Summer Reading Challenge

Did you know? Students who don't read over the summer tend to lose - on average - 3 months of learning.

See below on how to help "The Summer Slide!"  

Help students get ready for their best and most magical summer ever and stop the summer slide with the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge. Now is a good time to stock your classroom library with popular titles for readers at all levels. PreK-K Summer Reading Challenge Book List  Grades 1-2 Summer Reading Challenge Book List Grades 3-5 Summer Reading Challenge Book List  Grades 6-8 Summer Reading Challenge Book List Grades 9-12 Summer Reading Challenge Book List Bridge the Summer Reading Gap 5 Prompts for the Teacher-Student Reading Conference 7 Tips for Effective Book Talks

Making a Difference Project

Today we began our "Making a Difference" research project. Students will research an individual that has made a positive impact on our world. Students will research how their chosen individual has made a difference, how they inspire others, background information about the individual, and more.

Students will create a Google presentation with this information and present it to their classmates.

Project Resources
Project Requirements
Example "Make a Difference" project
Project Rubric

Zack Rago from Chasing Coral

Zack is a Pomona High School graduate and a Colorado kid through and through. He graciously came to visit us and chat about Chasing Coral, the Netflix documentary he helped create, and answered all of our questions about coral reefs.

Chasing Coral

We are watching Chasing Coral on Netflix for the next couple days to prepare for Zack Rago, our guest speaker on Monday, April 30. Zack is a graduate of Pomona High School and CU Boulder, and is our "Person Who Is Making a Difference" this year.

Please ask your kiddos about this amazing documentary!

Things We Wish Peoples Said More Often

The Line and Nothing Will Change

We analyzed these videos to determine similarities and differences in their message and delivery.

Analysis Questions:

1. What is the overall message of the videos? Give evidence.

2. How do these videos relate to making choices? Be specific.

3. How does the speaker's word choice and tone affect the meaning of the video?

4. What words or phrases are important to the messages of the videos and why? 

5. Connect these videos to our overarching concept of MAKING A DIFFERENCE. 

Natural Disaster Brochure Project

Today we chose topics for a brochure students will be creating about a natural disaster. At the start of class today, students chose a natural disaster they would like to learn more about. They then were able to search three separate instances of that disaster that they'd like to focus on for their research.

Some examples of topics and subtopics are:

Blizzards

1. Colorado Blizzard of 2003
2. 1972 Iran Blizzard
3. 1940 Armistice Day Blizzard

Hurricanes

1. Galveston Hurricane, 1900
2. South Florida Hurricane, 1928
3. Hurricane Katrina, 2005

Students should be ready to dive into the majority of their research and take notes in their Language Arts spiral notebook on Monday. The timeline for this project is as follows:

Monday & Tuesday, April 9 & 10 - Complete research on (3) subtopics
Wednesday, April 11 - Plan layout of brochure
Thursday & Friday, April 12-13 - Create brochure

The brochures must have nonfiction text features to enhance the reader's understanding of the topic. Students identified and reviewed nonfiction text features earlier this week.



Example completed brochure
Rubric for this project

Spring Break Book Recommendations: Newbery Medal Winners

	A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle (Ages 10-14, GL 6+) 1963 Newbery Medal Winner "It was a dark and stormy night." The winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, A Wrinkle In Time is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe. They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government. After reading the book, go see the movie that came out on Feb. 26! One of our Language Arts standards is to compare and contrast written work with visual representations of the same work!
	Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk (Ages 10-13, GL 5-8) 2017 Newbery Honor Book A young girl's kindness, compassion, and honesty overcome bullying. Growing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet, steady life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty Glengarry walks into her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative, and while her bullying seems isolated at first, things quickly escalate, and reclusive World War I veteran Toby becomes a target of her attacks. While others have always seen Toby's strangeness, Annabelle knows only kindness. She will soon need to find the courage to stand as a lone voice of justice as tensions mount.
	The War That Saved My Life By Kinberly Brubaker Bradley (Ages 9-12, GL 4-7) 2016 Newbery Honor Book The moving story of triumph against all odds set during World War II. For fans of Counting by 7s. Nine-year-old Ada has never left her apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada's twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn't waste a minute. She sneaks out to join him.
	The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (Ages 8-12, GL 3-7) National Book Award Winner When the four Penderwick girls find themselves staying on a beautiful estate called Arundel for their summer ho,holidays, they can't wait to explore the wonderful, sprawling grounds. And even more wonderful is Jeffrey, son of Arundel's owner -- the perfect companion for their summer adventures. But Jeffrey's mother is less than thrilled with the Penderwick sisters and warns the new friends to stay out of trouble. Which, of course, they will. Won't they?
	A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (Ages 8-12, GL 3-7) 2002 Newbery Medal Winner Set in 12th Century Korea, Tree-ear, a 13-year-old orphan lives under a bridge in Ch'ulp'o, a potters' village famed for delicate celadon ware. He has become fascinated with the potter's craft; he wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and he dreams of making a pot of his own someday. When Min takes Tree-ear on as his helper, Tree-ear is elated -- until he finds obstacles in his path. But Tree-ear is determined to prove himself -- even if it means taking a long, solitary journey on foot to present Min's work in the hope of a royal commission.
	Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (Ages 8-12, GL 3-6) Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her village the home of the future princess. In a year's time, the prince will choose his bride from among the village girls. The king's ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess. Soon Miri finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires. Winning the contest could give her everything she ever wanted -- but it would mean leaving her home and family behind.

RACE Review

Restate, Answer, Cite, Explain! This is the BEST way to answer short constructed response questions. We reviewed this skill and discussed the importance of using our own knowledge for analysis. Feel free to review any of these skills using the review posted below!

