Grade Six Language ARTS

American International School of Egypt

Grade six iNSTRUCTIONAL gUIDE & CURRICULUM MAP: 2012-2013

American International School of Egypt /
Grade six lANGUAGE ARTS /
Grade six iNSTRUCTIONAL gUIDE & CURRICULUM MAP: 2012-2013 /
John Clements /
9/23/2012 /
During the 2012-2013 school year, the strategies, resources, and assessments presented in this report will be directly taught, practiced, and reinforced in alignment with the Virginia Standards of Learning. /

Contents

Introduction to the teacher

Classroom Materials, Rules, and Procedures

Classroom Materials

Classroom rules

Classroom procedures

Developing an International Student

Introduction to the Teaching strategies

OVERVIEW OF THE UNITS: INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDE

Term One – Cranking the Engine: Procedures, Review, and Weekly Assignments

term two – Cruising: The Novel, Reading, and Writing

Term three – Shifting into Passing Gear: Writing a Short Story

Term Four – The Winner’s Circle: Poetry, Oration, and Presentation

Term One CURRICULUM MAP

COMMUNICATION: SPEAKING, LISTENING, MEDIA LITERACY (ENG 6.1)

READING: WORD ANALYSIS (ENG 6.4) (ENG 6.5)

COMPREHENSION: ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE (ENG 6.5)

WRITING (ENG 6.7)

Term Two CURRICULUM MAP

READING: WORD ANALYSIS (ENG 6.4)

Comprehension: Elements of Literature (ENG 6.5)

WRITING (ENG 6.7)

WRITING: EDIT FOR CORRECT USAGE (ENG 6.8)

Term Three CURRICULUM MAP

Communication: Speaking, Listening (ENG 6.2)

MEDIA LITERACY (ENG 6.3)

READING: WOrd Analysis (ENG 6.4)

COMPREHENSION (ENG 6.6)

WRITING (ENG 6.7)

WRITING: EDIT FOR CORRECT USAGE (ENG 6.8)

Term FOUR CURRICULUM MAP

COMMUNICATION: SPEAKING, LISTENING, MEDIA LITERACY (ENG 6.2) (eng 6.3)

READING: WORD ANALYSIS (eng 6.4)

READING: COMPREHENSION (ENG 6.5) (eng 6.6)

wRITING (ENG 6.7)

wRITING: (ENG 6.7)

WRITING: RESEARCH (ENG 6.9)

Introduction to the teacher

Hi. My name is Mr. Clements. I wasn’t always called Mr. Clements. I have been called Smiley, Big Nose, and Stupid Kid, among other things. Today though, I am Mr. Clements. I am a sixth grade teacher at the American International School of Egypt (AISE).

For the past three years, the students at AISE have spoiled me beyond redemption. They are smart, bright, helpful, generous, and will no doubt change the world. I fully expect them to solve world hunger, find cures for cancer and AIDs, and perhaps break every collegiate, professional, and Olympic sports record. Some will write symphonies.

When I am not designing lesson plans or compiling units, I am designing logos, websites, and business cards for private clients.

I completed my Masters in the Art of Teaching, as well as state teaching certification in May of 2009. While working toward my masters, I earned straight As (I’m bragging a little, I know, but parents and students should know that I take education very seriously).

Students of AISE are encouraged to use MrClements.com to download handouts, review instruction, and interact with various literary content.

If you have any questions, or would like to report an error, please contact me at mrclements [ at ] mrclements [ dot ] com.

Classroom Materials, Rules, and Procedures

In order to provide an efficient and effective learning environment, we have to work together. The students need to ask appropriate questions, I need to offer appropriate answers, and parents need to support the work we do in and out of the classroom.

The following rules and procedures are designed to help all of us have a productive and fun year. They are also designed to integrate the character education goals of the American International School into the classroom.

Classroom Materials

The following materials are required in my class. Students are welcome to combine subjects into one binder or notebook, but the student will be required to have

Pencil or pen
Folder or other paper carrying device
Eraser
Sharpener (if applicable)
A4 notebook or A4 paper in a binder
Planner

Classroom rules

Students will have the required materials
Students will lean forward or sit straight during class
Students will participate in classroom discussion by raising their hands and waiting to be called upon
When I am working with a student during classroom discussion, the other students will work or listen quietly and not raise their hands until I am finished working with the student
Students will follow all classroom procedures

Classroom procedures

In sixth grade, we assign several classroom management duties and responsibilities to students in an effort to streamline classroom processes and integrate character education in the classroom.

