GRADE 6 ELA INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS
The following grade-level resource page is designed to follow the GCR2 ELA Resource Graphic:
- Priority & Supporting Standards - Tells us what essential knowledge, skills and strategies must be acquired at each grade- PS helps teachers prioritize.
- Literacy Blueprint - Describes a Balanced Literacy Model for designing your block of ELA instruction and explains the district philosophy.
- ELA Modules - Clusters the standards in a way that makes sense across the year.
- Mentor Texts and Close Reading Passages - Supports all teachers in designing ELA lessons using identified high quality texts aligned to MLS and our students needs.
- Module Lesson Maps - Provides teachers with a sequenced description of lessons aligned to our modules, using our Mentor Texts, and suggesting standards and ideas for instruction.
- Assessments - Provides us with information as to whether our students are acquiring the knowledge skills and strategies we are teaching and informs our instructional decisions.
- Standards-Based Education - Individual standards (highlights denote power standards) with rubrics and KUDs (Documents that describe what students need to know, understand, and be able to do to meet each standard.
PRIORITY & SUPPORT STANDARDS
The following resources have been developed and/or gathered to support Sixth Grade teachers as they implement the Missouri Learning Standards in 2015-2016. Just click on the links below to access these documents.
Sixth Grade “I Can” Statements were designed for teachers to post daily classroom objectives one at a time and standards that are spread out over a number of pages. Standards flow one to the next. Some teachers have chosen to make them into posters and highlight the day’s learning target with a clothespin or large arrow cut-out. Another idea to help with the organization of all of these posters is to put them on a binder ring so that they can easily be flipped through and displayed each day.
LITERACY BLUEPRINT
The following document was designed for classroom teachers, instructional coaches, and school administrators to provide a vision and structure for literacy instruction.
- Guiding Principles
- Creating a Supportive Literacy Environment
- Elements of a Balanced Literacy Program
- Elements Described in Detail
- Assessments- District and Formative Assessment Practices
- Supporting Specific Groups of Learners: EL/ELL/SPED/Title 1 & SEEK
- Implementation Guide
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Grade Level Word Study Chart
ELA MODULES
Each grade level has a proposed curriculum map of the ELA standards divided into 4 Modules (or chunks) of instruction spanning the school year. These modules are detailed in the chart below. You might consider shortening each module into 4-5 weeks and cycling through 2 rounds, the first as an introduction and the second taking it deeper. This will ensure that all standards are covered prior to state testing.
MENTOR TEXTS AND CLOSE READING PASSAGES
Mentor Texts and Toolkit for 2015-2016
- Sixth Grade Mentor Text List
- Ideas for Sixth Grade Mentor Texts
- Sixth Grade Science Mentor Texts
- Sixth Grade DOK by standard
The “Toolkit” that follows is a collection of resources filtered from various web sites. Word documents were maintained whenever possible. While these do not directly relate to our Mentor Texts and Close Reading passages they are strong examples for you to use or modify with your grade level text selections in order to support CCSS and the inherent rigor.
- Tools
- Handouts
- Checklists
MODULE LESSON MAPS
The following modules were created as sample curriculum maps at each grade level. The modules include all the English Language Arts Common Core standards. Our goal was to show how the priority and supporting standards from all ELA areas (reading, writing, listening/speaking, language and the foundational skills at Elementary) can be spread throughout the year but grouped in a logical fashion. Although there are “focus” standards for each module they are designed to build upon the previous one(s) so that by the end of the year all standards have been addressed and the priority standards assessed in appropriate levels of text. Focus standards may be introduced in a module however the teacher will make the decision as to when students will be assessed. Students continue to have multiple opportunities to show they have met the standards throughout the year in various venues including whole group, small group, or individually.
Each module is designed to last approximately 8 weeks and might include 1-3 smaller units. You’ll notice that the module designers chose some standards that they felt should be addressed in all modules. These standards are contained within the section titled “Yearlong Skill Development.” While Section 1 of the map could be used with any rich content, Section 2 was created as an example as to how a teacher or team might take the curriculum map and integrate the ELA standards with specific content such as a social studies or science unit, or even a literature study. We invite you to use this template “as is” or as a springboard for your own curriculum map or module creation.
Each module is designed to last approximately 8 weeks and might include 1-3 smaller units. You’ll notice that the module designers chose some standards that they felt should be addressed in all modules. These standards are contained within the section titled “Yearlong Skill Development.” While Section 1 of the map could be used with any rich content, Section 2 was created as an example as to how a teacher or team might take the curriculum map and integrate the ELA standards with specific content such as a social studies or science unit, or even a literature study. We invite you to use this template “as is” or as a springboard for your own curriculum map or module creation.
MODULES
Module 1: Close Reading and Writing to learn/ Launching Readers and Writers Workshop
Module 2: Developing critical readers, writers, and thinkers of narrative text
Module 3: Learning Through Research
Module 4: Forming Positions
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UNITS OF STUDY
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STANDARDS-BASED EDUCATION
Individual standards (highlights denote power standards) with rubrics and KUDs (Documents that describe what students need to know, understand, and be able to do to meet each standard.