6th Grade Family Letters

Dear Families,

At the heart of the EL Education Language Arts Curriculum is a commitment to literacy instruction through engaging, authentic books. Each of the four modules in the Grade 6  curriculum is built around a fiction or nonfiction book that guides the learning and helps  students connect to the module topic. These books act as portals, giving students access to  the perspectives of diverse characters and to the academic challenges required for grade-level  success.  

The books selected for Grade 6 take students on a journey to a mythical training camp, the true  story of a village in Malawi, a 1930s boarding school in Oklahoma, and the busy offices of NASA  in the years before the moon landing. Despite the variety of their content, the central texts have  this in common: rich, complex language; important and compelling themes; exciting plots with  meaningful conflicts; and thoughtful characters or historical figures who, in their own ways,  aim to be ethical people who contribute to a better world. By the end of the school year, through  work with these books and related texts, students will be more effective, more strategic, and  more joyful readers. 

Module 1: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 

The Lightning Thief introduces students to Percy, the trouble-prone antihero who doesn’t seem  to fit in anywhere. His teachers don’t understand him, his stepfather treats him poorly, and  his classmates find him pretty strange. Percy feels strange indeed, and finally, he learns why:  he is the son of a Greek god—and the other gods think he’s a thief! Tasked with a seemingly  impossible quest to recover a stolen lightning bolt and prove his innocence, Percy begins his  journey to find the bolt and ends up finding himself instead.  

The main tasks of this module help students develop reading and writing skills that will help  them throughout Grade 6 and beyond. Students learn strategies for figuring out the meanings  of unfamiliar words. They determine the central ideas and important details of early chapters  in the book and write summaries of shorter texts related to topics in the book. After reading  one scene in the text and watching the same scene come to life in the movie version, students  examine similarities and differences between the scenes in a compare and contrast essay.  Finally, borrowing from the clever techniques used in The Lightning Thief, students try their  hand at narrative writing by rewriting a scene from the book.  

Module 2: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Young Readers Edition) by  William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer 

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind tells the true story of a curious and bright young scientist,  William. Whether making a broken radio buzz again or figuring out how a “dynamo” works,  William loves a good challenge. When his beloved Malawian village is hit by a devastating  drought and famine, William’s challenges, for the first time, seem impossible to overcome. With  perseverance and patience, William constructs his most important invention yet: a windmill  that brings electricity—and with it, stability and protection against future droughts—to his  home and community. 

The main tasks of this module reflect William’s questioning spirit. Students break down the  book’s structure and examine its individual pieces. They analyze the way that William is  introduced in the book and interpret the authors’ use of figurative language. With William’s  creativity as inspiration, students research other innovators’ solutions to critical problems  in communities around the world. Lessons focused on building students’ research skills— searching for sources, deciding whether they are credible and useful, and paraphrasing and  quoting them—help students become more effective investigators. Students write a problem solution essay based on their findings, then share their research at a presentation and  discussion, during a “Solution Symposium.” This symposium both highlights the inventiveness  of students’ research subjects and celebrates students’ own learning. 

Module 4: Hidden Figures (Young Readers’ Edition) by Margot Lee Shetterly

Hidden Figures celebrates the work of the “West Computers” of NACA (now NASA). These  talented mathematicians solved problems and performed calculations that would transform  air travel and eventually help human beings land on the moon for the first time. As the first  black women hired by NASA, the West Computers faced additional challenges beyond the  mathematical and scientific. Hidden Figures follows the lives and friendships of the West  Computers at a time of overt racism and discrimination and describes their achievements in  science and beyond. 

The main tasks of this module allow students to dive deeply into the lives of West Computers Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine. First, students read a series of short articles and other  texts to build context for the module topic. Then, students look closely at the way the  author describes key events in Hidden Figures and compare it to how those same events are  described by other authors. Finally, having gathered many examples of the West Computers’  remarkable accomplishments, students write essays that make an argument about why these  accomplishments deserve attention. 

Unit 1: Greek Mythology

What will your student be doing at school?

This unit is designed to help students build knowledge about Greek mythology while simultaneously developing their ability to read a challenging text closely by analyzing the narrator’s point of view in the novel Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Students read this novel in conjunction with selected stories from Greek mythology and articles addressing the relevance and influence of these ancient stories today. Students will examine the author develops a character’s point of view over the course of a novel as well as how their own perspectives can evolve.

In the second half of the unit, students participate in a discussion about how the main character responds to challenges and what those reactions indicate about his character.

How can you support your student at home?

