OCS

Course Name: 6th grade ELA Unit Name: Friendships aren’t

always perfect
Teacher: Mitchell Grade Level: 6
Number of Instructional days for this unit: 19 Quarter & Month: 3rd
Feb/March
Unit that came before: Research Independent Topics Unit that is coming
after: Poetry
Essential Questions(s) or Higher-Order Thinking Objective:
• What is the difference between an old friend and a new friend?
• How does the author’s choice of vocabulary words affect the mood of the story?
• Does distance change the value of friendship?
• IS it true that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?

Students will Know: Cross-Disciplinary Learning Strategy Goals

• Enduring Understanding/Concepts/Facts: Higher-Order Thinking Questions
• Word choice affects the mood/tone of the • How does word choice in LSWM affect the
story mood of the story?
• Friendships aren’t always perfect • How did events in the story help to develop
• The grass isn’t always greener on the other Margaret’s character?
side • What role does foreshadowing play in LSWM?
How does it add to the story?
• Events in the story changed Margaret and • How would different cause and effect
Maizon’s characters. outcomes change the story’s theme?
• Protagonists endure some sort of growth Literacy Strategies
through out the plot. Making Predictions
Questioning
• Antagonists are the characters of conflict Inferencing
within the story Determining Importance
• Foreshadowing gives the readers clues to what Clarifying
will happen later in the story. Word Attack
Visualizing
• The story’s perspective changes when you Making Connections
look through different character’s POV.
Accommodations and interactive/engagement Standards Addressed in this Unit:
strategies:
Graphic organizers Common Core Standards
Manipulatives • RL.6.1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the
Gallery Walk text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Choice Board • RL.6.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is
Self-constructed Vocabulary Books
conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the
_____________________________________________________
_ text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
Lower-Order Thinking Strategies
• RL.6.3. Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot
• What is cause and effect? unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters
• What is the definition of theme? respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
• What is a protagonist?
• What is an antagonist? • RL.6.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are
used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings;
• What is the definition of mood and
analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and
tone?
tone.

• RL.6.5. Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or

stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to
the development of the theme, setting, or plot.

• RL.6.6. Explain how an author develops the point of view of the

 narrator or speaker in a text.

• RL.6.10. By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature,

including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6–8 text
complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the
high end of the range.

• W.6.2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic

and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the
Metacognition selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

• Margaret is the protagonist of the story and I
know this because….
• Events in the story changed Margaret’s
characters because…
• One possible theme of LSWM can be
“Friendships aren’t always perfect and I know
this because…
• The mood of the story is “lonely” and I know
this because…
• I know cause and effect plays an important
role in LSWM because…
• W.6.4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development, organization, and style are appropriate to task,
purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing
types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)
• W.6.5. With some guidance and support from peers and adults,
develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
• W.6.9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to
support analysis, reflection, and research.
• W.6.10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for
research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a
single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific
tasks, purposes, and audiences.

• SL.6.1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative

discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with
diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on
others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
___________________________________________
• L.6.1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard
Key concepts, terms and vocabulary (to be English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
explicitly taught)
• Desolate • L.6.2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard
• Frantically English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
• Illegible
• Express
• L.6.3. Use knowledge of language and its conventions when

• Stoop writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

• Pleadingly
• L.6.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and
• Somberly
multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading
• Uneasily
and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
• Nervously
• Foreshadowing
• L.6.6. Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general
• Protagonist
academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather
• Antagonist
vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase
• Character development
important to comprehension or expression.
• Theme
• Advertising
• Standard 10: Students in grades 6–12 apply the
Reading standards to the following range of text
types, with texts selected from a broad range of
cultures and periods.

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Resources

• Last Summer with Maizon- Jacqueline Woodson

• Old magazines
• Scissors
• Glue
• Journals
• Vocabulary packets
• Chart paper
• Post-its
• Blank paper
• Colored pencils/markers
• Step-Up to Writing- Response to Literature Section

Evidence of Understanding
Daily Real-Time Assessment Practice/Formative Assessment

Building Backgrounds
Closings
Whole-group discussion
Check-ins
Journal writing
Graphic organizers
Brochures
Character Collages
Group work
Question/Answer

A Benchmark Assessment/Summative Assessments

Reading Comprehension Unit Exam
Response to Literature Essay –Using Step-Up to Writing

Objectives for Mini-Lessons

SWBAT-
• Define all of the novice vocabulary words in the text
• Analyze the tone of the text
• Analyze the mood of the text
• Analyze the characters of the text
• Analyze the various internal/external conflicts present in the text
• Analyze the different POV’s in the text
• Indentify the critical cause and effect events in the text
• Draw conclusions about Margaret and Maizon
• Compare and contrast Margaret and Maizon
• Compare and contrast their friendship before Maizon left and after her return
• Identify examples of foreshadowing in the text
• Evaluate why certain characters are protagonists while others aren’t
• Evaluate the theme of the text
• Create a response to literature essay based upon LSWM

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