Our theme for the year is “Connections.” Change is everywhere in middle school, and it may feel impossible that ANYTHING has its rhyme or reason, let alone a connection. Fear not! Already your child has seen that what we have done yesterday has connected to something we learned today.
Throughout the year, the students will be reading, writing, and learning new vocabulary and figurative language terms. They will be performing dramatic readings in October, embarking on a poetry unit in April, and engaging in debate and public speaking — all of which use the mastery of correct grammar usage. Connections!
Students will work in assigned Writing Crews on occasion and read several books in small Literature Circles. Thought-provoking Essential Questions (EQ) will be determined before, and reviewed after each unit. Vocabulary tests will alternate every week. There are no longer weekly spelling tests, but the class will engage in dictation exercises and mini spelling bees that focus on the “must know” list of the 6th grade core spelling words. The students’ comp books will be used almost daily. It is where they will wake up their brains, write notes, review concepts, take quizzes, and even draw pictures. We’ll also toy around with some of Aesop’s fables throughout the year, connect their morals to other readings, and debate whether it really is better to “look before you leap” and determine if “honesty (truly) is the best policy.”
Sixth grade writing focuses on Fabulous First Lines (FFL), age-appropriate transition words or phrases and conclusion sentences, and more of their higher level vocabulary will come from selected reading texts.
Finally, we’ll cross curricula and work in connection with social studies, religion, science, and even math. We’ll also head to the computer lab for research, keyboarding, document formatting, and experiment with applications and programs such as spreadsheets, PowerPoint, Garage Band, and iMovie.
