Sixth Grade Parent Articulation Meeting Wednesday, January 23, 2013

1. Questions: Scott Webster; English Resource Teacher/English 7 Email: Gregory_S_Webster@mcpsmd.org Sixth Grade Parent Articulation MeetingWednesday, January 23, 2013

2. Sixth Grade John T. Baker Middle School Skills for Success • Organization and Homework • Using a planner or agenda book daily to organize homework assignments and long term projects. • Organizing papers in binder using dividers or folders for each subject. • Using a homework folder with a “to do” side and a “to turn in” side. • Sorting through the homework folder on a daily basis.

3. Sixth Grade John T. Baker Middle School Skills for Success • Reassessment • Middle School reassessment policy states that teachers are only required to give one reassessment per quarter. • The assignment that is reassessed is at the teacher’s discretion, and students are notified of the reassessment prior to the initial assessment. • The reassessment grade replaces the original grade, even if it is lower. • You can reassess a skill without reassessing the grade on a particular assignment.

4. Sixth Grade John T. Baker Middle School Skills for Success • Self-Advocate • Grade awareness-Students will have Edline next year to track their grade on a daily basis. Middle School Grading is based on total points so, every graded assignment impacts their final grade. • Students need to be able to advocate for themselves when they are absent or when they do not understand a concept. They will need to increase their comfort in speaking with teachers and other adults. • Parents need to begin to give students more ownership in asking teachers questions. Parents should encourage their student to come and talk to the teacher about questions or concerns in order to increase student/teacher communication and not always rely on parent/teacher communication.

5. Courses Available to Incoming Sixth Graders Sixth Grade English Courses • English 6 • Advanced English 6 Sixth Grade Reading Courses • Corrective Reading • Developmental Reading • Reading 6 • GT Reading 6

6. Advanced English 6/GT Reading 6 • Recommendation of the fifth-grade language arts teacher • Achievement in class as indicated by the language arts grades • Results of MSA (Maryland School Assessment) and MAP-R (Measures of Academic Progress in Reading)

7. Reading Strategies • Making Predictions • Making Inferences • Questioning • Visualizing • Summarizing • Making Connections

8. English 6 Units Unit 1: Foundations • Constructing a complete sentence with correct punctuation and capitalization • Recognizing and correcting fragments, run-ons, and end punctuation Simple sentences: • Elements of sentence • Structure • Subject & Predicate Nouns: • Common and proper • Plural and possessive • Apostrophes • Subject-verb agreement

9. English 6 Units Continued… Unit 2: Adventures • Conjunctions (and, but, & or) • Commas in a series Unit 3: Challenges and Barriers • Identifying a verb and verb tenses • Maintaining verb tense consistency in writing Unit 4: Choices • Identifying prepositions and prepositional phrases

10. Sixth Grade Core Novels Unit 1: Foundations Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsberg Unit 2: Adventures True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls Unit 3: Challenges and Barriers Tuck Everlastingby Natalie Babbit Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMHby Robert C. O’Brien Unit 4: Choices A Wrinkle inTime by Madeline L’Engle Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan White Mountains by John Christopher Belle Prater’s Boy by Ruth White Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer Reading 6 Novels Music of the Dolphins by Karen Hesse Crash by Jerry Spinelli Having Our Say by the Delaney Sisters D’aulaires Book of Greek Mythology