WEATHERFORD

 

 

6th

Grade

                     Reading

Lesson plans for remainder of year:

*Students, please put your full name at the top of each assignment that you email so that you can receive credit for having completed it. 

My office hours will be 9:00-10:00 A.M. on Mondays and Wednesday's. The zoom meetings will occur at this time.

(The assignments are due by 4:00 P.M. on each Friday, but you can email them before that deadline if you have them completed.)

Listed below are the lesson plans for the next few weeks.  Remember, you are selecting only ONE of the three options I provide for each week’s reading.  You will email those assignments to plightfoot@wpsok.org by the Friday of each week’s reading.  Don’t hesitate to email me if you have any questions.  My main goal is for you to enjoy the novel and to provide you with choice and stress-free options.  I look forward to learning from each of you in the weeks ahead! Mrs. Brewer’s students will email their assignments to ebrewer@wpsok.org.

 

In the side margin, you will notice that I have scheduled zoom meetings on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:00-10:00 A.M.  (my office hours) These are opportunities for us to get together and share questions/perspectives/insights about the novel.  You are not required to participate in these meetings, and I want you to know that you can also share with me via email. 

 

 

April 6-10:

 

 

Read chapters 1-5 (pages  1-32)

 

Choose ONE of the options below to complete as your assignment:

 

1. Go to pbslearningmedia.org  The media gallery includes an 18:29 minute video titled Secrets of the Code Talkers/the Warrior Tradition After watching the video, write about the things in life for which you would be a warrior.  What traditions within your family or heritage do you value most?  Do you agree/disagree with the narrator’s statement that “silence is power” or that there is a “spiritual component to war”? 

 

2. The novel begins with a grandfather sharing a story with his grandchildren.  Make contact with a grandparent, older aunt/uncle, neighbor or friend (via phone call or email).  Compose a list of at least 5 questions you would like to know about their lives.  Record their responses.

 

3. The novel begins with an object that serves as a springboard to tell a story.  Look around your house for an object that has a story attached.  What is the object?  What story can it help you tell? 

 

April 13-17:

Read chapters 6-11 (pages 33-75)

 

Choose ONE of the options below to complete as your assignment:

 

1. What internal/external conflicts do you see Ned face in these chapters?  List 2 internal conflicts (struggles/decisions Ned has within himself) List 2 external conflicts (forces such as nature or other people that create struggles for Ned.)

 

2. Chapter 10 ends with the thought that no matter who people are, people can always learn from each other.  Think of someone very different from you that you learned something from.  Write a narrative about what you learned and from whom you learned it.

 

3. Pretend that you are Ned.  Write a letter from his point of view to his family on the Navajo reservation.  Include some of the experiences that you think he would write home about.

 

April 20-24:

Read chapters 12-17 (pages 76-119)

 

Choose ONE of the options below to complete as your assignment:

 

1. Go to Brittanica.com.  In the search line, type in Japanese Code of Bushido.  Write down ten facts that you learn from your search.

 

2. Go to pbslearningmedia.org.  There are several videos available about the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  Select one that interests you and write a summary/review of the video.  Be sure to give the title of the video you chose.

 

3. Ned describes his exchange with Gene-Gene as one of the best conversations he had ever had.  Think about your life thus far.  What would you say is the best conversation you have ever had?  Write the story of that conversation.

 

April 27-May 1 :

Read chapters 18-23 (pages 120-171)

 

Choose ONE of the options below to complete as your assignment:

 

1. There are six chapters in this week’s reading.  Write one key event (examples of rising action) that takes place in each chapter.  (Be sure to supply the page number where the event is located.)

 

2. Develop a journal/reading log about the novel thus far.  Tell what you like/don’t like, and how you feel about the author’s writing style.  (Just give your opinion.)

 

3. Write a letter from Georgia Boy’s point of view to his family.  Discuss your friend, Ned Begay within your letter, explaining some of the experiences you have shared.

