Mrs Hoekstra's 6th Grade ELA

Class Overview  - 

(ELA uses Amplify: district- adopted curriculum)

Unit 1 Dahl & Narrative: In this unit students will explore the power of a 1st person memoir in order to capture the feelings and experiences of childhood. Readings will show students how the author creates a character.  Writing in this unit will focus on a moment in the text and allow students to develop their own perspectives about it.

Texts used will be excerpts from Roald Dahl's memoir Boy, as well as his novel Matilda.

Activity highlight - students will have a chance to respond to peers' writing with constructive comments.

Unit 2 Mysteries & Investigations: In this unit students will look at investigators' approaches to medical and criminal mysteries.  Readings are various excerpts which assess the credibility of evidence used to support conclusions.  Writing in this unit will focus on students explaining which trait is most useful to problem-solving investigators.

Text used will be various detective stories (ex. Sherlock Holmes), as well as narrative non-fiction of scientific discoveries.

Activity highlights - students will evaluate 3 competing scientific theories, assume the identity of a medical experiment volunteer, as well as investigate clues and draw conclusions alongside Sherlock Holmes.

Unit 3 The Chocolate Collection: In this unit students will hear facts and stories of chocolate production through the ages and across cultures.  Readings this unit will compare various authors' purposes and perspectives.  The writing in this unit focuses on students making an argument after gathering research from several credible sources.

Text used will be primary and secondary sources of varied topics and perspectives regarding the history of the production of chocolate.

Activity highlights - construct research questions and explore reliable and valid sources.

Unit 4 The Greeks: In this unit students will explore humans vs. gods in ancient Greece.  Readings are excerpts that will analyze connections between symbols, characters, and themes in mythology.  Writing in this unit will cover the development of themes in a story.

Texts used will be modern retellings of myths in Amplify, as well as the novel The Lightning Thief.

Activity highlights - explore the world of Olympian gods and meet the characters of Greek mythology, as well as writing a short script in group format and acting out a favorite scene.

Unit 5 Summer of the Mariposas: This class novel will explore the hero's journey through the lens of Aztec mythology.  The reading in this unit is a full novel that will trace the main character's arc from beginning to end.  The writing in this unit will focus on analyzing how character traits assist a heroic character on their journey.

Text used is the YA novel Summer of the Mariposas.

Activity highlights - students will create their own map of the hero's journey, as well as research characters of Aztec mythology mentioned in the novel.

Unit 6 The Titanic Collection: In this unit students will examine the lives and experiences of the Titanic passengers.  Readings will be a variety of primary and secondary sources to compare and contrast perspectives of this event.  The writing of this unit will ask students to develop their own research question and work to answer that question through using reliable and valid sources.

Texts used will be artifacts from the voyage such as menus, journals, letters, and photographs.

Activity highlights - assume the identity of an actual Titanic passenger and write a letter from their point of view regarding their personal experience.