Welcome to Ms



Welcome to Mrs. Harrison’s

6th Grade Humanities PlUS (H+) Class!

Humanities Syllabus 2011-2012 – Grade 6

Mrs. Harrison

Course Description

Welcome to Mrs. Harrison’s 6th grade Humanities PLUS (H+) class! You are now part of a tradition that includes high expectations, enthusiasm, creativity, humor and a positive attitude about learning. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you.

Your first days and weeks will be filled with renewing old friendships and making new friends with 6th graders from other elementary schools. You may be concerned about lockers, lunches, and bathroom locations; but I will help you in any way I can to make these adjustments easier. You’ll also be asked to adjust to a new and challenging curriculum right off that bat! Again, I’ll do everything I can to make these academic challenges fun and rewarding.

This 6th grade H+ course has been designed to integrate social studies, language arts and communications content and skills where they naturally overlap. We will explore a variety of essential questions to learn new content, find connections between different subject areas, and find connections between class work and the global world (current events).

Humanities PLUS

H+ follows the same language arts and social studies core curriculum as regular classes, but with added rigor, some additional assignment requirements, acceleration, and higher expectations. Typically, the PLUS classes experience more open-ended, higher-level thinking and questioning.

Instructional and Curriculum Planning Techniques used in H+

Parallel Curriculum:

The Parallel Curriculum planning model is made up of four key components: The core curriculum, the curriculum of connection, the curriculum of practice and the curriculum of identity. Although these four components will be addressed in more depth in class, the idea is that by melding together these four components students will be learning the core concepts and processes that they need to and then applying that knowledge to make connections, think about possible careers and reflect on themselves. This curriculum model is designed for advanced students and allows students to delve more deeply into what they are learning. If you would like more detailed information about the parallel curriculum model, you can view a brief presentation at: .

Differentiated Instruction:

Throughout the past couple of years, I have been working towards making my classroom a differentiated classroom that values student choice and teaches students where they are at on the learning continuum. A definition, from the website , of differentiated instruction can be seen below:

“What is differentiated instruction?

Differentiated instruction is an instructional theory that allows teachers to face this challenge by taking diverse student factors into account when planning and delivering instruction. Based on this theory, teachers can structure learning environments that address the variety of learning styles, interests, and abilities found within a classroom.

How does differentiated instruction work?

Differentiated instruction is based upon the belief that students learn best when they make connections between the curriculum and their diverse interests and experiences, and that the greatest learning occurs when students are pushed slightly beyond the point where they can work without assistance. This point differs for students who are working below grade level and for those who are gifted in a given area.

Rather than simply "teaching to the middle" by providing a single avenue for learning for all students in a class, teachers using differentiated instruction match tasks, activities, and assessments with their students' interests, abilities, and learning preferences.”

Although I like to think that through student-teacher interaction, assessments, observations and student reflections that I know at which level students are at in different subject areas, I value any input from parents regarding assignments/curriculum that is either too easy or so challenging it is consistently frustrating for students.

Language Arts

Throughout this course, we will focus on reading, writing, speaking and communication skills. We will study different genres of reading and writing styles. You will work independently, in groups, and as a class to analyze literature, which will include class novels, independent reading books, short stories, and poems. You will also participate in group activities designed to enhance your speaking and listening skills. These will include both formal and informal presentations within the classroom.

Writing: Students will be involved in a lot of writing this year. There are only 3 major writing assignments (1 each trimester), but students will be writing constantly in their RWN (Reader’s/Writer’s Notebook. We will use the 6-Traits format of writing and apply that to long-term writing assignments, on-demand writing, and creative stories.

Literature/Reading: Soccer has never been a sport that I understand or am able to play. I really only understand it at a superficial level. For many secondary students, reading is like my understanding of soccer. They rarely get below the surface to the richer, deeper meaning of the text. This year, we will work to develop the skills to uncover the craft, the complexities and the nuances of texts. Students will use the district adopted McDougal Littell Literature Textbook, required novels, and their independent reading books as the foundation for building their reading and writing skills.

This year, students will be expected to read at least 50 books (books over 350 pages count as two). That may sound like a lot of books, but research shows that wide reading increases comprehension, vocabulary development, writing skills, spelling skills, and grammar skills. Independent reading is so important, that we will read in class every day (except for Wednesdays). The focus will be on reading, not the endless cycle of book reports. Students will, however, be required to complete 3 reading analysis create-your-own-assignment (which will be discussed in class) each trimester and record all the books they read on a Reading Record. To reflect on the literature they’re reading, students will write reading letters and journal entries in their Readers/Writers Notebook, meet in literature circle groups to discuss the books they are reading, create book teasers, and participate in a variety of other activities.

Our language arts curriculum will be organized around a series of cycles, and reading and writing instruction will be integrated as much as possible. Instruction will be organized into units that include reading workshop, writing workshop, class novels and major writing assignments.

|Trimester 1 |Trimester 2 |Trimester 3 |

|September |October |November |

|Nonfiction: |Nonfiction: |Nonfiction: |

| | | |

|Unit 7: Biography and Autobiography |Unit 10: The Power of Research |Unit 8: Argument and Persuasion |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

|Major Writing Assignment: Personal Narrative/Memoir |Major Writing Assignment: Expository Piece |Major Writing Assignment: Persuasive Piece |

| | | |

Weekly Schedule (most of the time):

| |Monday |Tuesday |Wednesday |Thursday |Friday |

|In Class |LA Focus |SS Focus |LA Focus |SS Focus |LA Focus |

| | | | | | |

| |Independent Reading |Independent Reading |Cartoon Vocabulary |Independent Reading |Independent Reading |

| |Novel Study/Mini-Lesson |SS Lessons |Library Time (2x a month) |SS Lessons |Novel Study/Mini-Lesson |

| |Writing Workshop | |Writing “Sneezes” (2x a | |Writing Workshop |

| | | |month) | | |

Social Studies

The 6th grade social studies curriculum at Pacific Cascade focuses on ancient civilizations. Along the way, we will examine how seemingly unrelated events are related, discuss linked current events and ponder the importance of selected quotes, data and events. Throughout the year, we will continually revisit the 4 Pillars of Civilization questions (see below) and use them to compare and contrast the civilizations we study.

|Social Studies |

|(4 Pillars of Civilization) |

|1. Why do we invent things? (TECHNOLOGY) |

|2. How do your beliefs determine the rules you follow? (BELIEFS) |

|3. How does where you live determine how you live? (GEOGRAPHY) |

|4. How is your life different today because of ancient civilizations? |

|(LEGACY) |

Chronological Teaching:

My social studies classes will be taught chronologically and will be integrated quite a bit with language arts. This allows the students to answer “Big Questions” throughout the year and make connections between history and literature. Content, organized by trimester, can be found below.

Trimester 1: Geography and the Tools of History

• Unit Focus Questions:

o How does geography help us understand our world and how we fit into it?

o How do tools help us find clues to the past?

o What was life like for early humans?

• Content:

o Five Themes of Geography

o Map Skills

o Tools of History (archeologists/historians)

o Earliest Human Societies

Trimester 2: Early Civilizations and Empires

• Unit Focus Questions:

o What happens when people decide to stay put?

o Why are laws necessary?

o What are the advantages and disadvantages of power?

o How does a leader mold how a society thinks?

• Content:

o Mesopotamia: The First Civilization

o Assyria Rules the Fertile Crescent

o Persia

o Egypt

o Hebrew Kingdoms

Trimester 3: Greece and Rome – The Roots of Western Ideas

• Unit Focus Questions:

o How does conflict create change?

o Who had the greatest legacy: Greece or Rome?

• Content:

o Ancient Greece

o Ancient Rome

Blog:

In order to extend the discussions we have in class about issues in social studies and skills in language arts, students will be required to address a “challenge question” in a blog each week. Students will need to comment on the question and respond to a students comment once each week. The blog website is: . Students will be instructed on how to complete this requirement and use the technology in class. Students will need to set up a free Google account in order to access this blog. Information about this requirement can be found on the TECH letter which was given out on the first day of school.

General Information and Requirements:

Daybook of Critical Reading and Writing:

As part of the PLUS program, students are required to work through the Daybook of Critical Reading and Writing, published by Great Source. The Daybook is meant to be an extension of lessons taught in class to help students think deeper, provide rigor and go further than the regular humanities curriculum. Students will be working through the Daybook in class and at home.

Student-Led Conferences:

In lieu of parent-teacher conferences, I have elected to have student-led conferences. Responsibility of the student-led conference rests where it should -- with the student. In student-led conferences the teacher facilitates the conference, but the student is responsible for answering parent questions and concerns about student learning. Students will share with their parents what they have learned, show their parents their student portfolios, and discuss the reasons for their academic grades. Families will be required to complete a student-led conference twice this year. Ideally, families will join their child in the classroom, but if needed it can be completed at home. Dates for the Fall and Spring student-led conferences are TBD (sometime in October and June). More information will soon follow.

Service Learning:

This year, H+ students will be required to complete 15 hours of community service throughout the year as part of our 6th grade civics requirement. Part of the civics requirement in the Social Studies EALRs is to “demonstrate thoughtful, participatory citizenship.”

I believe that students should become an active participating member of their community by volunteering. Students will be required to complete 5 hours at PCMS to show service to their school and the other 10 hours will need to be outside of PCMS to show service to their community. More detailed information and ideas will be sent home at a later date.

Students are welcome to complete these hours doing service related to their interests (i.e. volunteer to coach a little league team, work at the humane society, etc.). If students are part of honor society, they can use service hours to meet both requirements.

Choose Your Challenge (CYC) Requirement:

Research shows that in order to grow advanced students need to move beyond the curriculum and be given opportunities to pursue an academic passion. The Choose Your Challenge (CYC) requirement makes learning the stuff of real life and children active participants in and shapers of their worlds. For this requirement, students will need to choose one of the following and get their idea approved by Mrs. Harrison before beginning:

• Prepare for and participate in an academic competition based on a passion or interest of theirs (Must relate to humanities, math, science, or art).

o Possible ideas:

▪ Geography Bee, Reflections (in any category), ECyberMission, Robotics Club Competition, Science Olympiad, etc.

▪ Although more information and ideas will follow soon, these websites have a lot of ideas to get you started:

•

•

• Publish their writing

o Possible ideas:

▪ Online places for kids to submit their writing: Merlyn’s Pen, Midlink Magazine, etc.

▪ The following has some great websites for kid publishing:

• Develop and participate in an open-ended investigation

o Independent open-ended investigations can provide students with the opportunity to pursue an area of interest to a dept that matches their level of ability. Students would develop a long-term project where they:

▪ Define a problem (i.e. How have vampire stories developed throughout history?)

▪ Gather information about the problem from textbooks, articles and/or experts (i.e. Write to authors of Vampire books, read a variety of books from a variety of time periods, etc.)

▪ Propose solutions to the problem by formulating hypotheses. (What happened that changed vampire books? Was it culture?)

▪ Orally present their investigation

Materials:

• Spiral Bound Notebook (college ruled preferred): Students will need to supply their Reader/Writing notebook (RWN) (composition book), and might need another one near the middle of the school year (if they are completing writing requirements).

o This notebook will be a tool in which students keep an ongoing collection of writing. It will house ideas that writers can return to in order to grow ideas, restructure, rethink, revise, connect to, and ultimately choose from a variety of entries to publish for an audience.

• Portfolio Binder: Students will need to supply a 2-inch – 3-inch binder (with a clear front pocket) to be used as their writing portfolio. This portfolio is meant to display their growth over time in writing. Students will be required to share and review these portfolios with their parent(s)/guardian(s) each trimester to reflect on their growth and goals.

Organization/Grade Tracking: I have found that one of the main reasons students do not earn the grades that they want or deserve is simply because assignments do not get turned in on time, or at all. There are a number of things that I do in my class to help students avoid this situation.

• MIA Box: Papers turned in without a name will be thrown into the MIA Box. If an assignment is handed back to the class and students did not receive one (and are sure that they did it), check this box. No name papers are not late, but do need to be found and re-turned in for credit. IT IS THE STUDENTS’ RESPONSIBLITIY TO CHECK THIS BOX!

• “What did I miss” Box: Any extra handouts will be deposited in this box so that students who are absent or students who misplace materials can find them easily. The handouts will be organized by the date they were handed out and it will be the students’ responsibility to gather any needed handouts/materials.

• Planner/Personal Calendar: Students should have a planner or personal calendar in their binder on which to write due dates for various assignments. Students will also, however, receive a calendar of lessons, homework, and due dates.

• Weekly Calendar: Each Monday, students receive a weekly calendar outlining what will be done in class, homework assignments and due dates.

• Edmodo: Edmodo is a safe, interactive classroom social media site that I will use to post electronic copies of assignments, remind students of due dates, and keep an updated calendar. Edmodo is Facebook-esque, but since it is designed for the classroom environment, it is a safe and easy way for teachers and students to connect, share content and access homework, grades and school notices. Edmodo is also accessible from any internet-enabled device, including smart phones. More information about Edmodo and how parents can use it as well will be included in a later letter.

• Class Website: Mrs. Harrison’s class website can be found as . General information can be found here. There is also a link to my Edmodo site there.

• Bi-Monthly Newsletters: Parents will receive (via email unless no email exists) two newsletters a month – written by both teacher and students – to stay up to date on the ongoings of the classroom and receive articles related to the needs of their students. Copies of past newsletters can be found at my Issaquah Connect site.

Academic Expectations:

I encourage you to take responsibility for your own learning and to strive to improve upon your knowledge and skills. I have high expectations for your achievement in this class; I look forward to helping you succeed!

• Take responsibility for your own learning.

• Make a genuine effort to rise to challenges in the classroom. Take pride in a job well done!

• Cooperate with your peers to reach learning goals. Encourage one another to succeed.

Academic Integrity

Copying another student’s work will not be tolerated and will result in a zero for all parties involved.

Plagiarism is defined as taking another person’s words and ideas and using them as your own. This includes, but not limited to, cutting and pasting documents from the web and directly copying of sentences from a text without citing the source used. Please see student handbook for further details on academic integrity.

Academics – Focus on the Process:

In my class, I want student to achieve mastery over the concepts we learn and discuss in class. Because of this philosophy, I allow students to re-do ANY assessments for a revised grade. Students must arrange that with me.

The Two Most Important Rules - Behavior:

Students in this class are expected to abide by school policies for behavior. These guidelines are included in the student handbook.

Students are also required to abide by my two class rules:

• Respect yourself and everybody in this room – no put-downs of other people based on their race, religion, ethnic background, skin color, native language, gender, sexual preference, intelligence, body shape or body size.

• You have the right to disrupt your own learning (if that’s really what you want to do), but you do not have the right to interrupt my teaching, somebody else’s learning or waste my time trying to get me to argue with you.

Students who choose to break one of these rules will have appropriate consequences. If the behavior is severe enough or become chronic, parents will be notified.

Attendance & Participation:

Attendance and participation are essential for your success. Certain classroom activities and discussions cannot be duplicated and often involve important insights generated by students. I encourage students to ask questions in class and participate in all classroom discussions. Tardiness is not acceptable and students will receive an appropriate consequence.

Absences and Late work:

Students who are absent when an assignment is given will have one day for every day absent to make up the work. However, students will be responsible for checking the Missing Work box for handouts from the days they missed. Assignments given prior to an absence are due as scheduled unless other arrangements are discussed with me. Please contact me if there is an emergency, which results in a late assignment. I am willing to discuss due date changes ONLY if effort is made to communicate with me PRIOR to the due date. Assignments are due as students enter the classroom.

Standards Based Grading:

Based on the research I have done over the past couple of years, I believe that current grading practices of most secondary classrooms does not provide an accurate picture of what a student actually knows and can do. Many teachers use the “total points” approach and by doing this, we lose a great deal of information about what students understand. I believe that the most important purpose of grades is to provide information to parents and students about what skills/knowledge they have mastered and what still needs improvement. Therefore, I have opted to use standards based grading within my classroom.

