ELA Units Grade 6
ELA Units Grade 6
This course will focus on the five language arts: reading, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing. Special emphasis will be placed on higher thinking skills and on the mastery of those skills necessary for good writing, including the logical development of ideas, voice, form, language, mechanics, sentence structure, writing for an audience, and determining a purpose for writing. Students will be given opportunities to reflect upon and self-assess their progress toward goals, as they practice both on-demand and process writing.
This year, students will read and write in a variety of forms, which will include stories, personal narratives, poems, argument writing, editorials, expository essays, and literary analyses. The sixth grade core texts consist of a novel by Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and a memoir by Adeline Yen Mah, Chinese Cinderella.
Change in Self and the World, our sixth grade theme, is the nucleus around which much of our readings coalesce. Such thematic unity will encourage students to make connections between and amongst texts, their own lives, and the larger world. The richness of the texts we use will also ensure lively discussion and deeper understanding of both literary conventions and literature’s larger purpose in our lives.
Vision of the Graduate: Knowledge
Long Term Goals
What dispositions and core competencies (e.g. “soft skills”) are valued both within this unit and across units, subject areas?
BIG Ideas
When exploring non-standard complex problems, skills can be transferred across disciplines
Essential Questions
Students will keep considering…
Will be updated soon
Vision of the Graduate: Knowledge
Long Term Goals
Accessing a variety of sources requires strategic decisions when developing a range of skills.
What dispositions and core competencies (e.g. “soft skills”) are valued both within this unit and across units, subject areas?
BIG Ideas
When exploring non-standard complex problems, skills can be transferred across disciplines.
Essential Questions
Students will keep considering…
How are characters developed to advance plot or theme in a novel?
How can a person’s decisions and actions change his/her life?
How do decisions, actions, and consequences vary depending on the different perspectives of the people involved?
How can we write about our reading in such a way that we make compelling arguments and express our ideas with logical evidence from the literature we read?
How does an author develop certain perspectives and power positions in a story through character development?
Vision of the Graduate: Mindfulness
Long Term Goals
Understanding diverse cultures and perspectives creates empathy and respect for others.
What dispositions and core competencies (e.g. “soft skills”) are valued both within this unit and across units, subject areas?
BIG Ideas
A person’s and culture’s identity is shaped by experiences, requiring multiple perspectives to explore the past, present, and future.
Essential Questions
Students will keep considering…
Vision of the Graduate: Resilience
Long Term Goals
Persistence and flexibility are needed to navigate rigorous, complex problems.
What dispositions and core competencies (e.g. “soft skills”) are valued both within this unit and across units, subject areas?
BIG Ideas
Conflicts and challenges cause humans to re-evaluate their beliefs, ethics, morals and cultural uniqueness.
Essential Questions
Students will keep considering…
Vision of the Graduate: Collaboration
Long Term Goals
Critically analyzing different perspectives and approaches enables one to contribute responsibly to society.
What dispositions and core competencies (e.g. “soft skills”) are valued both within this unit and across units, subject areas?
BIG Ideas
Essential Questions
Students will keep considering…
Will be updated soon
Enduring Understanding:
Written communication and proper grammar mechanics promote fluency of communication.
Essential Question:
What is the purpose of applying grammar and mechanics?
What role do grammar and mechanics play in crafting a solid piece of writing?
How does the absence of proper grammar detract from my audience's enjoyment and understanding of my piece?
How does having a command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage help us become better readers and writers?
Key Ideas and Details: Grade 6
RL.6.1 - Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RL.6.2 - Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
RL.6.3 - Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
Craft and Structure:
RL.6.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
RL.6.5 - Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.
RL.6.6 - Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
RL.6.7 - Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contrasting what they “see” and “hear” when reading the text to what they perceive when they listen or watch.
RL.6.9 - Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:
RL.6.10 - By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
Key Ideas and Details:
RI.6.1 - Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RI.6.2 - Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
RI.6.3 - Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).
Craft and Structure:
RI.6.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
RI.6.5 - Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph, chapter, or section fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the ideas.
RI.6.6 - Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
RI.6.7 - Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
RI.6.8 - Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not.
RI.6.9 - Compare and contrast one author’s presentation of events with that of another (e.g., amemoir written by and a biography on the same person).
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:
RI.6.10 - By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.