What to Expect!

  • What to Expect:

    Now that your child is in middle school they  will be given longer reading assignments. They must now analyze as opposed to just talking about what happened.  We will discuss what motivated different characters or how  they felt in different situations.As the amount of reading material your child is assigned increases, they  will need to develop new strategies for synthesizing all that he/she  is learning. Students will be required to write many  argumentative and analysis essays that state a claim, and support the claim with clear reasons and relevant evidence from credible or trusted sources.


    M.P. 1

    In this module, students are involved in a deep study of mythology, its purposes, and elements. Students will read Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief ,  a high-interest novel about a sixth-grade boy on a hero’s journey.  Students will read with a focus on the archetypal journey and close reading of the many mythical allusions. 

    M.P. 2

    What are “rules to live by”? How do people formulate and use “rules” to improve their lives? How do people communicate these “rules” to others? In this module, students consider these questions as they read the novel Bud, Not Buddy,   along with many other  informational research texts. At the start of Unit 1, students launch their study of Bud, Not Buddy, establishing a set of routines for thinking, writing, and talking about Bud’s rules to live by. They read the novel closely for its figurative language and word choice, analyzing how these affect the tone and meaning of the text.

     

     

    M.P. 3

    In this module, students are involved in a study of how an author develops point of view and how an author’s perspective, based on his or her culture, is evident in his or her writing. Students will read Lawrence Yep’s Dragonwings. As they read the novel, students also will read excerpts of Lawrence Yep’s biography The Lost Garden. Through the close reading of these texts, students will learn multiple strategies for acquiring and using academic vocabulary.

    M.P. 4

    In this eight-week, research-based module, students explore the benefits and harmful consequences of the use of the controversial pesticide DDT. In Unit 1, students begin the novel Frightful’s Mountain by Jean Craighead George. Students will read closely to practice citing evidence and drawing inferences from this compelling text as they begin to think about the interactions between people and the natural world.