Bell-ringer: 10 minutes Silent read and reading log.

Stacey Chavours _September 4, 2012 Room 101 6 th Grade Language Arts Essential Question: How do readers use the elements of plot to create a quality summary? Standard: RL.6.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. Bell-ringer: 10 minutes Silent read and reading log. Vocabulary: 15 minutes: Purpose: Review synonym and antonym since not all students understood their meaning last week. Mini- lesson: Say, This lesson will help you become better readers. Becoming a better reader will help you in all areas of life. What are context clues? Context clues are hints found within a sentence, paragraph, or passage that you use so you can understand the meanings of new or unfamiliar words. We talked last week about how we should use the dictionary only as the last possible resort because dictionaries aren t always available. Many words have more than one meaning so you have to look at the context clues to determine the correct meaning. We re going to look at two types of context clues. Synonyms and antonyms are important to learn because they are used as context clues in text. Synonyms are restatement clues in a sentence and antonyms are contrast clues. First we ll look at synonym clues with means the same meaning. Show this example sentence: The food was bland. In fact, everyone called it tasteless. Underline the word bland. Do a think aloud to name the synonym or restatement clue. Partner practice: Write the sentence: The mountain pass was a tortuous road, winding and twisting like a snake around the trees of the mountainside. Ask students to take 30 seconds to talk to their partner and determine the synonym for tortuous which means winding and twisting. Say, Now we will look at antonym or contrast clues. Antonyms are words with opposite meanings. Words like although, however, and but might signal contrast clues. Write this example sentence: Chad is calm and quiet but his brother is boisterous. Underline the word boisterous. Do a think aloud to name the antonyms calm and quiet. Partner practice: Write the sentence: When the light brightens, the pupils of the eyes contract; however, when it grows darker, they dilate. With a partner, students should find the antonym for dilate which is contract. Practice: Handout the Context Clue Homework Practice assignment for independent practice. Literature: 20 minutes Mini- lesson Pass out the story map. Tell students we will use the story map to help us create the retelling. Model the strategy by reading aloud the story Luella and the Parrot. Then, retell the story to the class but don t read the words in bold. Say, In Luella and the Parrot, a folktale passed down in the African American culture, a slave named Luella in the South tries to understand how her Mistress and Master knew when the slaves took more food. Luella discovers a talking parrot while cleaning. Then, she told the other slaves about the parrot. As a result, the slaves found out for themselves and realized they had to toe the line. After that, Luella put a black hood over the parrot s cage so it couldn t tell on the slaves again. I thought the this version of the parrot tale showed how the slaves could make the burden of slavery easier. Show a Retelling Checklist on the projector and ask them to rate my telling together. Next, show the students the story map filled out to make sure I included all of the retelling. Revise the retelling and include the events in black. 15 minutes - Practice: Tell students to take out their homework. With a partner, students should read their retellings aloud to each other. Listeners should rate each element of the presenter s retelling 1

using the four- point scale proved. Next, students should revise their retellings and fill out the story map. Then, students should pair once more and have them rate each other s revised retellings. Finally, bring the class together, and ask volunteers to discuss what they found easiest and what they found hardest about writing the retellings. Exit Pass 2

