Language Arts
Language arts in sixth grade focuses on the art of communicating with language, especially through writing. The words and phrases one chooses to communicate one's ideas sends a message about the communicator's feelings about both the subject matter and the audience. In order to communicate clearly we need to use strong/precise language, accurate mechanics, and clear structure/organization.
Each type of writing has its own unique qualities and structure. We will hone skills both by analyzing examples of each type of writing and spending a lot of time writing and receiving feedback from peers and teachers. Our writing pieces this year will include: opinion/persuasive, narrative fiction, informational writing (& research!), poetry, letters, and descriptive. Some pieces will be review and others will be include more intensive instruction to further develop the skills.
Along with the different types of writing, we will be working to grow our mechanics. We will review skills as needed but also increase skills in the areas of sentence structure, formatting and punctuation for dialog, and comma usage.
We will do plenty of word work to help us choose the best words to deliver our message. Word work will include: figurative language, word relationships, and pronouns.
When it comes time to focus on research skills and informational writing we will have lessons on research techniques, how to evaluate a website, and the differences between paraphrasing, quoting, and copying (plagiarizing).
We will be working to grow our editing and revising skills throughout the year!
Many of our writing projects are done on Chromebooks using Google Docs, but we edit, and I grade, on hard copy, so assignments should be printed off and physically turned in when they are due.