6th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials for Grade 6 meet the expectations of indicator 2a that texts are organized around a topic/topics (or, for grades 6-8, topics and/or themes) to build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.

The texts are organized around grade-level appropriate topics for students in Grade 6. The publisher is intentional about integrating units to include materials that are cross- content. Students build knowledge via a variety of genres and different types of informational text. The texts build knowledge and the ability to read and comprehend complex texts across a school year. While there are recommendations for where each unit fits (grade and location in the year) teachers do have the ability to “mix and match.” Teachers also have the option to incorporate texts from outside the initial text set should they choose to do so.

It is explicit in the course description and pacing that reading is a regular part of the instructional day. Additionally, because curriculum is topic focused, research projects/writings around those topics are part of each unit as culminating tasks. Students can take what they have read in each unit and apply that knowledge toward the completion of their culminating task. For example, cross content literacy unit on science, the focus is on Geology, students will use what they have read throughout the unit to complete their Final Project, an informational book. They convert their responses to several research questions into central idea/key details paragraphs for the book. The texts in this unit that support student’s building knowledge are a mix of fiction and informational text (i.e., Night of the Howling Dogs, Quake - Disaster in San Francisco 1906, Should we Drill for Oil, and Earth’s Shifting Surface). The cross-content literacy unit on social studies is focused on learning about Africa and culminates in students becoming experts about the country. The variety of texts about this topic are also a mix of text types and genres although the bulk of text is informational (i.e., Exploring Continents: Africa, African Myths, African Culture, Modern Africa, Africa is Not a Country, and one work of fiction, The Door of No Return).

Similarly, the unit on mythology exposes students to several text types that range in complexity and support students building knowledge about myths which culminates in students creating an original myth. Text examples for this unit include Percy Jackson and The Olympians, Tales of the Seven Wonders, D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, Egyptians Myths Legends, The First Civilizations, and Religion in the Ancient World.

The instructional materials for Grade 6 meet the expectations that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of texts. Materials contain sets of questions and tasks that require analysis of individual texts.

The Geology Unit (content based) includes a collection of articles with accompanying carefully sequenced text specific questions:

1. What claim(s) are the authors making? Underline the sentence that best states their claim. Do you believe them? (Key ideas)
2. What evidence do S. Christian and A. Felix provide to support their claim? Did anything surprise you about what you read? (Key ideas)
3. Where do they explain their reasoning on how this evidence leads to their claim?
4. Why do the authors include the qualifer “on the planet”? (Key ideas)
5. What does source of all life mean? Why is it so hard to believe that volcanoes are the source of all life? (Vocabulary)
6. What is the relationship between the terms melted rock and molten rock? (Vocabulary)
7. Are S. Christian and A. Felix claiming that the ground is made entirely of rock from volcanoes? Yes or no? How do you know? Circle the word that best supports your argument. (Structure)

The genre unit (Mythology) and the Literacy Lab unit (The Launch Unit) incorporate student tasks on a weekly basis that scaffold student understanding of text. An example of a constructed response from the mythology unit is from day one: “Today, you will write a short essay in which you make a claim based on your reading to show what you know about literary elements and __ (genre) __. You may use your “Literary Elements” graphic organizer and W.1 Rubric to help you with your response. Writing Prompt: What is the most defining literary element in __(genre)__? Why? Use evidence from multiple texts to support your answer.”

Additional examples of questions from the genre unit include:

"What is the setting of this book so far and why do you think it will matter to the story? What evidence from the text best supports your answer? What generalizations can you make about settings in this genre? How might setting be important to this genre as a whole?"

An example of a student task in the Literacy Launch unit that requires student analysis includes: “Today, you will have a chance to demonstrate your understanding of how authors develop themes through characters by writing a short essay in response to the following prompt: What is a central theme of our Core Novel? How is it conveyed by particular literary elements? In addition to your essay, you will need to turn in: a Thinking Map with the notes/quotes you used to generate your essay, a W.1 Rubric, with the score you think your essay deserves.”