Stacey Chavours September 5, 2012 Room 101 6 th Grade Language Arts Essential Question: How do readers use the elements of plot to create a quality summary? Standard: RL.6.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. Bell-ringer: 15 minutes Silent read, reading log and vocab card Vocabulary: 15 minutes Pass out this week s affixes. Tell students with a partner to think of more examples to fill in the charts. Share. Poetry and Writing: Poetry and Writing: 15 minutes Footsteps to Follow by Kelli Carter Say, We ve been learning that poems can be about anything. Today we ll begin a new conversation about what poems can be good for: why people write them, what poems do for poets, and what poetry does for people who read it. Kelli was an eighth- grade poet who adored a certain children s book author. He lived in her state and spent a lot of time in local schools, including Kelli s, giving readings and working with kids on their writing. And suddenly, one morning, there he was in the headlines of the local newspaper. He d been arrested, charged with molesting little boys and girls. Kelli s response to the bad news about her favorite author was a poem. He wrote it on the bus on the way to school, tore it out of her notebook, folded it about twenty times, and left it on her teacher s desk. Tell them as I read the poem to look at the use of questions seven of them to create cadence, build a theme, and suggest the poet s confusion. Look at the simple, direct language that gives the poem its emotional power: Where have all the good guys gone? Students should reread the poem and mark the lines you d like to talk about. Also, speculate about why you think Kelli wrote this: what might naming and shaping her feelings in a poem have done for her? Discuss. Discuss the way the pause after little in the second to last line gives the word a double meaning, about the loss of childhood innocence. Discuss because of the coded nature of poetry, Kelli can write about what happened and convey her anguished response to it indirectly. The heroes on horseback, knights, and Lone Rangers function as symbols for the children s author For 5 minutes freewrite a poem your own strong emotions about a situation that troubles you: use a poem to help you capture, define, and get some control over what hurts. Share in Writer s Chair. Literacy: 25 minutes Finish powerpoint for Elements of Literature plot Exit Pass 3

Stacey Chavours September 6, 2012 Room 101 6 th Grade Language Arts Essential Question: How do readers use the elements of plot to create a quality summary? Standard: RL.6.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. Bellringer: 15 minutes: Silent read and reading log and students should write down at least ten of the affixes on this week s list. When finished reading, add it to the Word Wall. Grammar: 10 minues: Noun Activity and Verb Activity Writing: 15 minutes Begin the Writing Workshop on p. 27 of the Elements of Language book. Literacy: 30 minutes Elements of Literature p. 41 All Summer in a Day. Exit Pass 4

Stacey Chavours _September 7, 2012 Room 101 6 th Grade Language Arts Essential Question: How do readers use the elements of plot to create a quality summary? Standard: RL.6.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. Bell- ringer: 10 minutes silent read, reading log, and vocabulary card Grammar: 15 minutes Sentence Smackdown - Hang a poster with one side Subject and the other side Verb written at the top. Handout paper, one for each student. One partner should write one noun and the other partner should write one verb. Tell them they can use yesterday s worksheet for help. Each student should smack down the subject and the verb and say the simple sentence out loud. Writing: 15 minutes Writing Workshop on p. 30 in Elements of Language book. Vocabulary: 10 minutes Go back and review the affixes. Have students add more words to the posters. Pass out the Meaning of a Word handout for homework. Literacy: 35 minutes Continue with All Summer in a Day. Exit Pass 5

Prefixes Roots Suffix anti- (against, opposite, reverse) Antiaircraft Antifreeze Antibiotics ex- (out; beyond; away from; former) Excel Exclude Exhale Exile Ex-president duct/duc (canal, pipe, conduit) Aqueduct Viaduct cycle (recurring) Recycle -ful (full of) Careful Fearful Joyful Thoughtful 6

Context Clue Homework Practice In class, we learned about two types of context clues in order to help us become better readers. 1) Synonym Restatement Clue The reader may discover the meaning of an unfamiliar word because it repeats the idea using a synonym. 2) Antonym Contrast Clue The context clue is the opposite of an unfamiliar word. Directions: Underline the synonym of the word in bold. 1. Work as scrupulously, that is, as carefully, as you can. 2. The stylus was an early writing instrument. 3. The dromedary, commonly called a camel, stores fat in its hump. 4. At first, the surgery seemed to be successful. But several hours later, the patient s condition began to deteriorate, and it continued to worsen over the next few days. 5. My father died when I was a baby, but Mom told me so many stories about him that I feel I knew him well. For example, one anecdote was about how he cried with joy when I was born. 6. It is refreshing to see students so excited, so zealous in doing their homework. Directions: Underline the antonym of the word in bold. 1. The children were as different as day and night. He was a lively conversationalist, but she was reserved and taciturn. 2. I was anxious, but everyone else was calm and relaxed. 3. Unlike his quiet and low- key family, Brad is garrulous. 4. In Dickens A Christmas Carol, the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three spirits who changed him into a generous man. 5. I expected truthfulness from a doctor; I was shocked by his mendacity. 6. We thought that the mother would be very distraught at hearing of her husband's accident; however, she took the news quite calmly. Directions: Answer the following question in complete sentences. How do context clues make us better readers? 7

