Wow! Time has flown right by. It's been awhile, but I'm going to get back into the routine of updating my ELA website.
Students are currently working on a figurative language group project. They will be teaching the class about a specific term. Once terms are taught and practiced, students will be expected to use types of figurative language in their writing.
Students are currently reading independent books and responding to them in various ways. You should see them using post its at home during their 20 minutes of reading (please keep encouraging them to do this homework each night). The post its are there to hold spots that make them ASK QUESTIONS, THINK and/or FEEL things while reading.
Don't forget about the current TMS Reading Challenge- The Great Escape. Students should be reading, writing book reviews, and creating book trailers to help them reach Level 1, 2, and/or 3!
Here's a short video by Dav Pilkey to reinforce the importance of letting kids choose the books they read as much as possible.
11/2/15
What a whirlwind it has been. It's very hard to believe it's already November. We are in the middle of an informative essay unit. Students chose an author, have completed research on the author's childhood, adulthood, and writing life, and are now in the middle of writing their five paragraph essay. A rubric was given and discussed, a class essay to model the process was completed, and now students are working through their independent essay. This includes a self edit and peer edit, and an optional adult edit. The writing process is a lengthy one, but these 6th graders are hard workers and they keep pushing through the tough parts.
We have also been practicing some skills through IXL. So far we have worked on reviewing capitalization, types of sentences, whether something is a sentence or a fragment, and are just now working on thesaurus skills for vocabulary.
9/30/15
This week, students are completing their first "Reader's Response Letter" in their Reader's notebooks. A format and rubric was discussed and explained in class, and shared with each student on Google Drive. I will grade this first one as practice, and then next week they will complete one as an assessment. This letter should show that they are reading and understanding their current book. I cannot stress the importance of reading every night for 20 minutes. Some students are struggling to work on this in class because they haven't been reading at home. Please continue to encourage them to complete this homework.
We will begin working on an informative essay next week. We will start by working through an in-class example and then students will move on and work on their own independent essay about a favorite author. This is a unit that will help them later in the year with the Science Fair paper for Mrs. Slattery.
9/22/15
As you might have noticed, there are not many assignments in IC yet. With Language Arts, a lot of assessments are more of a long term task, such as writing a story or essay, not just a test or quiz.
For practice assignments, I will be using a rubric in order to keep it standards based.
Please check in with your 6th grader about their at-home reading. Encourage them to find the right time and place for them to complete their 20 minutes (or more) of reading each night.
9/9/15
Welcome to 6th Grade Language Arts!
This will be a place to check on long term assignments, upcoming events, and current units.
All students will be required to have an independent reading book with them every day. I encourage students to work towards my 30 Books Expectation throughout the year. This involves reading a variety of genres. Students will keep information in their binder about this requirement, as well as a reading log of the books they are reading in their Reader's Notebook.
All students are required to read for 20 minutes each night as my homework. Students may have other work that was not finished in class, too.
Students need to have a binder where they will keep their Reader's Notebook and Writer's Notebook. In order to be prepared for class every day they need that binder, an independent reading book, their planner and HW folder, and a pencil.
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