1. Welcome Parents 6th Grade ELA Team Spartans
Mrs. Plotz

2. Tonight’s Topics Classroom Expectations PowerSchool and Grading policy
Teacher Website
Curriculum
Background

3. Classroom Expectations
Be Responsible
On time
Prepared (homework completed, materials)
Ask questions
Be Respectful
Listen while others are speaking
Be safe
Keep hands and feet to yourself
Push chairs in
Material in desk or under chair
Strike 4 system in a Trimester
Warning
Warning and student-teacher conference
Warning and student- teacher conference and parent
Office referral and parent

4. Grading Policy I always accept late work for:
Trimester 1 – End of Module
Trimester 2 – Module mid unit assessment
Trimester 3 – 1 week after due date
Assignments will be marked in PowerSchool (late or missing) if it applies
- a non graded assignment was collected
10 points – homework, entrance tickets, and participation
25 points – quizzes
50 points - tests
Grades are earned by total accumulated points
PowerSchool Update - at least 1 time every 2 weeks for ELA, sometimes more depending on what is going on in class.

5. My Webpage The “Calendar” on my webpage is kept updated.
I post what was done in class and the homework
Any worksheets/packets can be found here under “Resources”
I do send many s about what is happening in class such as important projects and due dates.
Always me at any time if you ever have questions.
This presentation will go on my webpage:

6. Honors Criteria
Student Placed in Honors using the following information:
NWEA RIT scores
Placement Essay
Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) – verbal scores (6th only)
Team Observation Checklist
All students placed in the Honors ELA must maintain at least a letter grade of a C each term.
Placement in the Honors ELA class is not guaranteed every year; students will be re-evaluated every year.
The criteria may change for next year.  We will be determining that at a later date.

7. Curriculum Aligned to the ELA Common Core Standards
Expeditionary Learning - Mentor texts
Module 1 - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
Module 2 - Bud Not Buddy
Module 3 - World Without Fish AND Flush
Module 4 - Frightful’s Mountain
Classes are 50 minutes long
Homework 2 to 3 nights
There are NOT booklets as in the past. We have packets.

8. Module 1 Focus: Reading Closely and Writing to Learn
Title: Myths: Not Just Long Ago
Anchor text: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Description: As a whole class, students will closely read several complex Greek myths, and then work in small groups to build expertise on an additional myth.
Assessment: Students will develop their narrative writing skills as they create their own hero’s journey narrative.

9. Module 2A Focus: Working with Evidence Title: Rules to Live By
Anchor Text: Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Steve Jobs Commencement Speech from 2005
If by Runyard Kipling
Description: How do people formulate and use “rules” to improve their lives and communicate these “rules” to others? Students study: analyze character development,
how figurative language contributes to tone and meaning,
how ideas are developed at the paragraph, sentence, and word level,
compare and contrast how the novel and the poem address a similar theme.
Assessment: In an argument essay, students establish a claim about how Bud uses his rules and conduct a short research project related to their own “rules to live by” and then write an essay to inform about one important “rule to live by.”

10. Module 3B Focus: Understanding Perspectives
Title: Sustaining the Oceans
Anchor Texts: World Without Fish by Mark Kurlansky
Flush by Carl Hiaasen
Description: Students study how an author develops point of view and how an author’s perspective, based on his or her geographic location, is evident in his or her writing.
Assessment: Students write an informative consumer guide about buying fish to be put in a grocery store.

11. Module 4 Focus: Reading for Research and Writing an Argument
Title: Insecticides: Costs vs. Benefits
Anchor Text: Frightful’s Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Description: Students consider the balance between human needs and environmental consequences as they read the literature and informational texts about the benefits and drawbacks of the use of DDT. They learn how to trace and evaluate an argument in written texts and videos on this topic, and conduct both supported and independent research through structured discussions and decision-making protocols.
Assessment: Students then apply their research to write a position paper in which they support that claim with evidence.

12. All About Me This my 19th year teaching Language Arts
Graduated from Carthage College in Elementary Education and with a minor in Speech Communications
Masters of Science in Literacy from Walden University
Reading Interventionist endorsement from Carthage
English 6-12 endorsement from Carthage
12 hours in Gifted Education