Additional tasks in the Literacy Launch unit offer students an opportunity to discuss through discussion groups. Questions focus on the overarching concept being taught. Students could choose any book to answer the questions. It could be challenging for a teacher to monitor student understanding and mastery if teacher is not familiar with the self selected text. Examples of questions include:

• Who are the characters in this story so far?
• Have we been introduced to a protagonist and an antagonist? What other character types have we met so far?
• What is each of these characters like?
• What can you learn about each of these characters through his/her thoughts? Actions? Body language? Reactions to other characters?
• How does the author use events and/or dialogue to tell you about this character?
• How/why do you think these characters will matter to the story? What evidence from the text best supports your answer?

The instructional materials for Grade 6 meet the expectation required for indicator 2c. The materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts. The materials contain text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across individual and at least one more text. The majority of analytical questions and tasks apply to single texts, although in two of the four units there are cross-text tasks. Each unit contains several sets of text-dependent questions in which students are required to provide text evidence in their responses.

Within each unit, text-dependent questions appear in the teacher’s guide that are static in nature across multiple texts. Students are reading and completing daily written responses to these questions. At the end of each week there is a culminating activity. For example, in the first unit students complete various written tasks about the core novel they are reading together as a class as well as their independent reading. An example of this is:

Write an argument to support your claim about the author’s theme in our Core Novel; Decide what you think the author’s theme/message is. Support your claim with evidence from the text (literary elements).

Additional tasks are similar to this prompt, requiring students to write about characters, setting, and plot, using the core novel and their independent reading as their basis for analysis.

Another example is in the literary unit (world mythology). Each week there is a specific skill that is focused on and practiced and each week there is a constructed response to demonstrate learning of that new skill. The work throughout the week builds toward the constructed response.

The instructional materials for Grade 6 meet the expectations for indicator 2d. Materials contain questions and tasks that support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through combined skills (e.g., combination of reading, writing, speaking, and listening). Culminating tasks incorporate a range of reading, writing, speaking, and listening opportunities.

The culminating task in the cross-content units center around a research project in the science and the social studies units. These units provide a series of questions students answer using the resources provided. The final project for the Geology and the Africa unit is the presentation that addresses the Speaking and Listening Standards; throughout the unit, students read a variety of self-selected materials on their reading level and research a topic of their choice related to the theme which culminates in a task such as a presentation. An example of the type of presentation is Expertise with Research Questions. This can be as simple as sharing with partners or as elaborate as creating a living history/science museum and inviting the community in. The teacher decides what the culminating task will be. Multiple suggestions are included in the teacher’s guide (e.g., Peer Reviews, Oral Presentation to Small Group or a student from another class, Issue Debate/Campaign, town hall meeting to decide what action to take on the issue, or a Fair/Museum).

The questions and tasks preceding support students’ knowledge of a specific topic. For example, in the Geology unit, students are to select a geological process or product to research and be able to answer several research questions to demonstrate mastery of content (e.g., Describe this geological process/product, including how it is made; explain the theory of plate tectonics. How does plate tectonics determine where this process/product is most likely to be located? Create a timeline showing Earth’s history in geologic time. How is the concept of geologic time important to the study of geology and your process/product?; Draw a diagram of the Earth showing the geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere. How does this process/ product impact each of the systems?; How is this process/product important to human societies? In what ways have scientists and engineers worked to control this process/product?

The instructional materials for Grade 6 meet the requirements of indicator 2e that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts. Opportunities to build vocabulary are found throughout the instructional materials. Lists of topic specific words as well as high leverage words are provided in all of the units.

Vocabulary instruction calls for students to think about the meaning of words. Definitions are provided in student-friendly language, and word meanings are taught with examples related to the text as well as examples from other, more familiar contexts.