 

 

May 4-8:

Read chapters  24-29 and author’s note (pages 172-224)

 

Choose ONE of the options below to complete as your assignment:

 

1. A theme is a universal truth/life lesson learned.  Discuss one possible theme for this novel.  Use text evidence to support your choice.

 

2. Write a letter to Joseph Bruchac, the author, discussing your opinion of the novel.  What questions would you ask him?  What insights/perspectives would you like to share with him?  (Authors love to hear what you have learned from their work.)

 

3.  Write an acrostic poem using CODE TALKER as your subject.  Print the letters vertically down the page, and share summarizing thoughts/insights about the novel.

 

 

*Offline students have the same reading chunks of material for each week.  They will select 2 of the discussion questions contained within each section and develop a written response over those. These discussion questions are listed below:

(Discussion questions are copyrighted by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.)

April 6-10

Prologue-chapter 5

1.  Beyond the use of Navajo words, what indicators of multiculturalism are evident in the prologue (“Listen, My Grandchildren”)?
2. Discuss the author’s mode of presenting exposition in chapter 1.
3. “Culture shock” is the feeling of disorientation experienced by someone suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar way of life.  How is chapter 2 a study in culture shock?
4. What lessons are the newcomers learning in chapter 3, before they ever sit in a classroom?
5. Discuss the abuses mission school students were subjected to for speaking Navajo.
6. What is the connection between Chapter 5 and the prologue?
7. How does prejudice color teachers’ expectations of Ned Begay?

April 13-17 

Chapters 6-11

1.  Discuss the author’s approach to introducing exposition at the start of chapter 6.
2. Discuss the cruel contrast between patriotism and racism in that chapter.
3. Ned’s parents tell him in chapter 7 that he’s too young to enlist.  What clues do you get in that chapter that his parents might be right?
4. What does chapter 8 suggest about the qualifications of young Navajo males to become Marines?
5. How does chapter 9 examine Navajo tradition in harmony with the wider culture?
6. How did mission school prepare Ned for boot camp?
7. Compare and contrast the narrator’s experiences in chapter 11 with some of his experiences in chapters 2-4.  Where is the poetic justice in this contrast?

April 20-24

Chapters 12-17

1.  Discuss the pride and joy Ned and his fellow Mavajos felt about code talker school.
2. Why was no code talker promoted above the low rank of corporal?
3. How is water a common element in chapters 10 and 13?
4. How was Navajo code used in the field?
5. In chapter 14, how does Ned come to see the humanity in the enemy?
6. Discuss Ned’s exchange with Gene-Gene.  Why does he call it “one of the best conversations I ever had”?
7. Discuss chapter 16 as a history lesson.
8. Think of Code Talker as a movie.  How does chapter 17 represent a change in focus or perspective?

April 27-May 1

Chapters 18-23

1.  What are some of the hardships of Ned’s time on Bougainville, apart from the hgih drama of full-scale conflict?
2. Discuss the efforts of the Seabees as described in Chapter 18.
3. Why does demand grow for Navajo code talkers?
4. Discuss the conduct of Japanese civilians on Saipan, as the Allies took the island.
5. As the narrator represents it, how does racism play into the Japanese occupation of Guam?
6. Discuss the Navajo legend told in Chapter 22.  What is it meant to convey?
7. What are some of the differences the narrator points out between World War II in Europe and the Pacific?

May 4-8

Chapters 24-29 and author’s note

1. How does chaper 24 set the stage for what follows?
2. Discuss Ned Begay’s response to his breakfast in chapter 25.  What does that response tell you about him as a soldier?
3. Discuss the sensory imagery the narrator uses in chaper 26 to describe the assault on Iwo Jima.  What impressions do you get as to what it would have been like to be there?
4. What does the flag planting on Mount Suribachi indicate about the significance of this national symbol?
5. Discuss chapter 27 as an argument supporting the use of atomic weapons against Japan.
6. What happens for the first time in Japan after the A-bombs are dropped?
7. What did Ned Begay carry forward foremost in his heart from his experiences as a code talker?

 

1.  

