6th Grade ELA is a broad introduction to middle-school-level Language Arts skills in reading, writing, verbal and multi-media communication, and research.
We will employ a number of techniques to engage students in the content, first and foremost being the integration of each unit with Social Studies. Since the Social Studies curriculum focuses throughout the year on five distinct regions of the United States, the readings in ELA will include multiple novels and non-fiction memoirs that each focus on one of those regions. In addition, students will spend time each week reading independent novels of their choice, and will use a variety of media -- from newsletters to videos -- in order to summarize and analyze the content of what they read. They will build on their composition abilities by completing informational, argumentative, and narrative writing projects that begin with single-paragraph constructions and move on to coherent, multi-paragraph works. Finally, students will complete a range of formal discussion and speech assignments that require them to compose and present information verbally and interactively in the form of formal discussions and debates. The goal of these different modes of expression, aside from honing students' communication skills across a variety of formats, will be to become critical thinkers and collaborators capable of increasingly empathetic conversations and works of the imagination.
The course begins with a study of the relationship between the cultures and resources of the local Connecticut River Valley, where students will learn to craft short non-fiction and narrative works that incorporate factual information, studying sequential informational writing as well as the structure and purpose of Myths and Legends. During the second unit of study, students will develop their discussion and public speaking skills, learning to create and present writing that makes use of both narrative and argumentative elements. In the third unit, students will focus on analysis of text responses along with increasing complexity of sentence structure and variation. In the 4th Unit, students will continue to focus on research, will choose novels, and will develop written narratives that each inhabit a different perspective in the history of the desert southwest region as well as California. In the fifth and final unit, students will study narratives of survival, learn to compare and find patterns in literary sub-genres, and analyze and mimic those styles in their own writing and speaking.
Throughout these multiple units of study, students will learn to integrate more complex sentence structures into their work and to punctuate these structures correctly, beginning with simple sentences and working toward serial, compound, and finally complex sentences that include participle phrases, appositive phrases and adjective phrases to enhance both style and voice. Students will learn to analyze texts at the level of theme through the use of "signposts," language through the use of metaphor, simile, imagery, personification, dialect, and symbolism; and text structure through the use of character development, conflict, and resolution. Learning to distinguish claims from facts and opinions, reasons from evidence, and to seek out relevant information in the form of direct quotes, facts and figures will also guide students' approach to research.
The literature for this course will include the following texts, and will be updated with new releases that match the content and themes of each regional unit of study:
Unit 1: Connecticut River Project
Selected myths, legends, and factual readings about the cultures and geography of the Connecticut River Valley
Unit 2: New Orleans and the Gulf Coast
Zane and the Hurricane by Rodman Philbrick
Unit 3: Appalachia
Same Sun Here by Silas House
Unit 4: Desert Southwest and California
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
Paper Wishes by Lois Sephaban
Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park
Wildfire by Rodman Philbrick
Unit 5: Pacific Northwest and Alaska
A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry
A Whale of the Wild by Rosanne Parry
Call of the Wild by Jack London
Three Old Women by Velma Wallace
What is the relationship between writing and cultural identity?
What is the relationship between writing and personal identity?
How does writing define our identity and our relationship with the world?
Essential Questions:
What is the purpose of Narrative? What is the purpose of telling our own stories?
Major Concepts:
Cultural preservation through storytelling
Major Content:
Narrative and informational writing
Claims and evidence
Basic sources: texts and experts
Unit Assessments:
Connecticut River / Abenaki Culture RAFT Project: narrative non-fiction
Major Texts:
Guest Speaker (Lynn Murphy) / selected Abenaki legends
Essential Questions:
What is the purpose of Narrative? What is the purpose of telling our own stories?
Major Concepts
Character transformation / personal change
Major Content:
Signposts
Literary Language: metaphor, simile, personification, dialect.
Sentence Variation: Simple Sentences, Compound Sentences, Participles
Plot Arc: character, problem, solution, lesson learned (CPSL)
Argumentative Writing: claims, evidence and explanations
Analysis of Text
Unit Assessments:
Zane and the Hurricane Test (comprehension, language analysis, tracking character change)
Zane and the Hurricane Response to Text: tracking character change through challenge with textual evidence.
Major Texts:
Zane and the Hurricane by Rodman Philbrick
Essential Questions:
How do we choose the writing tools to best express our ideas?
Major Concepts
Connections: family, community, self
Major Content
Signposts and Theme: What is the author trying to show?
Literary Language: metaphor, simile, personification, dialect, epistolary form
Sentence Variation: participle phrases, adjective phrases, appositive phrases
Plot Arc: character, problem, solution, lesson learned (CPSL)
Argumentative Writing
Analysis of text
Unit Assessments:
Same Sun Here Test (comprehension, language, analyzing connection between characters)
Same Sun Here Response to Text: Tracking character connection, conflict, and change with textual evidence and complex explanation.
Major Texts:
Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani
Essential Questions:
How can you use information, narratives, and other tools to persuade others?
Major Concepts:
Narratives, Power and Truth and Change
Major Content:
Signposts and Theme: What is the author trying to show?
Literary Language: metaphor, simile, personification, dialect, epistolary form, allegory, quests and journeys
Sentence Variation: participle phrases, adjective phrases, appositive phrases, and poetic tools.
Plot Arc: character, problem, solution, lesson learned (CPSL)
Argumentative Writing.
Analysis of text.
Unit Assessments:
On-demand Response to Text: Literary Circle 1
On-demand Response to Text: Literary Circle 2
1st person Narrative: Immigrant Journey
Major Texts:
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
Wildfire by Rodman Philbrick
Paper Wishes by Lois Sephaban
Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park
Essential Questions:
How do narratives help us to survive in the world?
Major Concepts:
Transformation, Tribe, and Independence
Major Content:
Signposts,Theme and Literary Elements: Tracking theme as well as plot
Literary Language: metaphor, simile, personification, dialect, epistolary form, allegory, quests and journeys and reversals
Sentence Variation: participle phrases, adjective phrases, appositive phrases, poetic tools and parallel form.
Informational Structures: sequence, cause-effect, compare / contrast, proposal.
Non-Fiction Writing: timeline project
Assembling a portfolio
Unit Assessments:
Timeline Project Text and Design
On-demand Historical Writing
Final Magazine Project
Major Texts:
A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry
A Whale of the Wild by Rosanne Parry
Call of the Wild by Jack London
Three Old Women by Velma Wallace