Unit 1: Literacy Lab

The introduction of the teacher’s guide for unit 1 provides an overview of where the language standards are addressed. Listed is the scope and sequence of standard focus throughout all four units for the year. Standard 4 - Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text and is indicated as a focus standard for Unit 1. Language Standards 4 - 6 are then indicated as a focus across the four units.

On page 199 in the Unit 1 Overview (week 3, day 1), academic vocabulary is introduced to students through mini-lessons. Teachers model vocabulary work though the whole class text and ask students to begin noticing words in the texts they read. Week 4 also has a vocabulary focus. The focus this week is on denotation, connotation, and figurative language. Students are directed to “flag at least a new word you want to learn and share.”

Students are also provided with tools that help them work on Academic Vocabulary during the course of Unit 1. For example, as a class, students collect high-leverage academic and technical vocabulary they find and share with the class. The teacher’s guide provides a mini lesson on Language Standard 4 titled “The More Academic Vocabulary, The Harder the Book.” The teacher is directed to introduce/review the three tiers of Vocabulary and introduce the concept that academic language is one of the major differentiators between reading levels. The guide states, “Make sure students understand that: Tier 2 and Tier 3 words are rarely part of everyday speech, even of adults. These words are mostly only in text. Learning academic language works like learning any new language - you need to encounter the same new words and ideas over and over again, in a variety of contexts, to internalize them. Voracious reading provides the immersion required to make this happen.”

Students are encouraged to “practice noticing new vocabulary, categorizing it by Tier, and discussing what each word might mean based on evidence from the text.” The guide says if students have difficulty, the teacher should ask: What might this word/phrase mean? What in the text supports your answer? What is a good synonym? Reread the sentence, replacing the unknown word with your synonym. Does this change the meaning of the sentence? Why or Why not?

Unit 2: Geology

Multiple lessons provide teachers with direction and opportunities to hone in on both content-specific vocabulary and Academic Vocabulary in the texts. Vocabulary is categorized as key concepts that students should be able to define and apply, high leverage academic, and other. Examples in this unit include:

Key concepts include the following: theory of plate tectonics, plates, continents, supercontinent. Examples of high-leverage academic include the following: gradually, monitor, rotate.

Teachers are directed to highlight any high leverage/Tier 2 vocabulary words with the following note to teachers about how to determine which words to teach: “Teaching words in context and developing students’ ability to learn word meaning from context is a rich, essential part of vocabulary instruction. However, choosing the words to spend time on in the context of complex text can be a struggle for teachers. Hiebert (2009) describes three general criteria for determining which words to choose for intensive teaching: 1) words needed to fully comprehend the text, 2) words likely to appear in future texts from any discipline, 3) words that are part of a word family of semantic network.”

In addition, text-dependent questions require students to define words based on context clues. Examples include: What do these words mean and how are they related? Elements, minerals, crystals, atom, stuff. The guide states “While used by the text, most of these terms are not defined within it. Students should be able to discuss the relationship between these terms and develop working definitions.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the expectation for materials supporting students’ increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year. Students are supported through the writing process and various activities are placed throughout units to ensure students' writing skills are increasing throughout the year.

Students are encouraged to develop stamina and a positive attitude towards writing by writing daily and for various purposes. They engage in activities that include reading and discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write, examine and identify a range of text structures, and they are guided to assess the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing. At the end of each unit, students produce, present, and publish writing pieces as part of a final project.

The materials provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning through writing about what they have read. Writing is embedded throughout the school year in multiple ways. Students are provided with daily prompts to make observations and reflect on their own writing to build skills and knowledge for future writing; in addition, students are required to take at least two of their written drafts in a unit to a final publishable product. Standard practices for writing are built into each day from the onset of unit one throughout the entire course of the school year. Students complete weekly constructed response writing tasks that provides an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of a reading skill that was taught during that week. Students are supported to meet writing goals by using writing rubrics to reflect on their own and partner’s writing. Also included in the materials is guidance for teachers to conference with students to provide meaningful feedback as students write.

