6th Grade- What We're Reading
May 7-11
Students are reading The Diary of Anne Frank (the adapted play version). We are continuing to learn about the Holocaust and the experiences of Jews during this time period.
May 7- Nazi propaganda and Act I, scene iii
May 8- Act I, scene iii
May 9- Act I, scene iv and poems by Holocaust survivors
May 10- Independent reading
May 11- Act I, scene v
April 30-May 4
Students finished the Maniac Magee book trailer on Monday. Then they are learning about the Holocaust and Anne Frank in preparation to read The Diary of Anne Frank (the play).
April 30- Book trailer work time
May 1- Introduction to the Holocaust
May 2- Act I, scene i and ii
May 3- Independent reading
May 4- Nazi propaganda and Act I, scene iii
April 23-27
Students are working on their Maniac Magee projects this week. They are creating "book trailers," like movie trailers, to highlight the features of the novel. They are using a website called Adobe Spark to combine text and images that foreshadow the plot, characters, and setting of the novel.
April 23- Finish chapters 44-46
April 24- Band/choir assembly- no class today
April 25- Requirements and brainstorming for book trailer project
April 26- Set up accounts and start creating trailers
April 27- Book trailer work time
April 16-20
Students are finishing up Maniac Magee this week. We are focusing on analyzing the themes of the novel and analyzing the ways characters change throughout the novel. Students are learning to cite evidence to support an analysis of the text rather than just a summary.
April 16- Analysis of theme in chapters 33-37
April 17- Chapters 38-41
April 18- Comprehension questions
April 19- Character development
April 20- Chapters 42-43
April 9-13
Students are continuing to read Maniac Magee. This week, they are focusing on comprehension of the text by responding to comprehension questions. They are also analyzing the development of the protagonist by finding textual evidence to support changes in the character and analyzing those passages from the text.
April 9- Chapters 22-26
April 10- Comprehension questions
April 11- Chapters 27-32
April 12- Character development activity
April 13- SIP Day- No Class
April 2-6
Students are continuing to read Maniac Magee. This week, they are writing an article as a reporter to describe the events that Maniac goes through as an insider in the town. This helps students develop point of view and perspective in their writing.
April 2- NO SCHOOL
April 3- Chapters 16-20
April 4- Write newspaper article on chapter 20's events
April 5- Chapters 21-25
April 6- Independent reading
March 19-23
This week, students are continuing to read Maniac Magee. Students will create a storyboard to summarize the events in the plot and engage in discussions about the events in the novel.
March 19- PARCC Testing
March 20- Storyboard for Maniac's accomplishments
March 21- Chapters 11-15
March 22- PBIS Movie
March 23- SIP Day- No Class
March 12-16
PARCC Testing
March 5-9
This week, students are beginning to read our next novel, Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. Students will engage in discussions and familiarize themselves with the vocabulary in the novel in order to successfully comprehend the text.
March 5- Anticipation guide and discussion
March 6- Making predictions and author information
March 7- Historical context
March 8- Chapters 1-5 in Maniac Magee
March 9- Library visit and independent reading
February 26- March 2
This week, students are continuing to read and analyze poetry. We are wrapping up the unit by reading a few poems and writing poetry inspired by the structure and content of these poems. We are also preparing for the PARCC exam and reviewing test taking strategies.
February 19-23
This week, students are continuing to read and analyze poetry. Students are relearning figurative language definitions, including personification, imagery, repetition, and rhyme/rhythm. Students read poetry, summarize it, and analyze the poem for its use of figurative language.
February 19- No school
February 20- "Abuelito Who"- writing a poem
February 21- Independent reading and personfication
February 22- Personfication in 4 short poems
February 23- "Love That Boy" poem
February 12-16
This week, students are reading and anayzing poetry. The focus of the poetry is on identifying theme, the author's message. Students read poetry, annotate and summarize it, and analyze how the figurative language in the poem contributes to the theme.
February 12- "Our Generation"
February 13- "Touchscreen"
February 14- "Abuelito Who"
February 15- Independent reading
February 16- Institute Day- No School
February 5-9
This week, students are continuing to learn about figurative language and begin their poetry unit. We will define figurative language. Then we will read a variety of poems and learn about how to best navigate a poem in order to determine its meaning.