RACE Review 

Compare/Contrast

RL6.7 and RL6.9 assess the skill of comparing and contrasting literature in text form (such as books) and literature in video form (such as movies). Here are the resources we used to practice this skill for the past couple of weeks. The assessment on this skill is Monday and Tuesday, March 12-13. Rubric

Hyperdoc -- Books vs. Movies Exploration

Mentor text:  The Giver // The BFG

Example annotating + notes -- 1, 2, 3

Example Venn Diagram

Practice text: Chapter 18 The Fault In Our Stars //  Movie Clip

Fault In Our Stars Analysis Guide

Example annotating

Book to Movie thinking stems

Short Constructed Response examples:

• Exceeds the standard
• Meets the standard
• Approaches the standard
• Does Not Meet the standard

Students will be analyzing a new book chapter and movie clip for their assessment on March 12 and 13. Please encourage them to use the resources above to work on these skills!  Rubric

Narrative Expression Project

Students wrote a narrative earlier this year and are now getting a chance to hone those skills, and use a creative way to express a theme in a "story" format of their choice. 

We will be creating a Narrative Expression Project this week. Please see this document for the project guidelines, examples, and the rubric. Students will only need to work on this at home if they do not meet goals during class time. Completed projects are due at the end of class Friday, February 23 and will be presented on Monday, February 26. 

Author's Point of View

Over the past couple of weeks, students have been exploring Author's Point of View and Author's Perspective in preparation for our next assessment on Tuesday, February 13. Please see the resources below that we have been using in class, including the practice test and analysis of student answers. This practice test (taken Friday, Feb. 9 and analyzed on Monday, Feb. 12) mirrors the actual assessment in many ways. If students use these resources to review and study, they will be more likely to show proficiency in this skill.

Point of View in Literature Exploration
Students completed this document over a few days in order to determine, explore, practice, and analyze author point of view and perspective. Basic point of view cheat sheet -- but keep in mind: 6th grade standards require students to know points of view and also analyze how points of view and perspective are developed.

The Curse of the Poisoned Pretzel
As a class, we read and analyzed this story in order to determine how authors present point of view in short stories. This story was used as an anchor text throughout our practice of this skill in order to deeply understand the author's craft. Notes + annotations page 1, 2, 3.

The Curse of the Poisoned Pretzel Practice Test
Completing this practice test gives us an idea of the type of questions that will be on our assessment when we analyze a different story. As a class, we will analyze the data of our practice test to see the questions the majority of us struggled on, and discuss why the correct answers were what they were. Participating in this practice test and analysis is imperative in performing strongly on the assessment itself.

Skills/Standards being assessed:

• RL6.5 I can analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, or scene fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.
• RL6.6 I can explain how an author develo9ps the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Rubric

Unit 4: Analyzing Author's Craft

This week, we are starting Unit 4: Analyzing Author's Craft. The overarching concept in this unit is "Identity," and students will think about our content through the lens of these essential questions.

How do your actions define you?

How do you craft your writing to show your identity?

How do author's craft their stories to connect with readers?

Please see the "What Are We Studying" tab for more details on the expectations and standards being assessed in this unit. 

Argumentative Research and Essay

Students have chosen a controversial topic and will begin researching and writing arguments. Please see below for ALL of the resources that are available to the students in class as they write, mini lessons we will be having, and sample completed argumentative essays written by their peers.

This essay will close out the unit and be the final graded piece of learning evidence for Unit 3.

Students have the following goals and deadlines in class. By working during class, students should have no trouble keeping up with these deadlines and will not have to work at home. However, students who have not used class time wisely, or who have absences during this time, will need to work at home to stay caught up. 


Wednesday, January 17: Students choose their topic, create their argument statement, and write their three claims.
Thursday, January 18: Students check the "research-ability" of their claims.
Friday, January 19: Students begin researching their claims (research, Day 1). 
Monday, January 22: Students continue researching their claims (Research, Day 2).
Tuesday, January 23: Students complete research and outline their essay (Research, Day 3).
Wednesday, January 24: Students write the introduction and first paragraph of their five paragraph essay (Writing, Day 1).
Thursday, January 25: Students write the body of their five paragraph essay (Writing, Day 2).
Friday, January 26: Students write the conclusion of their five paragraph essay, peer review, and make final edits (Writing, Day 3).

Lessons and resources available to students:

Argument crafting checklist with due dates

What are the parts of an argument (review)

How to write an argument statement (review)

What makes a good introduction

The structure of a five paragraph essay + transition suggestions

How to set up your Google Doc and how to cite sources!

The 5 W’s of Website Evaluation (Finding Credible Sources)

Student Model: Proficient Examples
These have been posted in class for students to reference. They were written last year and received a proficient (3) grade on this assignment.

EXAMPLE 1

EXAMPLE 2

Rubric:

CCSS W6.1a-e

Tracing and Evaluating Arguments

Last week, we began discussing "The Power of Arguments".

Parts of an argument (notes from class)

• We reviewed how to find claims, reasons, and evidence in order tod etermine if the author is for or against an argument
• We discussed the power of an argument based on the information presented and the evidnece used, using the structures taught in class.

Practice tracing and evaluating arguments

• Students practiced tracing and evaluating arguments, using the following articles:
• The Debate about Homework (with answer sheet)
• Self-Driving Cars (PRO) (CON) with answer sheet

STUDENTS WILL BE ASSESSED ON TRACING AND EVALUATING ARGUMENTS ON THURSDAY, 1/18 (RUBRIC)