Writing instruction spans the whole school year; each unit emphasizes writing and lessons that are embedded that require students to write every day. Each unit requires a different kind of writing (e.g., narrative, informational, and argumentative).

Examples include:

Unit 1: ARC Literacy Lab

The progression of narrative writing starts with students writing about themselves as both readers and writers. There are daily prompts to generate ideas. For example:

• Day one, Lesson 1: Write a reading autobiography.
• Day two, Lesson 2: Design the book jacket for your ideal fiction book.
• Day three, Lesson 3: Complete a genre profile for the book you read today and create a list of books you want to read.
• Day four, Lesson 4: Write a narrative explaining the role reading has played in your life or an argument trying to convince someone that this thing is important.
• Day five, Lesson 5: Create your own About the Author page to use with the pieces you will publish write and publish this year.

During week three of this unit the teacher’s guide lists the following goal:

“Write to Task/Prompt Goal: Across the next two weeks, students write on a variety of prompts while they practice using the new vocabulary they are learning in their writing. Each day, choose 1-3 prompts that relate to the reading work in some interesting way (see Suggested Writing Prompts in the following pages). Make sure to choose both Argument and Narrative prompts across the weeks so that by the time you reach Week 5, students have several pieces in each mode from which to select ones they’d like to publish.”

Unit 2: Geology

The focus on writing is research based in which students answer a research question connected to a science theme. The teacher’s guide provides this explanation: (page 110)

“The RESEARCH LABS® Instructional Frameworks focus on a few Common Core Standards, carefully sequencing instruction, practice, and formative assessment to ensure all students master each element of these rigorous reading, writing, and thinking standards. Phase II: Informational Writing Through carefully scaffolded whole-group instruction and differentiated support, all students learn to: 1. Provide an objective summary of any informational text. 2. Determine the central idea(s) of an informational text and use both content and organization analyze the development of this idea(s). 3. Examine how non-fiction authors build on research to craft compelling informational texts. 4. Publish and present a scientifically/historically accurate Final Project book on his/her research topic.”

Extended Writing: Final Informational Piece (Book) Each student engages in a carefully scaffolded, extended research project, taking a final written product through the entire writing process from note-making to publication.

The teacher materials provide this guide (page 133):

“Model how you use the rubric to write a 5-point answer, including how you use text evidence to prove the veracity of your fact (e.g., I read __ by __. It is about...The most interesting thing...This sounds unbelievable, but it says right here on page 24...).”

The teacher’s guide includes a step by step guide for modeling the research process (page 179). Students become experts on each research question: teacher models process and then students apply to their own topics. For example on week 2, day 5:

“By the end of today, you will have completed your FPOs for RQs #1-2. We’ve spent this week analyzing how authors develop central ideas using supporting ideas and details. Today, after we read, each of you will use our RI.2 Thinking Map to draft a short essay demonstrating your current ability to determine an author’s central idea. Your essay will need to answer the question: What is a central idea of this text? How does the author use supporting ideas and details to develop this central idea?”

Unit 3: World Mythology

Students write a comparative essay analysis and a short story. There is a focus on literary analysis. The teacher’s guide includes goals of this unit emphasizing a new focus every week on a literary element, but all follow this general pattern:

“Setting 1. Set Focus Today, you will take a position on something you read and explain your reasons for taking that position. Your position is your opinion. Another word for this is claim. Writing Prompt: What about the setting will be most important to this book? Why? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.”

The next week focuses on character analysis, then plot. Students make claims and provide evidence and reasoning. Each writing assignment requires students complete a graphic organizer in order to complete the written assignment. The guide to this process includes modeling and some samples along with guidelines for revising and editing.

During week 5 students will write a comparative essay after reading and analyzing two myths.

