• Dear Students and Parents,

    The purpose of the 6th Grade Writing class is to lay the foundation for the 7th Grade STAAR writing test.     In addition, this course work is designed to give your student the fundamental academic and cognitive skills necessary to employ writing skills for real-world purposes.

    In order for your student to be successful in building this foundation, he/she needs to be patient with himself/herself, as well as others, know that I am always here to help with questions or concerns, and be ready to accept all the challenges that will come this year.  

    The material for this course requires that your student brings a willingness to listen to others, and to challenge themselves academically.  As a class, we strive to create a safe learning environment. 

    Student Responsibilities:

    ·         Keep an organized and complete composition notebook. 

    ·         Maintain a planner to keep up with due dates and tests.  Please review the late work in the student handbook, as there will be consequences for late work.

    ·         Ask for work IN ADVANCE when you know you will miss class.

    ·         Give your whole effort each and every day.

    ·         Check GradeSpeed once a week. 

    ·         Ask for help.

    Parent Responsibilities:

    ·         Help your student stay organized and prepared for this class.

    ·         Make sure your student is maintaining an agenda and check their writing folder.

    ·         Contact the teacher with concerns or questions about your student’s progress.

    ·         Check GradeSpeed once a week. 

    Teacher Responsibilities:

    ·         Be prepared for class every day.

    ·         Be ready, willing, and able to help you and your student to have a successful year.

    ·         Follow the curriculum as outlined by HISD and the state of Texas.

    ·         Notify parents with concerns and praises about the student.

    Course Overview: (subject to change based on teacher/administrative discretion)

     

    Unit

    Writing

    Grammar

    Unit 1: August 25th-October 2nd

    Writing Process

    Personal Narrative

    Poetry

    Verbs (regular, irregular, active, passive)

    -Transition words

    -Simple and compound sentences

    -Subject-verb agreement

    -Capitalization (abbreviations)

    -Commas in compound sentences

    -Quotations commas and punctuation and indenting

     

    Unit 2: October 5th-November 7th

    Informative Writing (Research paper)

     

    Various sentence structures and transitions

    -Subordinating conjunctions

    -Active vs. passive voice

    -Parenthesis, brackets, ellipses

    -Homophones and confused words

     

     

    Unit 3: November 10th-December 19th

     

    Fiction stories (plot, POV, setting, dialogue, characters)

     

    -Non-count nouns

    -Prepositions

    -Simples and compound sentences

    -Capitalization (initials and acronyms)

    -Italics and underlining

    Unit 4: January 6th-February 13th

    -Persuasive Essays (argument, evidence, alternatives)

    - Multimedia presentation

     

    -Indefinite pronouns

    -Conjunctive adverbs

    -Transitional words and phrases

    -Capitalization (organizations)

    -Commas in compound sentences

     

    Unit 5: February 16th-

    April 2nd

    Responses to literary and expository texts

     

    Informal letters

    -Predicate adjectives, comparatives and superlatives

    -Prepositions

    -Transitions

    -Punctuating quotations

     

    Unit 6: April 6th-May 28th

    -Poems

    -Literary responses

     

    -Review of grammar concepts

    *Vocabulary will be taught and assessed on a regular basis

     

    Class Rules:

    ·         Students will be in their seat before the bell rings.

    ·         Students will raise their hand to speak/leave their seat. 

    ·         Students will follow directions.

    ·         Students will keep hands, feet, and objects to themselves.

    Make Up/Late/Absent Work:  Work will be accepted for five days after the original due date.  The following point deductions will apply:

    1st Day: -15pts

    2nd Day: -10pts

    3rd Day: -10pts

    4th Day: -10pts

    5th Day: -10pts

    Please note: the point deductions are a starting point. The assignment will also be graded on whether or not the student fulfilled the assignment requirements with merit. 

    Grade Weights:
    Test and Projects: 40%

    Daily Grades (homework, classwork, warm-ups, and exit tickets): 30%

    Quizzes: 20%

    Participation: 10%

    I look forward to working with students and parents this year. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.  My conference periods are A1 and B9.  

    Sincerely,

    Jean Marie Harris

    6th Grade ELA

    Email: jharri31@houstonisd.org

    Phone:  713-942-1932