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Reading Stamina time: minutes
Why do we do sustained reading time in our classroom?
Why do we do sustained reading time in our classroom?
Data tells us that as little as 20 minutes can improve your student's reading! Keep encouraging it!
Data tells us that as little as 20 minutes can improve your student's reading! Keep encouraging it!
Class Focus
Class Focus
In middle school at St. Gabriel, we do try to give a 90 minute focus to ELA. On the schedule for the class, you may see that students have this back to back, or it may be separated. Based on our Units of Study, it is sometimes best to arrange this 90 minutes and break it up depending on what skills we are working on and what time frame that needs. While our schedule may say 45 minutes for English and 45 minutes for Literature, Mrs. Doenges looks at this as 90 minutes a day to navigate Writing time, Grammar time, and Reading time.
This page will be specific to Reading skills.
Google Classroom
Google Classroom
With our school year, we will be doing a variety of items online to allow us to switch from in-person to online learning as quickly and seamlessly as possible. Students will be expected to use Google Classroom and check their Email daily to ensure there is no new correspondence. I will be posting assignments via Google Classroom, so that when students are absent, they are still able to access things to complete their work as to not fall behind. When available, I will include a digital copy of something, so students do not need various items from the classroom.
Students will have access to their school-issued Chromebooks while in school, but when at home, they will potentially need access to technology with internet capabilities. I also encourage students to have access to a camera that can send images of assignments not completed with the Google suite.
There are numerous websites and apps that can be used other than the Google suite. One notable one is YouTube can be used for various videos. Other options could include Flipgrid, EdPuzzle, Padlet, etc. Rest assured that I will work with students to explain how to use these various tools.
While at school, students are unable to use devices such as Kindle to access books, so every attempt will be to have a paper copy for students to read. However, when at home, students are able to use those devices or those obtained from the library to read novels assigned. For independent reading time in-person, a student would need a paper copy of the novel.
ELA Standards for Literature
ELA Standards for Literature
Literature grades will be evaluated by the newly adopted ELA standards. However, you may see grades given by percentages on the grade book to show the percentage that your student understands of a topic. That will not be factored into a final grade but will be shown on the scale below. I will input those grades as FORMATIVE, so you can know how a student is doing with that skill.
Units of Study
Units of Study
We use the Units of Study and Reader's Workshop in our classroom. The main units of reading that we will use are the following:
Getting Back into Independent Reading and Building a Vibrant Reading Life- 1st trimester
A Deep Study of Character-1st Trimester
Tapping the Power of Nonfiction-2nd trimester
Social Issues Book Clubs: Reading for Empathy and Advocacy-3rd trimester
Novels
Novels
We read a variety of novels in 6th grade. Some novels are whole class, and others may be based on student reading level. Students are also assigned independent reading novels throughout the year to help offer choice.
Some whole class novels used in this class are the following: Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. A whole class novel may not be used depending on the year and based on in person vs. online learning.
We typically read them at these points of the year:
Wonder- 1st trimester with Narrative Writing unit
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry- 2nd trimester
A Wrinkle in Time-3rd trimester
Some novels used for book clubs are the following (but this is by no means all that are available): Solo by Kwame Alexander, Sticks and Stones by Abby Cooper, One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia, Ghost by Jason Reynolds, El Deafo by Cece Bell, Fast Break by Mike Lupica, and many more. Students use book clubs while they are studying social issues.
We also incorporate a variety of short stories that can be used as mentor texts. These short stories could come from writers such as Kwame Alexander, James Howe, Adam Bagdasarian, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Ray Bradbury, Sandra Cisneros, and many others. These stories might tell us more about writing skills we want to try or to practice using new reading skills.
Wonder-1st trimester
Wonder-1st trimester
Every few days, I will post a new assignment sheet with various assignments throughout the week. I have the week broken down into days with suggestions on how to best chart their time in order to complete the work. You will see a calendar that I will update as we progress. Please note, it does not have everything on it at this time and will be updated.
Typically in the week, the students might have the following assignments:
50-70 pages per 4-5 days or so
2-3 quick writes (usually turned in on Google slides NB for the week)
5-10 vocabulary words -completed in a Google Slideshow NB for the week
Less than 10 reading questions (completed in the Google Slide NB for the week)
Reading Quiz (posted about every 5 days or so)-Google Form, usually reading comprehension questions
Class Discussions and various assignments to aid our understanding of the theme and purpose for this novel
Optional: Any Quizizz review games posted for reading and vocabulary to help students prepare.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (RoTHMC)- 2nd Trimester
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (RoTHMC)- 2nd Trimester
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor is a fictional recount of family stories of her father growing up in Mississippi in the 1930s. The novel takes place in 1933 in rural Mississippi where Cassie is having an awakening about the tensions between the white and African-American characters within the novel.
Typical Daily Homework:
We will read approximately a chapter a night (some longer chapters may be given 2 days).
Students will have reading questions to answer.
They will typically be asked to find 3-5 vocabulary words from the chapter (depending on the length of the chapter).
Students will be asked to come up with 3 major events within those chapters.
Formal Assessments:
Reading Checks: Students will be allowed to use their questions document to answer these questions. It will test their completion of the reading comprehension questions.
Reading Quizzes: Students will be given a reading quiz at various points thoughout the unit. They will not be allowed to use any notes or book but can prepare by reviewing the reading quizzes and any review Quizziz games.
At this point, an assessment is planned. More details will be coming as we progress through the book.
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