Embedded Files
Teacher Resources
Unit Overview
Unit Overview
This unit explores the nonfiction reading skills that are essential to students’ achievement in virtually every academic discipline. To do science, students need to read science books and articles. To study history, they need to be skilled at reading all kinds of primary and secondary sources. When we help students become powerful readers of nonfiction, we help them become powerful learners. Students will read texts about admirable figures who overcame obstacles, had their character tested, and made a change.
Unit Vocabulary
Unit Vocabulary
Non-fiction
Text structure
Description
Cause and effect
Compare and Contrast
Evidence
Inference
Paraphrase
Summarize
opinion/fact
Author’s purpose
Explain
Persuade
Challenge
Audience
Claim
Context
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
How do I see myself and how do others see me?
How does the way we confront challenges and overcome obstacles shape us?
What does it mean to be a friend?
What do we admire in other people and how are we shaped by those we admire?
Unit Standards
Unit Standards
All ELA standards can be found listed in the updated 2017 Massachusetts State ELA Grade 6 Frameworks:
Students will learn...
Reading for Information
Key Ideas and Details
How to cite strong evidence
How to make connection between and among ideas in a text
How to use quotations to support claims
How to restate a passage in your own words
Craft and Structure
How to determine parts of a non-fiction work
How to explain the author’s purpose to explain, persuade, and/or inform it’s audience
Integrating of Knowledge and Ideas
How to use and connect multiple forms of media
How to trace a claim
How to recognize conflicting information
Speaking and Listening
What discussion rules are and how to apply them
How to set and track goals for speaking and for listening
What roles in collaborative work are and how to apply them
How to elaborate and keep discussion on track
How to pose good questions
How to respond with detail
How to apply the following presentation skills:
Having a main idea
Using logic
Eye contact
Volume
clarity
Texts
Texts
Primates
Jim Ottaviani
Hidden Figures
Margot Lee Shetterly
This Kid Can Fly
Aaron Phillip
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
Steve Sheinkin
Born to Fly
Steve Sheinkin
Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary
Gail Jarrow
The Incredible Story of Henry Bergh
Nancy Turstinger
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies
Joyce Sidman
Teen Strong: Wildfire Conservation with Robert Irwin
Kristy Stark
Page updated
Report abuse