Last updated: 7/7/2025

6th grade- Reading

September 

Literary Elements

What behaviors does a successful independent reader demonstate? 

 

 

What behaviors does a successful book club member demonstrate?

 

Book Club Setup

Readerś Notebook Setup

RACE response

  • Make a claim

  • Support a claim using text evidence 

  • Explain, expand, elaborate your evidence

  • Evidence
  • Claim
  • Analyze
  • Cite/Citing 
  • Collaborate
  • Genre
  • Choose an appropriate independent reading book
  • Self-monitor comprehension by knowing when to jot notes
  • Communicate effectively with a partner
  • Collaborate effectively with a group on lesson topics
  •  Respond in writing about literature using text evidence 

 

Teacherś College Manuals

 

Interactive Readerś Notebook pages (TPT)

 

Supplemental Resources: 

Scholastic Scope Magazines

 

www.scope.scholastic.com


Anchor Charts

High-interest Classroom Library

 

For digital copies of all Teacherś College Reading and Writing Project:

www.heinemann.com

 

RACE Response Resources

 

Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System 1 and 2

 

 October to Mid-November

Deep Study of Character/ Social Issues Book Club
(1) L.6.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
(1) R.CCR.2 Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
(2) RL.6.3 Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
(1) RL.6.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.

 How does the character change throughout the story?

 

How does the setting affect the character?

 

How do motifs turn into themes?

 

How can I determine the theme of a text?

 

Character:

Complex character traits (likeable and less likeable)

Direct and Indirect Characterization

Pressures against Characters (internal and external)

 

 

Setting:

Setting impact Characters

Settings can change (Physically and Psychologically)

Authors, precise language (mood and tone)

 

Theme:

Motif 

Symbolism

Theme

 

 

Character:

  • protagonist
  • antagonist
  • genre
  • character
  • plot

Setting:

  • mood
  • tone
  • norms
  • tempo
  • psychological
  • back story

Theme:

  • theme
  • connotation
  • denotation
  • motif
  • symbolism

Identify character traits both likeable and less-likeable traits

 

Anaylze direct and indirect characterization

 

Support trait choice with evidence 

 

Identify different types of setting

 

Analyze the setting and author's language to identify the mood and tone

 

Explain how setting impacts characters

 

Identify common motifs and symbols 

 

Use common motifs and symbolism in a text to identify a theme 

Teacherś College Manual: Deep Study of Character

  

Supplemental Resources:

High-interest book club books (fiction)

 

Scholastic Scope Magazines

 

Theme Resources

 

Mood/Tone Resources

 

Character Resources

 

Main Idea/Central Ideas Resources 

 

Notebook Pages

 

Written Responses to Reading

 

Book Discussions 

 

Conferences 

November- December 

Social Issues Book Club

 

Historical Fiction Book Club (with Lit Essay - Mid-February through Mid-March)

 

 
(1) 6L5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
(1) RI.6.6 Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.
(1) RI.6.9 Compare and contrast one author's presentation of events with that of another (e.g., a memoir written by and a biography on the same person).

How can I read empathetically and for advocacy of diverse groups?

 

 

How can I study an era to understand the character's relationship to a particular historical conflict?

 

 

 

How I can connect the conflicts of the past to help make a change in the conflicts of our real world today?

 

Social Issue Book Clubs

  • Relationships with characters

  • Group-related issues

    • Theme: how the theme affects a group

  • Social Issues: race, ethnicity, body image, disability, etc.

  • Learning from diverse groups of people 

 

Historical Fiction Book Club

 

  • Character traits 
  • Conflicts that shape the character

  • Studying an era (World War II/The Holocaust)

  • How characters transform & change throughout the story

 
  • Race
  • Ethnicity
  • Bias 
  • Discrimination
  • Immigrants/immigration
  • Diversity
  • Advocacy
  • empathy/empathetically
  • internal conflict 
  • external conflict
  • internal trait
  • external trait
  • era
  • legacy
  • transform/transformation

Analyze complex relationships within a novel

 

Determine group-related issues that affect multiple characters

 

Identify social issues within a novel

 

Use evidence to support ideas

 

 

Identify internal character traits

 


Detemine both internal and external conflicts the character faces

 

 

 

Study an era and gain new perspective of what character experienced 

 

 

 

Reflect on character change based on a coming of age

 

Teacherś College Manual: Social Issues Book Clubs

 

Social Issues books (high-interest fiction)

 

Notebook Pages

 

Written Responses to Reading

 

Book Discussions 

 

Conferences 

 January- Mid-February

Tapping the Power of Nonfiction
(1) RI.6.7 Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
(1) RI.6.8 Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not.
(1) SL.6.2 Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.
(1) SL.6.5 Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, images, music, sound) and visual displays in presentations to clarify information.

