Expository Writing

This week the students began writing a short expository composition to get ready for their upcoming expository speeches. Students chose a famous person or interesting animal to write about and research. We wanted students to have some freedom in their writing to make the composition fun and interesting. We hoped to introduce and develop of the following skills in their four paragraph expository composition. *Write an engaging introduction that tells the main idea. *Create a paragraph for each main topic. *Support each topic with at least two facts or examples. *Write in the third person. Focus on facts, not opinions. *Use your own words. Don't plagiarize! *Show how your ideas are connected. *Write a conclusion that sums up the main idea of your report. *Include a bibliography.

Literature Circles in Reading

The sixth grade Reading students have begun Literature circles in Reading class. Each student was assigned a book and a group to complete the reading and task. Students will have time in class to read the books and work on the tasks. It is our goal to get kids to learn from kids. Before, during, and after reading, it is our goal to get the students to talk to each other about the books. The theme of the books is disabilities. All the main characters in the book have a different disability. Here are some of the guidelines shared with the students. You will enjoy your experience with literature circles if your group has successful discussions. We must learn how to have good discussions. That may sound kind of silly, but many people do not communicate well during a group discussion. We've all met these people before...they do not listen or pay attention to others, they cut other people off mid-sentence, or they might only talk about what is on their minds and not respond to other people's comments. Picture yourself in the middle of a literature circle discussion. You want to be a positive member of your group. What should you do? This is the first assignments given after reading the the first few chapters of the novel. Bookmarks:  Open-Ended “FAT” questions to ask your group  Inferences you made while reading (things you figured out about the storyline by using what you already know)  Literary or story elements  Advice you would offer a character  Vocabulary words – unfamiliar words, interesting words,  Connections you made with the text – about your life, other books, movies  Author style critique – evaluating the way the author wrote the story

Prepositions in LA.

Sixth grade students are finishing up the English unit on Prepositions. We encourage that students try to memorize as many prepositions are possible. There is a great chart on page 315 which we asked students to record in their LA notebooks.

We have practiced identifying prepositional phrases, adding them to sentences to elaborate meaning, using them correctly, and recognizing the difference between a preposition and an adverb.

Prepositions make a phrase that ends with an object (noun or pronoun).
*into the room
*by the desk
*near the school
*to the store and home