February 5- Figurative language scavenger hunt
February 6- Independent reading
February 7- "Introduction to Poetry" - poem and analysis
February 8- "Our Generation" - poem and analysis
February 9- Spoken word poetry
January 29- February 2
This week, students are learning about figurative language. We will go through examples and identify the reasons they are used in popular culture- song lyrics, advertisements, etc.
January 29- Finish alternate ending
January 30- Similes
January 31- Metaphors
February 1- Independent reading
February 2- Personification
January 22-26
This week, students worked on creating alternate endings to the novel Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher.
January 15-19
This week, students are finishing the novel Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher. Students also finish up their summary logs. Students are reading in partners and independently. Additionally, students chose new independent reading books and are beginning to read and start their projects for quarter 3.
January 15- No School
January 16- Chapter 11 and 12
January 17- Independent reading
January 18- Chapter 13
January 19- All-school assembly
January 8-12
This week, students are continuing to read Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher. Students continue to record chapter summaries in their summary logs. Students are reading the book as a whole class, with partners, and individually to gain better fluency and practice independent comprehension of the text. Students are also completing a writing assignment in which they take on Jeremy's voice in order to consider the perspective and experiences of a character. Students are picking new independent reading books for the next quarter.
January 8- Chapter 9 and summary
January 9- Library visit and independent reading
January 10- Chapter 10
January 11- Independent reading
January 12- Writing in Jeremy's perspective
December 18-22
This week, students are continuing to read Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher. Students continue to keep up with their summary logs, and they are learning to read more independently. Students will interchangeably read with partners and with the whole class. Students are also reviewing how to cite evidence to support explanations this week while answering comprehension questions.
December 18- Chapters 7 and 8
December 19- Field trip
December 20- Chapters 1-8 comprehension questions
December 21- PBIS movie
December 22- Half day- not meeting today
December 11-15
This week, students are continuing to read Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher. We are still focusing on creating objective and short, focused summaries of each chapter by keeping a summary log throughout the entire novel. Students are also finishing up their picture book versions of their independent reading novels for their Quarter 2 projects.
December 11- Chapter 4 and summary
December 12- Independent reading
December 13- Chapter 5 and 6- "Things I Learned + Questions"
December 14- Chapter 7- Making predictions
December 15- Plans got pushed back a day due to band concert on Wednesday
December 4-8
This week, students are reading Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher. We are focusing on creating objective and short, focused summaries of each chapter to include only the main idea and events. We are also making personal connections with the protagonist in order to understand his development and as well-rounded, dynamic character.
December 4- Finish chapter 1 and summary
December 5- Chapter 2 and summary
December 6- Independent reading
December 7- Chapter 3 and drawing the hatching of the egg/collecting evidence
December 8- Article of the week
November 27-December 1
This week, students are beginning to read a new novel! Our next novel is called Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher. Students will do various pre-reading activities to help them make inferences and familiarize themselves with the content and subject matter of the novel.
November 27- Pre-reading Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher
November 28- Independent reading
November 29- Pre-reading for Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher
November 30- Chapter 1 in Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher
December 1- Reading buddies- Period 8; Article of the week- Period 7
November 20-24
This week, students are creating online posters on lucidpress.com to analyze a character's changes over the course of Wait Till Helen Comes. Students choose 3 traits to describe the character at the beginning, middle, and end of the novel. Then they find evidence in the book to support those traits and write their analysis of the evidence.
November 13-17
This week, we are finishing Wait Till Helen Comes. Our focus is on creating book reviews and answering our final comprehension questions. We will continue to cite textual evidence to support our explanations of plot-based questions. Students will also evaluate their opinions of the book's various features, such as character and setting development.
November 13- Chapter 14-15
November 14- Book reviews
November 15- Chapter 13-15 comprehension questions
November 16- Independent reading
November 17- Brainstorming and planning the novel project
November 6-10
This week, we are continuing to read Wait Till Helen Comes. Our focus is on analyzing the changes in characters and how the tone of the author's descriptions impacts our view of those characters. We will also continue to write explanations of the text by citing textual evidence that supports our objective explanations.
