Language Arts
Sixth Grade | Seventh Grade
Students in the 6th grade are given instruction in Language Arts through reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.
Reading
In reading, students are exposed to a number of different types of genres including, but not limited to poetry, fiction, nonfiction, myths, and biography. The students will improve their fluency. They will learn to analyze a story including discovering the author's purpose, the main idea, and how setting affects the plot.
Students will be introduced to the following:
- Literary Devices such as characterization, conflict, dialogue, mood, point of view and theme.
- Shakespeare and his use of blank verse and iambic pentameter
- Analysis of text structures such as compare and contrast and cause and effect
- Word Analysis, fluency, and systemic vocabulary development
- Reading Comprehension (focus on informational materials)
- Literary response and analysis
Writing In writing, students will produce a number of pieces throughout the year.
They will write in response to literature. They will write narratives and expository pieces as well. The writing process will also be improved with attention to the detail of editing the student's work. Grammar instruction will be included as a means by which students can see sentence and paragraph instruction more clearly. Students are expected to have a command of English-language conventions, including sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, capitalization and spelling.
Students will be introduced to the following:
Listening and Speaking Skills
The continued development of listening skills is a challenge but each student will have the opportunity through small and whole group activities to listen to their peers' ideas. Students will take notes during instruction time and from time to time these will be checked for main idea and to make sure the notes are supporting student learning.
Speaking is a challenging activity for many students. Informal and formal opportunities will be given for students to share their ideas orally so that they can see that their thoughts and opinions are valued.
Students will be introduced to the following: