Summer 2017

GRADE 6 ACCELERATED ELA Margaret Brent Middle School

Our middle school accelerated courses are specifically designed to meet the needs of students reading and writing above grade level. This includes reading and analyzing complex above-grade level texts, engaging in advanced research and writing activities, and learning and applying higher-level literary terminology, vocabulary and analysis. SMCPS accelerated courses will provide students with strategies and tools they need to engage in advanced, high‐level learning to develop the skills, habits of mind, and concepts necessary to succeed in advanced placement courses and achieve college readiness. Each instructional unit will be anchored by two assigned extended texts and one self-selected, independent reading choice related to the unit theme, all of which students will be expected to “actively” read (i.e. take notes, underline, ask questions, etc.). With the exception of the self-selected independent reading, students will have access to these texts within the classroom; however, students are encouraged to have their own copies of the required texts next year, which will allow them to practice text annotation, read and re-read the texts outside of class, and reference them on culminating writing assessments. Many of these titles are available electronically.

Accelerated Required Extended Texts: Unit 1: House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and The Giver by Lois Lowry

Unit 2: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech and Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez Unit 3: I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (Young Reader’s Edition)

and The Color of My Words by Lynne Joseph Unit 4: The Tempest (No Fear Shakespeare Edition) by William Shakespeare

and The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt *First Quarter Independent reading (select one): Fiction: My Name Is Maria Isabel (Ada, Alma Flor), The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Avi), The Thing About Jellyfish (Benjamin, Ali), Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories (Crutcher, Chris), Out of My Mind (Draper, Sharon), Hoot (Haisson, Carl), Born Confused (Hidier, Tanuja Desai), The Inland Whale: Nine Stories Retold from California Indian Legends (Kroeber, Theodora), Friends: Stories About New Friends, Old Friends, And Unexpectedly True Friends (Levithan, David), The Great Gilly Hopkins (Patterson, Katherine), The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg (Philbrick, Rodman), Baseball in April and Other Stories (Soto, Gary), Maniac Magee (Spinelli, Jerry), Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Taylor, Mildred), Dicey’s Song (Voight, Cynthia), Dragonwings (Yep, Laurence), One Crazy Summer (Williams-Garcia, Rita); Nonfiction: The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky (Ahmedi, Farah and Tamin Ansary), The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child (Jimenez, Francisco), A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story (Park, Linda Sue), Within Reach: My Everest Story Pfetzer, (Mark and Jack Galvin) *reading to be completed by September 19, 2017

Over the summer, we strongly recommended that parents obtain and review copies of the required texts for next year. Summer is also a great time for students to get a head start on their self-selected reading for unit one and other required readings for the course. More information about the accelerated/Pre-AP vertical program is posted on the SMCPS website (http://www.smcps.org/files/TLPD/EnglishLangReading/Accelerated%20Pathway%20for%20Parents.pdf). Any questions or concerns regarding the course content or expectations can be directed to Michelle Gallant-Wall, Supervisor of Instruction at mlgallantwall@smcps.org.