• Share traditional stories from your culture or heritage with your student. Ask your student about the lessons that these stories were meant to teach and how those messages might still be relevant today.
• Explain how your personal point of view has changed since you were the age of your student.
• Watch films and research on the internet with your student to find out more about Greek mythology. The novel your student is studying references a number of different mythological figures (e.g., heroes, gods and goddesses, monsters). Build background knowledge on this topic by discovering together the details of the figures named in the novel.
• Ask your student to explain the difference between academic and domain-specific vocabulary and to offer you examples. Share some examples of domain-specific terms from your occupation or hobby with your student.
• Read chapter books with your student and discuss how each chapter fits into the overall structure of the novel using the key below:

Key

• exposition: beginning of the story describing how things are before the action begins
• rising action: series of conflicts and crises in the story that builds towards the climax
• climax: the turning point, when something important happens that changes the direction of the story
• falling action: the action that happens after the climax and starts to guide the story toward the resolution
• resolution: the end of the story tying everything together

Common Core State Standards addressed:

• RL.6.1, RL.6.2, RL.6.3, RL.6.4, RL.6.5, RL.6.6, RL.6.7, RL.6.9, RL.6.10
• RI.6.1, RI.6.2, RI.6.4
• W.6.2, W.6.3, W.6.4, W.6.5, W.6.6, W.6.9, W.6.10
• SL.6.1
• L.6.1, L.6.2, L.6.3, L.6.4, L.6.5, L.6.6
  • The Language standard that students focus on in this unit is determining or clarifying the meanings of unknown and multiple-meaning words by choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

Habits of Character

Working to become ethical people is the habit of character emphasized in this unit. These are the specific skills on which students will focus:

• I show respect. This means I appreciate the abilities, qualities, and achievements of others and treat myself, others, and the environment with care.
• I show empathy. This means I understand and share or take into account the feelings, situation, or attitude of others.
• I behave with integrity. This means I am honest and do the right thing, even when it’s difficult, because it is the right thing to do.
• I show compassion. This means I notice when others are sad or upset and try to help them.

Unit 1: Homework

In Lessons 2–16, homework handouts focus on determining the meanings of unfamiliar words using context and reference materials, as well as answering text-dependent questions about the development of plot and characters from the anchor text, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Time limitations do not allow for entire chapters of the novel to be read during class; students will be asked to preread a chapter for homework the night before it is studied in class. Reading from the anchor text will be balanced with research reading, which is used to deepen students’ background knowledge about the topic of the module.

Research reading: Your student is expected to independently research the topic of study in this module, Greek mythology, by reading topic-related books of his or her choice. Research reading will be assigned on evenings when students are not already reading the anchor text (explained above). Students will be expected to read for approximately 20 minutes each day and respond to a prompt of choice in the front of the independent reading journal. These are usually books your student will bring home from school; however, they may be topic-related books chosen by the student at the public or home library. Prompts for independent reading can be found in the homework materials provided.

Choice reading: If your student would also like to independently read and respond to a book of free choice, he or she may use the back of the independent reading journal. Prompts for independent reading can be found in the homework materials provided.

Vocabulary Logs

Students record new vocabulary in vocabulary logs and mark academic vocabulary with a symbol, for example, a star:

• Academic vocabulary: words you might find in informational texts on many different topics. For example, the words evidence and rationale are words that could be found in books on any topic.
• Domain-specific vocabulary: words about a particular topic. For example, the words tadpoles, frogspawn, and amphibian are some that would be found on the topic of frogs.

Unit 2: Write to Inform: Compare and Contrast the Text and Film of The Lightning Thief

What will your student be doing at school?

In Unit 2, students continue to read Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. They analyze the Greek myths highlighted in the novel and compare themes and topics in the Greek myths with those evident in The Lightning Thief.

In the second half of the unit, students write a literary analysis essay using the Painted Essay® structure. This structure guides students to compare and contrast the experience of watching parts of The Lightning Thief movie in which Percy, the hero, overcomes challenges, with reading the same events in the novel.

How can you support your student at home?

• Ask your student to identify the themes in stories that you read or have read together. Listen for your student to identify the author’s message or the life lesson the reader is supposed to consider.
• Challenge your student to think critically about what he or she is reading. Ask about whose perspective is included, whose is excluded, and how certain groups of people are being conveyed. Similar conversations could happen around other media like the news or advertisements.
• Look for myths from other cultures. Compare the values that different cultures seem to idealize. Discuss whether you and your student agree with the values presented.
• Talk to your student about what it means to be a hero. Share examples of your own personal heroes and what qualities those people possess to make them heroic.
• Students will watch selected scenes from the film version of The Lightning Thief. Watch the film adaptation of other familiar books. Discuss what changes were made, and question why the screenwriter and director likely made those changes.
• Read chapter books with your student, and discuss how each chapter fits into the overall structure of the novel using the key below:

Key

• exposition: beginning of the story describing how things are before the action begins
• rising action: series of conflicts and crises in the story that build toward the climax
• climax: the turning point, when something important happens that changes the direction of the story
• falling action: the action that happens after the climax and starts to guide the story toward the resolution
• resolution: the end of the story tying everything together 

Common Core State Standards addressed: 

• RL.6.1, RL.6.7
• W.6.2, W.6.5, W.6.6, W.6.9a, W.6.10
• L.6.2b, L.6.6
  • The Language standard focused on in this unit requires students to acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases.

Habits of Character

Working to become ethical people is the habit of character emphasized in this unit. These are the specific skills students will focus on:

• I show empathy. This means I understand and share or take into account the feelings, situation, or attitude of others.
• I behave with integrity. This means I am honest and do the right thing, even when it’s difficult, because it is the right thing to do.
• I show respect. This means I appreciate the abilities, qualities, and achievements of others and treat myself, others, and the environment with care.
• I show compassion. This means I notice when others are sad or upset and try to help them.

