Course Summary

/ Advanced Content 6th Grade Reading: Jacqueline Traster
Blog:
Email Address:

Advanced Content

/ The course framework and instructional strategies for this course are differentiated in content, pacing, process skills emphasis, and expectation of student outcomes from the typical [grade and subject] course. Course content has been designed for mastery and extension of state and district performance standards. The course is appropriate for students who have high achievement and interest in reading. TappMS has established criteria and guidelines to identify students who will be successful in this course. Students are placed in this class according to specified indicators of demonstrated exceptional ability and motivation. Students must meet continuation criteria to remain in the class.

Course Description

/ Reading will provide students with the skills and strategies to be successful not only in my class, but in all academic classrooms as well as in the real-world. All units of study are guided by the reading strands of the 6th grade ELA Georgia Standards of Excellence (ELAGSE). With that said, the focus of the reading classroom is geared more towards the “how to” of reading and the development and application of skills learned. What students need to know and comprehend in order to read and analyze a variety of texts will be our focus. Specific texts evaluated throughout the year include narrative: (poetry, drama and fiction), informational, argumentative and technical or ‘real-world’. Detailed explanations of the standards and their descriptors can be accessed through the Georgia Department of Education website:
Year at a Glance Snapshot / Students will participate in theme-based units incorporating literary as well as informational texts. They will be engaged in collaborative discussions and vocabulary acquisition throughout the entire year. Students will learn how to actively read and use those skills to critically analyze a variety of texts. They will develop written responses to their reading, demonstrating that they understand elements such as main idea, theme, character development, text structures, author’s purpose and claim by providing textual evidence as support. Students will develop an interactive notebook that will be a useful reference tool for all academic areas.
Grading / A 90-100
B 80-89
C 74-79 Please check Synergy weekly.
D 70-73
F 69 and below
Class Work/Homework
Policy / While a separate homework assignment is sometimes given, it is more often an extension of the day’s lesson. It is the expectation of all students that any work not completed in class is to be finished at home, unless I state otherwise. Students should also be engaging in 20 minutes daily independent reading.
Students should bring reading material with them to class each day.
Requirements (Materials) /

Blue or black ink pen, pencils, hand-held sharpener
Post-it notes (standard size), highlighters, glue, colored pencils
Independent reading book (student choice)
Agenda

I will send out announcements about novel studies in case students would like their own copy of the text.
Other Information
(Policies, procedures, tutoring, extra help sessions, etc.) / Students are required to read a minimum of 3 books per quarter and take a Reading Counts quiz for each book.(Due dates are posted throughout school/class.)
Tutoring Tuesday at 8:30-8:50
My blog is accessible through the Tapp Middle School website faculty page
Make-up work: It is the student’s responsibility to check my blog the make-up work folder whenever absent. The student will have the number of days absent plus one to complete and return any work that was missed.