Grade 6 ELA

Essential Questions

• How do challenges that characters face tie into the overall theme of a story? 

Guiding Questions

• What does the story suggest about empathy towards others' differences? 

• How does literature connect to middle schoolers' experiences in their lives?

• How does kindness change people's circumstances?

Guiding Questions

• How is the narrator's experience representative of the wider human experience? 

Essential Questions

• What does it mean to be a survivor? 

• Does knowledge contribute to or inhibit true happiness?

Guiding Questions

• What defines a family? 

• How do the characters in the text symbolize the theme?

• How are the hardships people face influenced by the time they are living? 

• How does kindness change people's circumstances?

Text/Materials

Core Texts:

• But, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Skills Taught

Students will:

• summarize text.

  1. • identify central ideas.

     • interpret and explain the impact of the chosen quote in the context of the text. 

     • make use of vivid word choice, imagery, figurative language, transitional statements, and varying sentence structures.

     • identify characters’ motivations.

     • identify the significance of particular allusions.

     • identify themes in text and analyze how the theme is shaped and refined by the character’s transformation.

     • identify various literary elements in the text and analyze the use of the element through the text and how it contributes to the development of the theme.

     • highlight words and phrases that reveal the author’s attitude toward the subject of the text.

Standards

Reading: 6R1, 6R2, 6R3, 6R4, 6R6, 6R7, 6R9

Writing: 6W1, 6W2, 6W3, 6W4, 6W5

Speaking/Listening: 6SL1, 6SL2, 6SL3, 6SL4, 6SL5, 6SL6

Language: 6L1, 6L2, 6L3, 6L4, 6L5, 6L6

• How does an author develop characters? 

• What details in the story contribute to our understanding of the theme? 

Guiding Questions

• How do authors craft stories? 

Text/Materials

Core Texts:

• Short stories by various authors including, but not limited to:

  • “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros 

  • “Thank you, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes 

  • “The Bike” by Gary Soto 

  • “After Twenty Years” by O. Henry 

  • “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara

Skills Taught

Students will:

• summarize text.

  1. • identify central ideas.

     • interpret and explain the impact of the chosen quote in the context of the text. 

     • make use of vivid word choice, imagery, figurative language, transitional statements, and varying sentence structures.

     • identify characters’ motivations.

     • identify the significance of particular allusions.

     • identify themes in text and analyze how the theme is shaped and refined by the character’s transformation.

     • identify various literary elements in the text and analyze the use of the element through the text and how it contributes to the development of the theme.

     • highlight words and phrases that reveal the author’s attitude toward the subject of the text.

Standards

Reading: 6R1, 6R2, 6R3, 6R4, 6R6, 6R7, 6R9

Writing: 6W1, 6W2, 6W3, 6W4, 6W5

Speaking/Listening: 6SL1, 6SL2, 6SL3, 6SL4, 6SL5, 6SL6

Language: 6L1, 6L2, 6L3, 6L4, 6L5, 6L6

• How do our circumstances influence how we see the world and react to challenges we face? 

Guiding Questions

• How do the characters' reactions to conflict and opposition dictate the outcomes of a situation? 

Text/Materials

Core Texts:

• A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

Skills Taught

Students will:

• summarize text.

  1. • identify central ideas.

     • interpret and explain the impact of the chosen quote in the context of the text. 

     • make use of vivid word choice, imagery, figurative language, transitional statements, and varying sentence structures.

     • identify individuals’ motivations.

     • identify the significance of particular allusions.

     • identify themes in text and analyze how the theme is shaped and refined by the individual's transformation.

     • identify various literary elements in the text and analyze the use of the element through the text and how it contributes to the development of the theme.

     • highlight words and phrases that reveal the author’s attitude toward the subject of the text.

Standards

Reading: 6R1, 6R2, 6R3, 6R4, 6R6, 6R7, 6R9

Writing: 6W1, 6W2, 6W3, 6W4, 6W5

Speaking/Listening: 6SL1, 6SL2, 6SL3, 6SL4, 6SL5, 6SL6

Language: 6L1, 6L2, 6L3, 6L4, 6L5, 6L6

• How can we use research to explore the world around us?

• How can we explore topics by generating inquiry questions, research different areas of a topic, build on new knowledge, make connections, and finally develop an evidence-based perspective?

Guiding Questions

• Does the question have an appropriate scope or purpose? (Does it focus on an important aspect of the research question/problem?

• Is the question useful? Will it lead to meaningful inquiry?

• Is the question understandable or clear?

• Is the question answerable through research?

• Is your question’s answer unknown to you?

• Is the research question one that is of interest to the researcher and potentially to others?  

• Is the research question too broad or too narrow?

Text/Materials

Choice Texts:

• Texts for research based on their individual research question/problem

Skills Taught

Students will:

• read closely for textual details.

  1. • annotate texts to support comprehension and analysis.

     • engage in productive evidence based discussions about text.

     • collect and organize evidence from texts to support analysis in writing.

     • analyze text and multimedia.

     • make claims about the development and refinement of central ideas in a text.

     • use vocabulary strategies to define unknown words.

     • identify potential topics for research within a text.

     • generate, select, and refine inquiry questions to explore topics.

     • develop 2–3 areas of investigation from the topic exploration.

     • develop inquiry questions about areas of investigation.

     • generate specific inquiry questions for the research question/problem.

     • plan for searches by determining key words/phrases and finding credible and relevant sources.

     • assess sources for credibility, relevance, and accessibility.

     • annotate sources and records notes that will help answer the inquiry questions.

     • conduct searches with modeling and support as well as independently.

     • review and synthesize the research to develop a written evidence-based perspective.

Standards

Reading: 6R1, 6R2, 6R3, 6R5, 6R7, 6R8, 6R9

Writing: 6W1, 6W2, 6W3, 6W4, 6W5, 6W6, 6W7

Speaking/Listening: 6SL1, 6SL2, 6SL3, 6SL4, 6SL5, 6SL6

Language: 6L1, 6L2, 6L3, 6L4, 6L5, 6L6

• How does an author’s life influence his or her writing? 

• How are literary devices used to enhance poetry and its meaning?

• How does a reader analyze a poem for understanding and meaning?

Guiding Questions

• How does word choice help a reader identify mood? 

• What is foreshadowing?

• How does symbolism help a reader move beyond a literal understanding of a text? 

• Who is the speaker in the poem?

• What is the conflict in the poem?

• What is the tone of the poem? How does the poet feel about the subject?

• What is the mood of the poem? How does the poem make you feel?

• What is the theme of the poem? What is it saying about mankind or life in general?

Text/Materials

Choice Texts:

• Poems and short stories by Edgar Allan Poe

Skills Taught

Students will:

• explicate poems.

  1. • identify figurative language and imagery.

     • write analyzing poems and locate particular poetic elements.

     • discuss how poetic elements add to the effectiveness of a poem.

     • write analysis of a sonnet.

     • translate from figurative to literal language.

     • write original poems of various kinds.

Standards

Reading: 6R1, 6R2, 6R3, 6R4, 6R5, 6R6, 6R7, 6R9

Writing: 6W1, 6W2, 6W3, 6W4, 6W5

Speaking/Listening: 6SL1, 6SL2, 6SL3, 6SL4, 6SL5, 6SL6

Language: 6L1, 6L2, 6L3, 6L4, 6L5, 6L6