!"#$%&'()*!+!*,)"!-)*#.....Name Date Parts of Speech Verbs Almost all words have a part of speech. Which part of speech a word has depends on how it is used in a sentence. Here is a list of the eight parts of speech: Noun Verb Adjective Adverb Conjunction Preposition Pronoun Interjection Verb: A verb is a word used to express an action or a state of being. A verb may be more than one word (when it includes helping verbs or auxiliaries). This is called a verb phrase. Example: The woman painted a picture. In this example, the word painted is a verb because it expresses action. Example: The woman is a fine painter. In this example, the word is is a verb because it expresses a state of being. Example: They should not be feeding the lions. In this example, the words should not be feeding are a verb phrase because they include helping verbs or auxiliaries. Directions: Underline the verbs (or verb phrases) in the following sentences. 1) The dog runs and jumps. 2) We are studying biology. 3) The tennis player is going to hit the ball. 4) We like to sing, dance, and play. 5) I do not know if I should go to the party tonight. 6) The first car couldn t have avoided hitting the second car. 7) Hmmm, right now I am thinking about thinking! Directions: Now make your own sentences that use verbs. 1) 2) 8

Footsteps to Follow by Kelli Carter What happened to all the Lone Rangers, The heroes on white stallions, The knights in white armor Who fought for our honor? Where have all the good guys gone? Whose footsteps are we to follow now? Whose shoes are we to fill? Mine is the voice of this generation- The voice of a thousand. Do you hear our unanswered questions? Or are you so deaf that you cannot hear? So what happened to you, Lone Ranger? Each time you don t answer, a little part of us dies. 9

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What s the relationship between these words? 6 th Grade Week One and Week Two Prefix, Suffix, Roots and word meaning Part One Directions: Match the words in the B column to the general meaning in A. A = General Meaning Opposite of; away from; undo Opposite Out; beyond; away from; former B= Words 1. disagree, disarm, discontinue, dishonest 2. deactivate, deform, degrade, deplete, descend 3. antiaircraft, antifreeze, antibiotics Against, opposite, reverse 4. excel, exclude, exhale, exile Part Two Directions: Match the suffixes on the left to the explanation or function on the right. -er (teacher, boxer) - ful (careful, fearful) - est (fastest, longest) 1. Superlative function 2. One who performs a job or comparative 3. Full of Part Three Directions: Match the words in the B column to the general meaning in A. A = General Meaning Canal, pipe, conduit Recurring Life Good 1. recycle 2. aqueduct, viaduct B= Words 3. benediction, benevolent, benefactor 4. biology, biochemistry, biodegradable 11

!"#$%&'()*!+!*,)"!-)*#.....Name Date Nouns Proper and Common A proper noun is a noun that represents a unique entity (James Edwards, England, The University of North Carolina). Proper nouns are usually capitalized. A common noun is a noun that represents a class of things. Example: Maria s cat is named Boo Kitty. In this example, Maria and Boo Kitty are proper nouns because they represent a unique entity. There is only one Maria, and only one Boo Kitty being referenced. Cat is a common noun because it represents a class of animal. There are thousands of cats in the world. Directions: Circle the proper nouns in the box below. Elephant India Jazz Baseball New York Dr. Willimas Home School The Olympics Tennis Directions: Underline the proper nouns and circle the common nouns in the following sentences. 1) The house is in Africa. 2) The Ford truck is missing one door. 3) I am from Belize. 4) Jaime lives at 108 Spring St. 5) Monaco is an expensive city. 6) The Bulls won the game last night. 7) Basketball is so fun. 8) Mrs. Peach needed to know my phone number, said Juan. 9) Alamance Community College is a nice school. 10) Birds are my favorite animals. Directions: Use the proper nouns in the box below to make two sentences. Mt. McKinley Old River China Mr. Anderson Thomas Colorado Jupiter Nike 1) 2) Directions: Now make your one sentences using proper and common nouns. 1) 2) 12

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