Sixth Grade Literacy

Literacy - Course Description

The Literacy Grade Six curriculum is designed to have students develop their language skills. This intermediate level replacement program provides instruction of the general education Language Arts curriculum to children who require a smaller, more structured learning environment. This program provides instruction for students who are struggling with the pacing and curricular demands of  general education classroom. All lessons and classroom activities are differentiated to reach the specific learning needs of all students while maintaining a parallel curriculum to the general education curriculum.

Reading

Students will read a wide variety of texts, including novels, short stories, essays and poems. Reading instruction centers not on mere comprehension, but focuses on building higher level thinking skills to evaluate the choice of the author and interpret the themes of the work. Students learn literary forms and terms associated with selections being read and apply these in analysis. Strategies and skills that will improve student comprehension will be emphasized. Throughout the school year, students will implement these skills while reading short stories, novels, and self-selected books.  These skills and stories help instill the love of reading.

Writing

Students will learn a variety of writing strategies. Teachers model writing strategies for a variety of forms of composition that students apply in their work, centering on the development and mastery of focus and coherence, voice, conventions, depth of thought and conventions. The writing curriculum focuses on the writing process along with parts of speech, and grammar. Students will write daily and learn to improve their writing with elaboration, sentence variety, word choice, voice, and conventions. Assigned pieces include narrative/memoir, literary essay, and descriptive writing.

Word Work/Spelling/Grammar

Word Study is a student-centered approach to phonics, spelling, and vocabulary instruction that actively engages the learner in constructing concepts about the ways words work. This is accomplished through the use of phonemic (sound), visual (look), semantic (meaning), linking, and research strategies. Students are taught at their developmental level using activities that allow them to examine words for sound, pattern, and meaning relationships enabling them to develop strategies to apply in their own writing. The word work focuses on suffixes, word endings, as well as words that originate from other languages. All of this helps students enhance their ability to decode unfamiliar words. New words and grammar work will be alternated each week.