6th Grade English Arts

Avon Lake City Schools 

Curriculum Framework

English 6 and English 6+

Course Overview:

6th grade English Language Arts engages students in a wide range of experiences to build students’ reading, writing, vocabulary, and grammar skills. Students in the ELA 6 class read various texts, focusing on analyzing text structure and communicating text comprehension through well-constructed written pieces. Students write routinely over extended and shorter periods for various purposes and audiences. They focus on writing three main forms of texts: narrative, informational, and argumentative. Students organize their writing into clear and coherent text by developing a thesis statement and supporting claims. A main focus in sixth grade is finding text evidence within reading and writing passages. English 6+ students move at an accelerated pace and analyze more challenging works with greater independence.

Textbook (Title and Publishing Company): 

Amplify ELA

Online/Supplemental Materials:

Quill.org

Assessments: 

Ohio State Test

NWEA Map Growth

Amplify ELA Unit Assessments & Essays

Content/Topics/Learning Goals

Subject to Pacing and Schedules

1st Quarter- 

Dahl & Narrative Unit

  • Core text - Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl

  • Skills and Content:

    • Topic & Theme: The impression of a moment

    • Reading: Observe how an author creates a character

    • Writing: Focus on a moment in the text and develop a unique perspective about it

    • Activity Highlights: Respond with constructive comments to peers' writing

    • Text Features: Memoir with vivid descriptions and 20th-century British slang

Mysteries & Investigations Unit

  • Core text -The Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing by Suzanne Jurmain of Medical Sleuthing by Suzanne Jurmain 

  • Skills and Content:

    • Topic & Theme: Reading like an investigator

    • Reading: Assess the credibility of evidence used to support conclusions

    • Writing: Explain which trait is most useful to problem-solving investigators

    • Activity Highlights: Use an app to identify, organize, and evaluate claims and supporting evidence

    • Text Features: Narrative nonfiction of scientific discoveries, detective stories, inductive reasoning

2nd Quarter- 

Continue Mysteries & Investigations Unit

The Chocolate Collection Unit

  • Core text - The Chocolate Collection

    • students explore primary documents and conduct independent research

  • Skills and Content:

    • Topic & Theme: Facts and stories about chocolate through the ages

    • Reading: Identify various sources’ perspectives on a topic

    • Writing: Synthesize information from several sources to develop an argument

    • Activity Highlights: Scavenger hunts, debate, internet research, and media project

    • Text Features: Primary and secondary source materials, varied topics and perspectives

3rd Quarter- 

The Greeks Unit

  • Core text - Greek myths

    • "Prometheus" from Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin

    • "Daedalus" from Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin

    • "Demeter" from Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin

    • Excerpts from The Odyssey by Homer, translated by E.V. Rieu

  • Skills and Content:

    • Topic & Theme: Man vs. gods in ancient Greece

    • Reading: Analyze what symbolic characters show about human nature

    • Writing: Write about the development of a shared theme in two texts

    • Activity Highlights: Myth World Quest, write original interpretations of ancient myths

    • Text Features: Modern prose retellings of myths and translation of ancient narrative poem

Summer of the Mariposas Unit

  • Core text - Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

  • Skills and Content:

    • Topic & Theme: The hero's journey through Aztec mythology

    • Reading: Trace a character's arc from the beginning of a novel to the end

    • Writing: Analyze how character traits assist a heroic character on their journey

    • Activity Highlights: Fishbowl discussions, presentations of research on Aztec mythology

    • Text Features: Latinx YA novel, incorporates magical realism, Aztec mythology, hero's journey

4th Quarter -  

Continue Summer of the Mariposas Unit 

Novel Study Unit

  • Core text - Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate - ELA 6

  • Core text - The Giver by Lois Lowry - ELA 6+

Last Updated:

September, 2023