English Language Arts
6th Grade
6th Grade English Language Arts
MSAD 75 employs a research-based reading and writing program to meet our curricular learning goals. This program is developed by Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) at Columbia University. The teacher-educators from this research and staff development organization are involved in long-lasting collaborations with teachers across the United States and the world. Our district has been affiliated with TCRWP since 2008-2009.
Literacy Assessments
NWEA Reading: NWEA is our universal screening tool. Administered within the first quarter of school, it gives us a glimpse of where the student is in their reading with a percentile score. We use these percentiles, as well as what we know of the student, to make decisions about their instructional needs. We administer the assessment to all students again throughout the year to monitor their progress in reading.
Unit-based assessments: Teachers assess continually throughout a unit, pulling students into small groups or conferring 1:1 for additional teaching points that they may require to either fill a gap in their skills or extend them to a higher level. At the end of a unit, students demonstrate growth on the targeted skills/process with a final product.
Conferences: The writing workshop model includes frequent conferencing with students during independent reading and writing. Conferences are a way for students to receive 1:1 or small group targeted teaching throughout a unit of study. Teachers “research” by asking the students questions about their reading or writing and what strategies they’re trying. Teachers also use what they see in the student’s work to guide their decision-making about what to teach the students. Teachers quickly assess what they will teach the student, and the class, next that will help the student take their reading or writing to the next level.
Writing Curriculum
There are typically two-three writing units taught in each grade. Because we know students begin a school year at differing levels of readiness, teachers sometimes “reach down” into previous years’ teachings to ensure students are getting the instruction they need to move forward. These decisions are made based on what the students in that classroom need, either as a whole or on an individual basis. Units are the vehicle for teaching standards; depending on student needs and special programming, teachers may choose to move or reteach standards among the listed units. Likewise, teachers have access to more units than are listed below, and may include those units during the year as time and student needs allow. The writing process is its own standard and may be measured multiple times during the year. Teachers score student compositions on learning progressions which align to the Common Core standards and are broken up into strands: overall, lead, transitions, ending, organization, elaboration, and craft.
- Narrative Writing – Personal Narrative: Crafting Powerful Life Stories
The “new work” in 6th grade narrative writing is that students are learning how to be decision-makers of their craft. They are expected to think about not only the stories they’ll tell, but how they tell them. The unit focuses on how they’ll draw out the main themes, how they’ll pace the story, and how to make their story resonate with the reader, among other things. - Argument Writing – Literary Essay: From Character to Compare/Contrast
In this unit, students will learn to write more deeply about character’s motivations and eventually write essays that focus on themes. They will consider how different texts deal with themes in similar or different ways. - Information Writing – Research-Based Information Writing
This unit is intended to help students to read and sift through information on a topic, while using trusted sources and taking notes. Students will be expected to synthesize an array of information, creating a logical and cohesive structure with which they can teach the reader about the topic they choose.
Reading Curriculum
There are typically two to three reading units taught in each grade. As with writing, teachers sometimes “reach down” into previous years’ teachings to ensure students are getting the instruction they need to move forward. These decisions are made based on what the students in that classroom need, either as a whole or on an individual basis. Students are scored on learning progressions which align to the Common Core. Units are the vehicle for teaching standards; depending on student needs and special programming, teachers may choose to move or reteach standards among the listed units. As mentioned below, students’ independent reading habit is taught and worked on directly during the first unit of the year, this is then measured every quarter.
- Reading Habit – Building a Reading Life
Building a Reading Life launches students’ independent reading habit for the school year. This is the first unit in each grade level, and is adjusted to meet students where they are each year. Students ramp up their reading skills by immersing themselves in within-reach books while going through lessons asking them to self-reflect on who they are, and who they would like to be as a reader. Students and teachers set goals together for their reading, and the unit assesses student growth and habit at the end of each quarter.
- Narrative Reading – A Deep Study of Character
Students will engage in lessons about characters and how those characters often reveal bigger meanings in the text. Through short stories and novels, students will investigate and evaluate multiple character traits, consider pressures on characters, explore settings, and develop ideas about themes. - Nonfiction Reading – Tapping the Power of Nonfiction
This information reading unit is taught alongside the Research-Based Informational Writing Unit. The main learning goals of the unit are for the students to sharpen their ability to read more complex information with a particular focus on summarizing text, supporting ideas with information that is relevant to the central idea(s), and organizing thinking while reading by paying attention to the structure of the piece. - Narrative Reading – Social Issues Book Clubs
Students will read novels, either independently or in book clubs. They will study how power and perspective shape a story’s theme and a character’s motivations and behaviors.