Materials checker

It is the Material Checker’s job to ensure students have their required materials before entering our classroom.

Instructions

Stand outside the door and wait for classmates to line-up
Begin checking for the five required materials as soon as students appear
Politely and courteously say, “Give me five,” when checking materials
Students should have: Planner, folder or binder, notebook, pen/pencil, eraser
If materials are present, write “X” in the box and instruct the student to enter the classroom
If a student is unprepared, he needs to get his materials from his backpack or locker. If he does not have his materials in his backpack or locker, mark his record with a “U”
If a student is not present, mark his record with an “O”

Planner Checker

It is the Planner Checker’s responsibility to loudly proclaim, “G out your P,” at the end of class. This will prompt students to check, update, and complete their planner entry for the day. The Planner Checker will also verify and signify that all students have updated their planners.

Instructions

When seven minutes are left of class, loudly announce, “G out your P”
Write your homework in your planner
After you’ve updated your planner, walk around the room and make sure the other students are writing the homework assignment(s) in their planners
Once students have written the assignment, mark their planners with a highlighter
Pack-up your materials
Go back around the room and check planners of students who were not finished the first time

Homework Collector

It is the Homework Collector’s responsibility to collect, order, and file all homework.

Instructions

After your materials have been checked and you’ve been granted permission to enter the room, find your seat and get out your materials
Collect and order the classroom homework (see table below for order)
All students must turn-in something – if a student does not has his homework, he should complete a Missing Assignment form, which is available in the forms library
After you have collected and ordered the assignments or Missing Assignment forms from every student, place the assignments in the HW slot for your group
Take a seat and get to work on the bell ringer

Graded Assessment Distributor

It is the Graded Assessment Distributor’s responsibility to hand back any graded assignments that are in the Graded Assessment bin.

Instructions

After your materials have been checked and you’ve been granted permission to enter the room, find your seat and get out your materials
Check the Graded Assessment bin for your group
If there are any materials in the bin, deliver them to the appropriate student
If a student is absent, place his graded assessment back in the Graded Assessment bin
Take a seat and get to work on the bell ringer or warm-up exercise

Developing an International Student

One of the core missions of the American International School of Egypt is developing individuals who are ready to work and thrive regardless of where they are in the world.

At the heart of this endeavor is peace. We want our students to retain, cherish, and celebrate their own cultures with a spirit of brotherhood. We want our students to show love for and appreciate the unique characteristics of all cultures as well as their own.

We help our grade six students meet this goal through introducing them to the spirit of humanitarianism. Humanitarianism is defined as being concerned with or seeking to promote human welfare regardless of class, race, politics, or religion. If we are to work and thrive internationally, we must meet these cultural differences with an open heart, an open mind, and an open hand - not a fist.

The following list identifies some of the ways we introduce students to the spirit of humanitarianism in my language arts class:

Identifying and analyzing multicultural, class, race, and religious themes in works of fiction and poetry
Increasing our understanding of other cultures through non-fiction reading activities
Blogging with different cultures, countries, and classes of people
Participating in an international field trip
Adhering to a rigorous American curriculum

Introduction to the Teaching strategies

During the 2012-2013 school year, the following metacognitive strategies will be directly taught, practiced, and reinforced in context. The strategies include:

Evaluate and determine what is important
Predict and connect prior knowledge
Create sensory images
Draw inferences
Monitor and repair comprehension using “Fix-Up” Strategies
Make a connection between text, knowledge of the world, and another text
Reread
Stop and think about what was read
Retell what has already been read
Ask a question and try to answer it
Note patterns of organization in the structure
Visualize what was read
Adjust reading rate: speed up or slow down
Use print, written, and electronic conventions
Ask questions of the text and author
Summarize and synthesize information

OVERVIEW OF THE UNITS: INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDE

Term One – Cranking the Engine: Procedures, Review, and Weekly Assignments

We will spend the first few weeks working on classroom rules and educational expectations. We will transfer into some actual work, making sure that you understand how to use the website and follow instructions. During this time, and throughout the rest of the quarter, we will begin our weekly assignment and quiz exercises.