Unit 2: Homework

In Lessons 1–13, homework focuses on preparing to write an informative essay, as well as answering text-dependent questions about the development of plot and characters from the anchor text, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Time limitations do not allow for entire chapters of the novel to be read during class; students will be asked to preread a chapter for homework the night before it is studied in class. Reading from the anchor text will be balanced with research reading, which is used to deepen students’ background knowledge about the topic of the module.

Research reading: Your student is expected to independently research the topic of study in this module, Greek mythology, by reading topic-related books of his or her choice. Research reading will be assigned on evenings when students are not already reading the anchor text (explained above). Students will be expected to read for approximately 20 minutes each day and respond to a prompt of choice in the front of the independent reading journal. These are usually books your student will bring home from school; however, they may be topic-related books chosen by the student at the public or home library. Prompts for independent reading can be found in the homework materials provided.

Choice reading: If your student would also like to independently read and respond to a book of free choice, he or she may use the back of the independent reading journal. Prompts for independent reading can be found in the homework materials provided.

Vocabulary Logs

Students record new vocabulary in vocabulary logs and mark academic vocabulary with a symbol, for example, a star:

• Academic vocabulary: words you might find in informational texts on many different topics. For example, the words evidence and rationale are words that could be found in books on any topic.
• Domain-specific vocabulary: words about a particular topic. For example, the words tadpoles, frogspawn, and amphibian are some that would be found on the topic of frogs.

Unit 3: Research to Create a New Character and Write a Narrative

What will your student be doing at school?

In Unit 3, students reimagine a scene from The Lightning Thief, writing themselves into the action as a different demigod from Camp Half-Blood. They research a Greek god of their choosing and use their research to create a new character, the child of that figure. Students develop the attributes of that character and strategically insert the character into a scene from the novel, editing carefully so as not to change the outcome of the story.

At the end of the module, students create a presentation outlining their choices and the reasons for their choices for the performance task.

How can you support your student at home?

• Discuss the attributes of favorite characters from books, movies, television, etc. Talk about what factors likely led the characters to develop those attributes. Especially focus on the influence of the character’s parents, caregivers, and mentors.
• Read the news together. Discuss what you read, and look for allusions to mythology and other traditional stories.
• Challenge your student to think critically about what he or she is reading. Ask about whose perspective is included, whose is excluded, how certain groups of people are being conveyed. Similar conversations could happen around other media like the news or advertisements.
• Explore your local library for fractured fairytales rewritten for a young adult audience. Discuss how changing the perspective of the narrator reveals new ideas in a familiar story. Many options are available, including Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Briar Rose by Jane Yolen, or any of the You Choose: Fractured Fairy Tales series.
• Seek out podcasts that highlight the pervasive power of mythology and/or the skill of storytelling. Podcasts appeal particularly to students whose strength is in auditory processing or those who appreciate the convenience of learning while on the go.
• Ask your student to practice presenting their performance task for you. As students will not be formally assessed on this task, focus mainly on positive, encouraging feedback.
• Help your student to make authentic connections between what they are learning in school and how it can apply in one’s personal and professional life. In this unit, students compose a narrative text and present their work to an audience. Look for examples of these skills being applied in the “real world.”
• Read chapter books with your student, and discuss how each chapter fits into the overall structure of the novel using the key below:

Key

• exposition: beginning of the story describing how things are before the action begins
• rising action: series of conflicts and crises in the story that build toward the climax
• climax: the turning point, when something important happens that changes the direction of the story
• falling action: the action that happens after the climax and starts to guide the story toward the resolution
• resolution: the end of the story tying everything together 

Common Core State Standards addressed: 

• W.6.3, W.6.4, W.6.5, W.6.6, W.6.10
• L.6.3, L.6.6
  • The Language standard focused on in this unit requires students to vary sentence patterns for meaning and maintain consistency in style and tone.

Habits of Character

Working to contribute to a better world is the habit of character emphasized in this unit. Specifically, students will focus on using their strengths to help others grow by providing kind, helpful, and specific feedback as they revise their narratives with their peers

Unit 3: Homework

In Lessons 1–11, homework focuses on research reading.

Research reading: Your student is expected to independently research the topic by reading topic-related books of his or her choice for approximately 20 minutes each day and responding to a prompt of choice in the front of the independent reading journal. These are usually books your student will bring home from school; however, they may be topic-related books chosen by the student at the public or home library. Prompts for independent reading can be found in the homework materials provided.

Choice reading: If your student would also like to independently read and respond to a book of free choice, he or she may use the back of the independent reading journal. Prompts for independent reading can be found in the homework materials provided.

Vocabulary Logs

Students record new vocabulary in vocabulary logs and mark academic vocabulary with a symbol, for example, a star:

• Academic vocabulary: words you might find in informational texts on many different topics. For example, the words evidence and rationale are words that could be found in books on any topic.
• Domain-specific vocabulary: words about a particular topic. For example, the words tadpoles, frogspawn, and amphibian are some that would be found on the topic of frogs.

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