Download LA Timeline 6th - The Pike School

Language Arts Timeline
Grade: 6
Month
Topics/Essential Questions
Year Long
(Enduring
Questions)
Literature: What are the elements of fiction?
How do we read to understand?
Teaching Examples
Writing: How do we write to communicate?
How can we develop good sentences? What is
a paragraph? How do I answer a thesis
question?
September
Summer read:
What is the true meaning of family?
What is art? Who gets to determine this?
How do friendships shape us?
Short stories: With the compilation of Every
Living Thing, how do elements of a story, in this
case animal character, reflect human emotion
and qualities? How does the author use the
animal characters to reveal theme and conflict
in the story?
Grammar
What is a noun and how do I use it? What is a
pronoun? Agreement of pronouns and
antecedents. Subjects and predicates as parts
of a sentence.
The Outcasts of 19 Shuyler Place
Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant
Workbook activities, “Pack your bags with
nouns” writing assignment.
October
Journey
How can pictures reveal truths? – tie in with the
summer read.
How does an author use the technique of
flashbacks to build suspense in a story?
How do I read for meaning and understanding?
What is the importance of memory in defining
who we are?
Active reading strategies through read alouds,
guided questions
Grammar continued from above.
Quizzes, workbook activities, Scaredy-Cat
Project incorporating abstract nouns and
modifiers.
Archetype unit
What are some of the unifying patterns in
in fairy tales and folktales? How do these
stories evolve over time? What are the
situational archetypes of the hero’s journey?
What is symbolism and what are common
symbolic archetypes, and what are their
meanings?
Short stories and fairy tales: The Third Wish,
Cinderella variants: Ashenputel, The Little Glass
Slipper, Yah-Sheh: A Chinese Cinderella;
Various variants of the Jack and the Beanstalk
stories and Little Red Riding Hood; Orpheus
and Eurydice, Myths of Hercules, Prometheus,
and Perseus; King Arthur read aloud, _______.
November
A Christmas Carol
How do approach a play different from a novel?
What are the elements of drama?
How does a writer activist use his work to affect
change in his world?
What is theme?
What are the types of characters used in a
story?
Skits
Character growth charts
Vocabulary and quiz
Victorian Scavenger Hunt
“Are There No Workhouses?: Child Poverty in
Victorian England”
“The Weeping of the Children” – poem by
Elizabeth Barret Browning
What is our responsibility to mankind?
Grammar
December
January
Verbs: What is an action verb? What is a linking
verb and its function? What is a helping verb?
Workbook activities, handouts, Sports
Announcer assignment, Job letter assignment.
Continued to Break
Students view live production
Grammar
What are the other types of verbs?
Quizzes, workbook activities
“The Highwayman”
What are the elements of a poem and how do
they differ from fiction?
What are the various types of figurative
language used in poetry?
What are poetic devices and how are they used
to enhance a poem?
How does the poet use form and rhyme
scheme?
What is a ballad?
Grammar
Verbs
Adjectives
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
What is the importance of family?
How does an individual triumph over adversity?
http://www.teachersfirst.com/share/highwayman
on whiteboard
Annotations on text
Reader response questions
Various picture books of the poem
Illustrate stanzas
Create a stanza from a different perspective
Depict figurative language through a visual
image to demonstrate understanding of terms
Test
Music by Lorenna McKennett
Quizzes, workbook activities
Poem activities
“Jim Crow” Laws activity
February
What is a “coming of age” novel, and how does
this play out in the story?
What is racism and how can it undermine
community?
What do we mean by an author’s style, and how
does an author use poetic devices in prose?
How does the setting of Post Civil War South
and the Great Depression affect characters and
events in the story?
Various poems by Black authors
Various drama activities
“Strength and Courage” chart
Cause and effect reading strategy
Various poems by Black authors
Writing activities including moving from poetry to
prose
Test
Vocabulary
Essay
Literature choice reading-discovering different
genres
Guided reading of Joseph Bruchac supernatural
novels
Various titles
GrammarPreposition and adverbs
March
Poetry writing
GrammarTransitive and Intransitive verbs – direct objects
and indirect object; object pronouns
2010-2011-Visit from the author
Quizzes, workbook activities, preposition and
adverb poems
Students compose poems based on models
from various poets
Quizzes, workbook activities
April
May
GrammarConjunctions
Independent clauses
Quizzes, workbook activities, clause poems
The Giver
What are the elements of science fiction?
What is the cost for a safe and constant
Drama activity—“Ceremony of the Twelve”
Vocabulary
Journal entries
June
community where all needs are met?
What is a utopia? Can there ever be a true
utopia?
How does memory define us?
What happens when there is no institutional
memory?
What is the importance of language in a
society?
What is a euphemism?
Essay
Venn diagrams
Graphic organizers
Expand on ending of story (alternative ending)
GrammarDirect and indirect objects
Quizzes and workbook pages
Review of material for final exams
Study guide