The teacher’s guide describes goals (page 260):

For the next two weeks, you are the head author in the class— modeling turning your thoughts and analysis into a draft of a literary comparison essay (an argument). Today, each student will craft his/her claim statement and compose a Quick-Write first draft of the rest of the essay. Make sure each student is excited about his/her claim as this energy will sustain the work of writing and re-writing that is to come.

Graphic organizers are provided to support students during this process. The guide to this process includes modeling and some samples along with guidelines for revising and editing.

The final writing task for this unit includes students writing their own story in this genre.

Unit 4: Africa

Students write responses to research questions connected to a social studies theme of Africa. The unit follows the same format as Unit 2: Geology. It begins with topic selection and introduction to argument, six research questions over the course of three weeks, drafting, revising and editing, publishing, presenting, and formal debate.

The instructional materials for Grade 6 meet the expectations of indicator 2g that materials include a progression of focused research projects to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting and analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials. Units are designed for students to act as researchers and gather details or ideas from texts throughout the unit to build a body of evidence for the culminating task. For these tasks, students select a topic and spend about nine weeks reading, writing, and speaking about their topic. By the end of each unit, students write and publish an informational book or other project demonstrating their increased knowledge about their selected topic. Students are provided with daily independent reading, research, and discussion times.

For Grade 6, the standards require that students “gather relevant information from multiple print and digital resources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standards format for citation.”

The research tasks are a part of two of the four units in the materials provided for review (Unit 2 Geology) and Unit 4 (Africa). Throughout the course of the unit students become an expert on a self-selected topic within the theme and answer research questions specific to the topic.

For example, the teacher’s guide for Unit 2: Geology provides this introduction:

In this unit, students are to select a geological process or product to research and be able to:

1. Describe this geological process/product, including how it is made.
2. Explain the theory of plate tectonics. How does plate tectonics determine where this process/product is most likely to be located?
3. Create a timeline showing Earth’s history in geologic time. How is the concept of geologic time important to the study of geology and your process/product?
4. Draw a diagram of the Earth showing the geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere. How does this process/product impact each of the systems?
5. How is this process/product important to human societies?
6. In what ways have scientists and engineers worked to control this process/product?

The research task for Unit 4: Africa requires students to select one African country on which to become an expert. Students will be able to:

1. Draw a map of the country from memory and be able to label the 15 most important political and physical features.
2. Compare and contrast the various ecosystems in your country.
3. Place 10 milestones in your country’s history on a timeline. Discuss the significance of each.
4. Describe the ethnic groups and cultures of your country.
5. Describe the current government of your country and compare it to that of the USA.
6. Describe the economy of your country and some of the economic issues it faces.
7. Discuss the current issues facing your country and how they impact the rest of the world.

The teacher’s guidelines includes this information to support teacher during this unit:

“Teachers use carefully scaffolded whole-group instruction to teach all students to read, write, present, and evaluate arguments. 2. Students practice making claims and supporting those claims with relevant evidence and logical reasoning. 3. Students produce a final argument essay that makes a claim related to their Research Topics and defends that claim with evidence and reasons from their research”

The Africa unit takes students through these steps:

"We are going to spend the next 9 weeks reading, writing, and arguing about the big ideas in __(Unit)___. Each of you will pick one topic on which to become an expert. You will research this topic and write a research-based argument essay about it. By the end of this Unit, you will: 1. Be an expert on __(Unit)__, 2. Be an expert on your research topic, 3. Find something controversial in your research topic, take a position on this issue, and make a well reasoned, well researched argument supporting your position. If you will be grading students’ work in this unit, hand out the point system/grading rubric now. For a sample point system, refer to the Research Lab Grade Tracker in the Introduction.”

The instructional materials for Grade 6 meet the expectations of indicator 2h, supporting students’ independent reading development.

The publisher has designed its own book leveling and student reading leveling system called the IRLA (Independent Reading Level Assessment), in which students are able to choose books for Independent Reading at their appropriate level. The teacher’s guide begins with an overview of the entire reading program.

