Sixth Grade Language Arts

Reading in sixth grade consists mainly of novel studies.  Novels commonly used are The View from Saturday; Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; My Brother Sam Is Dead; Julie of the Wolves; and Caddie Woodlawn.   Activities designed to enhance the students’ understanding of the novels may include vocabulary exercises or assignments related to the characters, setting, plot, or theme.  Additionally, students are given a list of novels from which to choose for independent reading.

Sixth graders are given many opportunities to write.  Attention at the beginning of the year is given to paragraph writing with an emphasis on sentence variety. Students are then ready to write personal narratives and editorials.  Instruction includes the five-paragraph essay model, which is an asset to the student throughout his or her school career.  Some poetry writing is done, especially at Christmas when they compile an old-fashioned poetry booklet.  Students are introduced to research by learning to use library resources and writing a three-page research paper, which is accompanied by a project board to be used for an oral presentation to fifth graders.

Grammar studies deal with simple and compound sentences, including the recognition of subjects and predicates.  The study of the parts of speech, punctuation, and capitalization follows.  Selected units in the textbook Language Arts Today are used in addition to teacher-created materials.

Vocabulary is taught through the novel studies, the social studies and science curricula, and Sadlier-Oxford’s Vocabulary Workshop: Level A, which is comprised of words found commonly in SATs and ACTs that are given in high school.

Assessment is based on quizzes or tests in reading, grammar, vocabulary, and writing.  These tests may be teacher-produced, standardized, or from the book publishers.  In addition to tests, grades may be assigned to daily assignments when there has been sufficient instruction and practice of a skill.