Classroom procedures
Daily materials
Assignments: submitting and receiving
Seating assignments
Asking questions
Group activity behavior
The class website: MrClements.com
Accessing homework and downloading assignments
Commenting
Replying
Asking and answering questions
Late assignment request policy
Formatting your writing assignment
Using capitals
Proper punctuation
Typed vs. hand-written documents
Vocabulary and grammar
Basic sentence structure
Basic parts of speech
Reading exercises
Non-fiction
The Outsiders

term two – Cruising: The Novel, Reading, and Writing

While we continue with our weekly grammar and reading assignments and quizzes, we will also begin to apply some of the lessons you are learning to reading and writing about a novel. We’ll conclude with a fun group poster project and have a nice holiday break.

Literary elements of the novel
Point of view
Theme
Tone and mood
Character
Foreshadowing and flashback
Setting
Figurative language
Reading plan
Writing reader responses
Formatting
Covering all questions

Term three – Shifting into Passing Gear: Writing a Short Story

By the third quarter, we will finish the class novel and will start individual reading plans. You’ll go to the library and choose a book to read and write about. We’re also going to write a short story this quarter. We will discuss the six major elements of the short story, make a plot outline, create several drafts, and eventually post our stories to our own online blog.

Individualized reading plans
Application of reading goals and responsibilities
Six elements of writing a short story
Author and title
Main characters
Supporting characters
Setting
Problem
Solution
Character development
Props
Traits – physical and emotional
Character arcs
Plot outlines
Action sequences
Plot points
Plot or story arc
Printing, saving, and publishing online

Term Four – The Winner’s Circle: Poetry, Oration, and Presentation

We will continue to use our blog site to post reader responses to teacher chosen poems. You will be required to apply every level of grammar usage thus far learned, and you will be pushed to stay cool in front of the camera. In this quarter you will show the world everything you learned in Language and Communications Arts class.

Introduction to poetry
Metaphor, rhyme, symbolism
Introduction to poetry analysis
Social, historical, and cultural perspectives
Rote memorization and oration of poetry
Presentation skills
Using multimedia resources to make presentations
Static and active visuals, music, and props
Final video presentations

Term One CURRICULUM MAP

NOTE: The links below are for administrative purposes. if a link does not work, please contact . documentation will be furnished upon request.

Content and Essential Objectives / Skills / Suggested Assessments/Resources

COMMUNICATION: SPEAKING, LISTENING, MEDIA LITERACY (ENG 6.1)

The student will participate in and contribute to small-group activities
a)Communicate as leader and contributor
b)Evaluate own contributions to discussions
c)Summarize and evaluate group activities
d)Analyze the effectiveness of participant interactions / •ensure that all group members participate in the exchange of information
•use strategies that contribute to the discussion
•receive and understand feedback from the others
•pose and respond to questions
•relate and retell information
•restate briefly and critically the main idea(s) or theme(s) discussed within a group
•use active listening to focus on what is said and what is implied
•summarize what is heard
•retain and rethink ideas based on what is heard
•infer and assimilate new ideas
•use a checklist and/or rubric to evaluate the participation of self and others / •Response journals/learning logs
•Peer interviews - conducted in class setting, then videoed and displayed on YouTube
•Puppet theater - Group activity in which students turn a self-written short story into a script. They then create puppets, and put on a show, which is videoed and displayed on YouTube (
•Daily warm-ups - students must completed selected activities, sometimes as groups, and then explain or present their answers to the class (

READING: WORD ANALYSIS (ENG 6.4) (ENG 6.5)

