COURSE DESCRIPTION

The focus of this course is to create a nurturing environment where students can express creative ideas orally and in writing.  Sixth graders bring with them a love of learning and an enthusiasm for reading.  It is the job of the teacher to take full advantage of this enthusiasm while giving them structure in the areas of writing, research, reading and organization.

Writing

1. Understand and use organizational strategies (graphic organizers, paragraphing, most important to least important information, logical sequencing).
2. Write clearly focused essays with thesis statement, introduction, body and conclusion.
3. Recognize the importance of audience, voice, transitions, and titles.
4. Use Student Writing Tools to revise first draft.
5. Apply knowledge of sentence structure and variety.
6. Experiment with a variety of forms of writing.

Grammar

1. Recognize and apply eight parts of speech:
   noun, verb, preposition, adjective, pronoun, adverb, conjunction and interjection.

2. Use pronunciation, capitalization and spelling appropriately.

Literature

1.  Recognize elements of style in written work.

2. Summarize text.

3. Identify elements of fiction and non-fiction.
4. Identify character traits and conflict resolution.
5. Identify basic structure of a text: plot, problem, solution.
6. Use context clues to determine meanings of unknown words.
7. Understand figurative and descriptive language.
8. Understand literary terms.
9. Recognize higher level questions.

Research and Study Skills

1. Use Eisenberg’s Big Six research process.
2. Use Student Writing Tools to cite research.
3. Use a variety of sources for information.
4. Research project in connection with Social Studies unit on Ancient Rome.

Speaking /Listening

1. Present materials clearly and in an organized manner, using variety of genre and media.
2. Actively listen and participate in class discussion.