A variety of different assessment formats will be used to determine how much a student understands or is able to do. This may include forced choice items (multiple choice, T/F, etc.), essays, short answer, oral presentations or discussion, teacher observation, and student self-assessment. The assessment type will depend on the standard(s) being assessed. For example, if students are being assessed on mapping skills, forced choice items would probably be the best fit.

Although all assignments won’t be assessed for a final score (some are just for practice), the assignments that are used as assessments will be graded using rubrics. Some assignments may only be assessed for one standard and will therefore use one rubric. Some assignments may be assessed for three or four standards and will therefore use three or four rubrics. Since there is NO OPPORTUNITY FOR EXTRA CREDIT, students can only receive “extra” points from achieving a 4.1 on an assessment.

All rubrics will use the following the grading criteria below and students will get very familiar with this system:

|Score (out of 4) |What it means |

|4.1 |102% (A+) |

| |Exceeds Standard |

| |Students have clearly mastered the content/skill and have also gone above and beyond. |

|4 |100% (A) |

| |Meets Standard |

| |Students clearly understand the content/skill. |

|3.4 |85% (B) |

| |Approaching Standard |

| |Student may make minor errors, but it’s clear that the student has a general understanding of the content/skill. |

|2.8 |70% (C) |

| |Approaching Standard |

| |Student makes major errors, but there are indications that the student has a basic understanding |

|2 |50% (F) |

| |Does not meet Standard |

| |Student makes so many errors that it is obvious that they do not understand the content/skill. |

|0 |0% (F) |

| |Student did not complete the assessment and no judgment can be made. |

Weekly Homework Score:

Although not all assignments will be assessed with a rubric, students will receive a weekly homework score (based on the 4 point scale), so that there is accountability for turning in work on time. These assignments are just as important as the assessments because it allows for student practice and feedback from me. During the course of a unit (in both LA and SS), students can turn in assignments that may have been late and CAN raise their weekly homework score to a 3.4. Students can never raise their grade to a 4. The scale that will be used for the weekly homework grade is below:

|Score (out of 4) |What it means |

|4 |100% (A) |

| |Student turns in ALL assignments for the week and they are ALL turned in ON TIME. |

|3.4 |85% (B) |

| |Student turns in ALL assignments for the week, but 1 or 2 may be turned in late. |

|2.8 |70% (C) |

| |Students may turn in ALL assignments but most or all were late. |

| |OR |

| |Students may turn some assignments in on time, but some were not turned in at all. |

|2 |50% (F) |

| |Students may have turned some assignments in late and some not at all. |

| |NO assignments were turned in on time this week. |

|0 |0% (F) |

| |Student did not turn any assignments in for the week. |

Weighting:

Since the focus of standards based grading is having the grade reflect what students know or understand, the grades will be weighted according the following categories for LA and SS. You’ll notice that 70% of the grade reflects assessments and 30% of the grade reflects homework and non-academic areas such as effort, participation and behavior.

|Language Arts |Social Studies |

|35% of the Final Grade |Tests/Quizzes (Assessments) |40% of the Final Grade |Tests/Quizzes |

| | | |(Assessments) |

|35% of the Final Grade |Writing Assessments |30% of the Final Grade |Projects |

| | | |(Assessments) |

|20% of the Final Grade |Weekly Homework Scores |20% of the Final Grade |Weekly Homework Scores |

|10% of the Final Grade |Independent Reading and Non-Academic |10% of the Final Grade |Non-Academic Criteria |

| |Criteria | | |

| |(Non-academic criteria includes | | |

| |effort, reflections, participation, | | |

| |and behavior) | | |

I will use the following grading scale for final mid-trimester and trimester grades:

100-93 = A 82-80 = B- 69-67 = D+

92-90 = A- 79-77 = C+ 66-63 = D

89-87 = B+ 76-73 = C 62-60 = D-

86-83 = B 72-70 = C- 59 or below = F

Humanities PLUS Academic Retention Policy

To continue in the PLUS program, students must maintain a B minus grade or better in both Language Arts and Social Studies at every six week mid-trimester grade check and on each trimester report card. If students receive a grade below a B minus, they will be placed on academic probation. For more information about academic probation visit:

-----------------------

Winter Novel: The Giver

Fall Novel: Freak the Mighty

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download