How can I determine the central idea of a nonfiction text?

 

How can I summarize a complex nonfiction text?

 

How can I synthesize information across multiple nonfiction texts?

 

How do readers build a robust vocabulary to develop a deeper understanding of a topic?

 

How can I use different types of text structure to help me understand a text?

Tapping the Power of Nonfiction

  • Central Idea 
  • Summarizing information

  • Synthesizing Information from multiple texts

  • Researching a topic

  • Authorś Point of View

  • Text Structure
  • Central idea
  • Research 
  • Plagarism
  • Digital Footprint
  • Synthesize
  • Point of View 
  • Bias 
  • Compare and Contrast
  • Description
  • Sequence
  • Timeline/Chronological
  • Cause and Effect
  • Problem/Solution

Identify the central idea of a nonfiction text

 

Summarize information from complex nonfiction texts

 

Synthesize information across multiples texts on the same topic using a note-taking system

 

Use outside resources when encountering tricky parts of a nonfiction text

 

Determine the author's point of view about a topic and what techniques the author uses to get their point of view across to the reader

 

Compare and analyze texts to determine which text is more trustworthy

 

Identify different types of text structure an author uses

Teachers' College Manual: Tapping the Power of Nonfiction

 

Scholastic Scope Magazine

 

High-Interest Nonfiction Articles

 

Access to Internet Digital Resources

Written Responses to Reading

Conferences

 

Group Discussions

 

Ted Talk on Research Topic

Mid-March though End of March

Test Prep

 
(2) RI.6.3 Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).
(1) RI.6.9.a Use their experience and their knowledge of language and logic, as well as culture, to think analytically, address problems creatively, and advocate persuasively.
(1) RL.6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
(2) RL.6.3 Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
(1) RL.6.9 Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.

April

Poetry
(2) RL.6.11 Recognize, interpret, and make connections in narratives, poetry, and drama, ethically and artistically to other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events, and situations.

How can I read a poem until I know how it works-- why it looks the way it does on the page, how each part makes sense with the whole poem, and how specific words and phrases in the poem mean more than they would in another context?

 

How does the structure and form of a poem deepen my understanding and help me see more in the poems I read?

 

How do authors use symbolism in poetry and how does an understanding of symbolism help me see more meaning in poetry?

 

 

Poetry:

  • Structure of a poem (stanza, line, rhyme scheme, shape of poem, line breaks, font size, etc.)
  • Language and word choice used 
  • Mood 
  • Symbolism 
  • Theme
  • Compare and contrast poems 
  • stanza
  • line
  • line break
  • verse
  • figurative language
  • simile
  • metaphor
  • onomatopoeia
  • idiom
  • hyperbole
  • personification
  • allusion
  • irony

Analyze the structure of poem and how it differs from prose 

 

Analyze the language and word choice used by poets

 

Teacher's College: Treasure Chest

  • How to Eat a Poem Unit (7th grade)
  • If/Then book

 

Scholastic Scope 

 

High-Interest Poems

Notebook Pages

 

Written Responses to Reading

 

Book Discussions 

 

Conferences 

May/June

Fantasy/Dystopian Book Clubs

5th grade unit (fantasy)

 

 

Launching summer reading projects

  • make a plan for summer reading

 

Benchmark assessments

 
(1) RI.6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
(2) RI.6.3 Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).
(2) RL.6.11 Recognize, interpret, and make connections in narratives, poetry, and drama, ethically and artistically to other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events, and situations.

How can I connect characters, settings, and plot points across a series?

 

How can I anaylze creatures and fantastical worlds to represent a theme or concept?

 

How can I make connections between fantasy texts and real world problems?

Dystopian/Fantasy Book Clubs

  • Fantasy Archetypes
  • Hero's Journey/Quest (both internal and external)

  • Character response to a problem

  • Character change 

  • Comparison of characters

  • Symbolism and allegory

  • Making connections across a book series 

  • Theme of a text

  • Connections between dystopian/fantasy and real world 
  • symbolism
  • allegory
  • dystopian
  • eutopia 
  • archetype

Identify different fantasy archetypes and how they respond to a problem and change in the story

 

Understand that quests can be both internal and external and mirror real-life historical quests and struggles 

 

Interpret symbolism and and allegories to help identify underlining themes 

 

Interpret how cultures are portrayed in fantasy and how fantasy connects to real world historical struggles

Teacher's College: Treasure Chest

Fantasy Book Club Unit (5th grade)

If/Then book

 

High-Interest Fantasy Books

Notebook Pages

 

Written Responses to Reading

 

Book Discussions 

 

Conferences 
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