families of previous students. If you have any well loved books that your high school student will never pick up again, send them my way! 

The Franklin Public Library

Our students have taken a field trip to The Franklin Public Library and are now aware of how to look up books. If you find yourself in need of a Sunday afternoon activity, explore their stacks.

Scholastic

You can buy books through Scholastic.com using my teacher code: TKXMP and our classroom will earn points. I use these points to purchase new books for our classroom library, keeping our selection relevant and inviting for your young readers.

What ongoing activities can we expect?

Units of Study

Launch Unit: Writing a personal memoir, reading mentor memoir texts, getting to know who we are, understanding figurative language, and focus on imagery for thorough descriptive language.

Short Story Unit: Building on what we learned in the launch unit, developing a deeper understanding of theme and message, reading short stories and understanding their characteristics, focusing on characterization and analyzing that in the students' writing. 

Novel Study: Reading a novel as a class and analyzing its characteristics. Comparing it to different types of sources such as poetry, non fiction and biographical texts. 

Book Clubs: In this unit, students will apply what they learned in the classroom novel unit to a novel of their choice. This is mostly a student lead unit, where they demonstrate how well they can analyze the text and work in groups. 

This I Believe: See above.