Language Arts 2009/2010 Recommended Materials • Writing utensils (pencils and blue or black pens) • Loose leaf notebook paper (replenish as needed) • Spiral notebook (purple) • Pocket folder (purple) Student Expectations All students are expected to come to class with a desire to learn, willingness to work cooperatively with other students, and prepared with all necessary materials. Class work and homework assignments are expected to be completed and turned in by the given due dates. It is the student’s responsibility to ask me for missed assignments the first day back to school after being absent. All students are required to write their assignments in their planner each day and to get a parent signature each night. Class rules are posted and discussed and must be followed in order for teaching and learning to take place. Attendance Good attendance is necessary for a quality education and has been linked to school success. 6th Grade Reading Outlook for Shark Students You should expect to do plenty of reading in sixth grade and to expand more on what you are thinking while reading. You will be expected to summarize what you have read by focusing on the who, what, when where, why, and how. Additionally, you will reflect on what you have read by questioning, making connections, predicting, visualizing, inferring, etc. You will also expand your vocabulary and concept development by challenging yourself to find words in your reading that are unfamiliar to you and other typical 6th graders and examples of concepts. In addition to finding the meanings of the words, you will gain a better understanding by finding examples or synonyms and non-examples or antonyms of the words. You will also be expected to create discussion ideas that begin with thinking words that can be used to lead group discussions. A list of thinking words will be given to you. We will focus on skills and strategies that will help you to become a better reader. Other reading materials besides novels will be used as well since the overall purpose is to improve your reading ability, introduce you to a variety a text readings and genres, and increase your desire to read for enjoyment as well as learning. Remember that internal motivation and attendance are key components to success. The focus on reading will be quality versus quantity. .We will read one class novel per quarter! We will spend approximately 3 weeks on each class novel. These class novels cannot be used for the individual book assessment dates listed. Independent Book Assessments Independent reading is part of a well-rounded Language Arts program. Books must be appropriate reading level for individual students. Important: All book assessments must include a component about the characters, setting, plot, conflict (internal or external), figurative language, vocabulary, and a reflection. Please choose assessments that work best for your learning style. Students will be required to complete book assessments throughout the year. Examples of assessments may include but are not limited to: Written: (MUST BE at least ONE TYPED PAGE!) 1. Book report 2. Summary/ reflection log 3. Letter to the author 4. Interview with a character 5. Poem reflecting on the book and/or characters 6. Journal from a character’s point-of-view If typing the written assessments is an issue, please see me before the due date! Oral: 1. Book Talk- oral discussion of the book with class 2. Individual conferences with the teacher Project: 1. Poster (I have several ideas to choose from.) 2. Diorama (must include written component on outside of box) 3. Multi-media presentation (Power Point) 6 slides required 4. Game (must demonstrate understanding of the book) 5. Bookmarks 6. Venn diagram on several books by the same author or from the same genre *highly recommended .You have 30 minutes at the end of each day during SSR to read an independent book. Use this time wisely and use the books you are reading during this time for your book assessments. Independent Book Assessment Due Dates The following eight Book Assessments will be due this year, two per quarter. Sept. 18 (written) Oct. 19, 20 (Reading Counts Quiz Due) Nov. 12, 13 ( project) Dec. 11 (written) Feb. 5 (project) March 1,2 (written) April 23 (project) May 14 (Oral) Reflection Journals: Students need to be able to move beyond just retelling what they have read. They need to be able to reflect on what they have read through various avenues; therefore, reflection journals will be due eight times per quarter. The book does not need to be finished to reflect on it, and the same book can be used for more than one entry. Each entry must be at least five sentences and meet other criteria that will be handed out. • Reflection journals can be worked on during SSR. Reflection Journal Due Dates: Quarter 1: August 28; September 4, 11, 18, 25; October 2, 9, 16 Quarter 2: October 23, 30; November 6, 13, 20; December 4, 11; January 8 Quarter 3: January 15, 22, 29; February 5, 12, 19; March 5, 12 Quarter 4: April 2, 16, 23, 30; May 7, 14, 21, 28 6th Grade Writing Outlook for Shark Students You will move beyond thinking of writing in terms of how much you produce. Instead, you will become even more familiar than you already are with the writing process. Expect to expand your sentence writing by learning to transform a simple sentence into a masterpiece sentence. This will help you to vary your sentence structure in writing. Expect to focus on the organizational component of writing a single paragraph and multi- paragraph essays. You will be expected to produce more than one draft of major writing assignments and will be expected to learn how to correctly edit your own writing and that of others. As with reading, we will focus on skills and strategies that will help you to become a better writer. As stated before, internal motivation and attendance are key components to success. Some, but not all, of the writing projects that will be due this year are listed below. We will work on these step by step in class and finish each step that was not completed by the end of class at home. If time is used wisely, less will have to be taken home. . Masterpiece Sentence: using a picture prompt and the writing process with a focus on sentence parts and sentence types .Masterpiece Paragraph: using a picture prompt and the writing process . 5 paragraph Autobiographical Essay: using the writing process and descriptive writing .Persuasive Advertisement: using techniques that will transfer over to the Persuasive Essay .5 paragraph Persuasive Essay: using the writing process (topic of your choice) .Poetry Book: using figurative language and higher level thinking skills in order to incorporate multiple techniques into the same poem while relating all .Newspaper Article: using actual newspaper articles to understand the correct organizational feature .Research Paper: using necessary components such as a bibliography and technology Grading scale for this class 100-90 A Reading focused assignments 40% 89-80 B Writing focused assignments 40% 79-70 C test/assessments 10% 69-60 D listening/speaking focused assignments 10% Below 60 F . How do I head my paper in this class? Name (First and Last) Date Period # Assignment Name The planner, email, and our website are all effective forms of communication between home and school. http://www.am.dodea.edu/lejeune/bms/ (Click on the Shark team once you are on the site.) This syllabus is not intended to overwhelm students; it is meant to prepare them for what is expected of our sixth graders per our new Language Arts standards. It will also be helpful with time management skills in regards to already knowing some key due dates. Do your best and you will be successful in 6th grade! I have confidence in all of our students! This is going to be a fabulous year! Only return the signatures below to me. Considering this syllabus contains important dates, keep it in your binder all year. You will also be able to find it attached to our website. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have read and understand the expectations outlined in the Language Arts syllabus. Student Signature:____________________ Class Period_____ Parent Signature:________________________________