November 6- Chapter 12- Author's attitude on character development
November 7- Analyzing the tone of a passage in chapter 12
November 8- Discussion questions on chapters 10-12 and citing evidence to support answers
November 9- Chapter 13- Making inferences
November 10- Independent reading
October 30- November 1
This week, we are returning to Wait Till Helen Comes. Our focus is on making predictions and inferences based on concrete textual evidence in order to show active and engaged reading. We will also continue to summarize chapters and analyze passages for the author's tone.
October 30- Conclusions and editing for Patriot's Pen essay
October 31- Read chapter 11
November 1- Summarize chapter 11 and make personal connections
November 2- Read chapter 12 and discuss tone of a foreboding passage
November 3- Reading to 2nd grade buddies
October 23-27
We took a break from reading our novel this week in order to write the Patriot's Pen essay. Students selected new independent reading books for Quarter 2. We will resume our reading next week.
October 16-20
This week, we are continuing to read Wait Till Helen Comes. Our focus is on identifying the tone of a passage to understand why the author develops a setting in a certain way. By the end of the week, we will also be focusing on character traits and how characters are changing as the novel progresses.
October 16- Chapter 9 comprehension questions
October 17- Identify and explain the tone of passages in the novel related to setting
October 18- Continue explaining tone in passages about setting and read chapter 10
October 19- Cite evidence to support claims about character traits in chapters 7-10
October 20- Independent reading
October 10-13
This week, we are continuing to read Wait Till Helen Comes. Our focus is on citing texual evidence to support our own explanations of the text. We are also beginning to define and identify tone and mood within passages of the novel.
October 10- Identify and explain the mood of images
October 11- Read chapter 9
October 12- Use sentence starters to lead in to quotes to properly cite evidence
October 13- Article of the week
October 2-6
This week, we are continuing to read Wait Till Helen Comes. Our focus is on citing text evidence to support descriptions of setting. We are also continuing to analyze characters and discuss exciting moments in the plot.
October 2- Finish chapter 7 and draw the Harper House
October 3- Begin chapter 8
October 4- Finish chapter 8
October 5- Independent reading
October 6- Article of the week
September 25-29
This week, we are continuing to read Wait Till Helen Comes. Our focus is on characterization by citing evidence to support claims about the personality traits of each character in the novel.
September 25- Finish chapter 6 and summarize
September 26- Review chapter 4-6 discussion questions
September 27- Character mapping in Wait Till Helen Comes
September 28- Independent reading
September 29- Chapter 7 in Wait Till Helen Comes
September 18-22
This week, we are continuing to read Wait Till Helen Comes. Our focus is on summarizing by evaluating what is most important in each chapter.
September 18- Chapter 4 in Wait Till Helen Comes
September 19- Independent reading
September 20- Chapter 5 in Wait Till Helen Comes
September 21- Chapter 6 in Wait Till Helen Comes
September 11-15
This week, we are beginning our first novel, Wait Till Helen Comes.
September 11- Pre-reading strategies (making predictions)
September 12- Chapter 1 in Wait Till Helen Comes
September 13- Chapter 2 in Wait Till Helen Comes
September 14- Chapter 3 in Wait Till Helen Comes
September 15- Independent reading
September 5-8
This week, we are continuing to watch Pixar short films while completing plot diagrams to demonstrate understanding of the elements of a narrative, including the 4 types of conflict.
September 5- Partly Cloudy (continued)
September 6- Independent reading
September 7- Geri's Game
September 8- Lifted
August 28- September 1
This week, we are watching Pixar short films while completing plot diagrams to demonstrate understanding of the elements of a narrative, including the 4 types of conflict.
August 28- Presto
August 29- Dug's Special Mission
August 30- Partly Cloudy
August 31 and September 1- We are exploring options for independent reading and visiting the library
August 21-25
Last week, we read Grimm's Fairy Tales to better understand plot and the elements of a narrative.
August 21- Cinderella
August 22- Rapunzel
August 23- Sleeping Beauty
August 24- Rumpelstiltskin
August 25- Storyboard of Grimm's Fairy Tales