ELA

Purpose

During the course of the school year, we will explore the common core standards for English Language Arts. As a student, you will be exposed to different types of literature while learning how to apply new reading, writing and speaking skills. To look at the different standards we will explore please click on the following link to visit the common core website.

35 Book Challenge/40 Article Challenge

Each 6th grader at Gravelly Hill Middle School is OFFICIALLY CHALLENGED to read 35 books before the year is up! As the year progresses, I will update this page to show who is working hard toward the challenge. Students will log each book they finish during our silent reading time. Students are encouraged to read at home nightly. Extensive research has proven that children who read frequently are better thinkers, writers, and spellers. Reading promotes vocabulary development and builds background knowledge, and is powerfully linked to future achievement. For all of these reasons and more, you must read regularly outside of school as your primary homework. In general I recommend at least 20 minutes a day, but we will talk about our individual reading goals and progress in class.

Silent Reading

In my classroom, we will spend 20 minutes a day reading. Students are allowed to choose any book that appeals to their personal interest. There is no AR points, color system or grouping in my classroom. Students are taught to pick books they feel comfortable to read as well as a book that is interesting to them personally. Each day students will read but also apply different comprehension skills during and after reading their selected book. Students are also allowed to read anywhere in my classroom.

Small Groups

During my ELA (and SS) classes I will use small groups to break down individual students needs. Based on student performance on summative, formative assessments, students will be put into groups based on their need of the standard. These groups change based on weekly, monthly or even daily needs. These groups will be made based on standard based grading. To see what standard based grading is, please read the Grades tab.

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