The beginning unit is designed for the first 6 weeks to focus on building students’ reading skills and for teachers to use the IRLA system and publisher’s guidelines in determining student reading level. By doing this, texts are organized and scaffolded to foster independence. In addition, supports and specific procedures are provided for teachers around independent reading. Time is built into the daily lesson for independent reading and students are encouraged to read outside of class as well and to participate in the 100 book challenge. An accountability system helps both the teacher and students track their progress. Unit 1 in this curriculum thoroughly sets up a system in place to support independent reading throughout the year.

There is an overview on Page 9, which provides an explanation of the IRLA Expert Coaching and 100 book challenge piece. The IRLA Expert Coaching supports teachers in using the IRLA to “find the highest level of text complexity students can currently read (and understand) without any help or prompting of any kind from the teacher”.

The following explanation is provided for the system:

The IRLA System is a text complexity analysis system for American Reading Company which is explained in the introduction to Unit 1. Every book provided by the publisher includes a color-coded sticker on the spine. This sticker indicates the book’s IRLA text complexity level.

The 100 Book Challenge is “a community wide reading culture system to bring students’ own reading interests and choices into the center of the curriculum while ensuring that all children experience the rich reading lifestyle.”

Rotating Common Core leveled classroom libraries, places authentic trade books color-coded to each IRLA level at the fingertips of teachers and students, giving each student instant access to just-right text for independent practice, coaching, and conferencing.

There are supports built into the first unit for teacher and student that will be used throughout the year. These include the following: Status of the Class (p 85), Genre Profile (p 104), Genre Record (p 105), Engaged Reader Status Check (p 132), Thinking Maps (throughout), 100 book challenge checklist (p 178), and Reading Log (p 192).

Another strength of the program is that regardless of the unit, every day has a reading component. For example, page 11 of Unit 3: Mythology Unit includes a description of the recommended Research Lab Daily Structure, and includes Independent Reading for 15-20 minutes where students are reading self-selected books. This particular page can be found in each unit.

Further support for the teacher is offered on page 13 of Unit 2:

Leveled Text Sets/Independent Reading provide daily opportunities for students to engage in reading at their independent levels. Providing leveled text sets and a minimum of 15–30 minutes of structured, accountable Independent Reading is crucial to the success of all students, especially those who are struggling readers. With leveled text sets, students are able to do the hard thinking learned in Grade-Level Instruction to books they can read. Spend More Time and Thought on Your Students Who Need It: Students who are currently reading below grade level or learning to speak English should receive extra support. Don’t worry about trying to equalize the time you spend with each student. Become an expert on your students who are struggling. Be sure you know them well enough to teach them; know what they are currently able to do and what they need to learn next.

Likewise, the volume of independent reading can be seen in the cross content units for science and social studies (units 2 and 4). During the 3-topic Trial, before students pick their research topic, students read 15-30 minutes of self-selected Research Lab books.

Teachers conference with students and help them establish Power Goals. These goals are set once a child has been successfully leveled in the IRLA system. These power goals drive the work of small group instruction and 1:1 conferencing. The publisher claims that these goals, which are to be used during the Reader’s Workshop, “accelerate reading growth through Power Goal conferences.”

There is also a SchoolPace/IRLA Performance Management System. This is a web-based system that provides numerous reports to monitor students’ growth and performance in real-time. Incentive Reading Folders, used at school and home, vary by color. Students begin with a blue folder, once 100 Steps of reading are completed ,they move to a red folder. The folder color lets teachers monitor and reward students that are moving and provide additional support for those needing to move.

Furthermore, teachers are encouraged to solicit the assistance of families in the independent reading through home-school letters. The home-school connection is developed through the use of home school letters and the Home Coach Contract that encourages parents to observe students reading 30 minutes, discussing the book and signing the reading log sheet each night. Students are provided with a variety of books, paired specifically to their path of achievement, to take home. Parents are expected to help students develop an independent reading routine using the provided materials.