The student will read and learn the meanings of unfamiliar words and phrases within authentic texts.
a)Identify word origins and derivations
b)Use roots, cognates, affixes, synonyms, and antonyms to expand vocabulary
c)Use context and sentence structure to determine meanings and differentiate among multiple meanings of words
d)Use word reference materials / •use common Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., hearing, listening, or sound audience, auditory, audible)
•identify Latin and Greek roots of common English words as clues to the meaning
•separate and recombine known word parts to predict the meaning of unfamiliar words, such as separating poly from polygon and phone from telephone to predict the meaning of polyphony
•recognize common antonyms and synonyms
•notice relationships among inflected words, such as proceed and procession or internal and internalization
•use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word’s function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning
•use context clues to determine meanings of unfamiliar words in text, such as:

examples
restatements
contrasts

•consult word reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses, both print and online) to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its meaning
•determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on reading and content /

Virginia Learning Standards of Learning Pretests - Grade 5: Reading (
Vocabulary and Grammar Challenges from MrClements.com (
Scholastic, Inc.: Hi-Lo Nonfiction Passages for Struggling Readers(

COMPREHENSION: ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE (ENG 6.5)

The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of a variety of fictional texts,narrative nonfiction, and poetry.
a)Identify the elements of narrative structure, including setting, character, plot, conflict, and theme
b)Make, confirm, and revise predictions
c)Describe cause and effect relationships and their impact on plot
d)Use prior and background knowledge as content for new learning
e)Explain how character and plot development are use in a selection to support a central conflict or story line
e)Identify the main idea
f)Identify and summarize supporting details
g)Use reading strategies to monitor comprehension throughout the reading process / •understand setting as time and place
•understand plot as:

the development of the central conflict and resolution
the sequence of events in the story
the writer’s map for what happens, how it happens, to whom it happens, and when it happens

•understand that character traits are revealed by:

what a character says
a character thinks
what a character does
how other characters respond to the character

•determine a central idea or theme of a fictional text and how it is developed through specific details
•understand internal and external conflicts in stories, including:

internal conflicts within characters
external conflicts between characters
changes in characters as a result of conflicts and resolutions in the plot

•describe how a fictional plot is often episodic, and how characters develop as the plot moves toward a resolution
•use strategies for summarizing, such as graphic organizers
•use graphic organizers to record plot elements that illustrate cause and effect relationships and plot development
•use graphic organizers to record changes in characters as a result of incidents in the plot / •Scholastic, Inc.:Spotlight on Literary Elements - conducted as centers; these books and the associated workbook provides the following assessments and resources: retelling, oral and written explanations, visual representations: Venn diagrams, charts, illustrations, story maps and other appropriate graphic organizers, discussion: literature circles, response journals/learning logs( Teacher will select appropriate works from the following choices:

Plot
The Escape
The Mystery in the Backyard
The Lamb with the Golden Fleece
Worst Friends
Plot in poetry
The Twins
Character
The Open Window
Smart Ice Scream
Felicity’s Terrible Day
The Peddler of Swaffam
Special characters in poetry
Alligator on the Escalator
A Bird came down the Walk
The Old Field
TheMouse
Setting
Eleven
The Terrible, Wonderful Tellin’ at Hog Hammock
Watermelon Preserves
Janette’sWinter
Settings in poems
On the Beach at Night
Home – Thoughts from Abroad
Theme
The Emperor’s New Clothes
Just a Tyke
Great Joy, the Self-Respecting Ox
Head Tree
Themes in poems
The Mountain and the Squirrel
Mother to Son
Beauty
Miracles
Tone and mood
A Girl from Yamhill (excerpt)
Oliver Twist (retelling)
The Imp in the Belfry (excerpt & retelling)
So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star
Tone and mood in poems
Father William (from Alice in Wonderland)
ProgressLimited
Point of View
The Heartbeat of a Dinosaur
Hitty: Her First Hundred Years (excerpt)
The Toothbrush
TV Land
Thank You, Ma’m
Point of view in poetry
Baseball
Figurative language
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (retelling)
Boar Out There
The Jewels of the Sea (retelling)
Out of the Dust (excerpt)
Figurative language in poems
A Thundery Day
Seven Ways of Looking at the Moon
Foreshadowing and flashback
The Tell-Tale Heart (retelling)
The Music of Dolphins (excerpt)
Sweet
Wheels Willoughby
Flashbacks in poems
Spring Rain

•Teacher/student conferences
•Teacher observation
•Anecdotal records
•Graded discussion
•Teacher checklists
•Student self-evaluation

WRITING (ENG 6.7)