 

March 23-27, 2020

Monday: Begin Code Talker pg. 1-18 /quiz

Tuesday: Read pages 19-37 (5 Q&A)

Wednesday: Read pgs. 38-49 (reading guide)

Thursday: Read pages 50-67 (Two sentence summaries for each chapter)

Friday: Read pgs. 68-75 (reading guide)

 

March 9-13, 2020

Monday: Read “The Emperor’s New Clothes” pg. 246/quiz

complete practice 2 pg. 148 over idioms

Tuesday: Read Ta-Na-E-Ka pg. 135/quiz

Wednesday: DAY OF AWESOMENESS

Thursday: Students will each receive an idiom to illustrate/explain

Friday: No School (Have a beautiful Spring Break!)

 

March 2-6, 2020

Monday: voc. #12: myth, fable, folk tale, legend, biography, autobiography 

roots: fide = faith/trust     fin = end

Perseus and the Gorgon’s Head pg. 360

Tuesday: Read the myths: Midas and the Golden Touch, Persephone and Hades, Perseus and Medusa, and the Trojoan Horse

Assign mythology groups and scripts for each of the above selections

Wednesday: practice mythology skits/scripts

Thursday: present skits...study for voc. test #12

Friday:  voc. test #12, spiral evaluation #3

Read Aesop’s Fables pg. 371-374

 

Feb. 24-28, 2020

Monday: Read “Baucis & Philemon”. pg. 257/quiz

Read “Icarus & Daedlus”

Tuesday: Read ACT Aspire Classroom test #8

Go over answers together in class...discuss test strategies

Wednesday: ACT Aspire Interim IV reading test/ computer lab

Thursday: Read “Arachne” pg. 642  (Pearson text)/ quiz

Friday: Read “Medusa’s Head” pg. 352 (Reading summary check pg.364)

 

Feb. 17-21, 2020

Monday: No School (Staff development)

Tuesday: Read “Eleven” pg. 573/ prewriting for clothing narrative

Wednesday: In composition notebooks, write first person narratives attached to positive or negative clothing memories

Thursday: Read “What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?” pg. 556

Friday: Complete collection 5 skills review pgs. 524-533

 

 

 

Feb. 10-14, 2020

Monday: vocab. list #11: new roots...Corp = body, Derm = skin

caress, compassion,condescending, crescendo, despicable, grimace, muffle, premature, resigned, vulnerability

Read pages 184-194/reading guide

Tuesday: Read pages 194-204/sequencing

Wednesday: Read pages 205-217/quiz

Thursday: Read pages 218-235

Friday: voc. test #11/AR test over novel

“Separate but Never Equal” pg. 332

 

 

Feb. 3-7, 2020

Monday: No School (Professional development)

Tuesday: Read pages 145-159 (reading guide)

Wednesday: Read pages 160-174 (4Q&A)

Thursday: Read pages 174-183 (3 character quotes) . Students  will select three different speakers, record a sentence they speak, and explain what is significant about the quote or what it reveals about the person who speaks it.

Friday: Read pages 184-194 (reading guide)

 

Jan. 27-31, 2020

Monday: Read pages 67-86

Tuesday: Read pages 87-98/ complete page 16 of novel study guide

voc. test #10

Wednesday: Read pages 99-110 /reading guide

Thursday: Read pages 110-127/ illustration blocks

Friday: Read pages 127-144 (ch. 7 quiz)

 

Jan. 20-24, 2020

Monday: No school/Staff development day

Tuesday: voc. #10 Roots:  cord/cardi- heart

aloofness, audible, awestruck, candidly, condone, denote, disclose, dumbfounded, falter, feign

Read pages 36-48 (4 Q&A)

Wednesday: Read pages 49-58/ ch. 3 quiz

Thursday: read pages 59-67/ reading guide

Friday: AR reading day

(make-up work day)

 

 

Jan. 13-17, 2020

Monday:  voc. #9 = Root: astr/aster = star

amiably, caravan, formidable, indignant, oblivious, offensive, precariously, radical, resiliency, skittish

Read “The Gold Cadillac” pg. 316/answer text questions throughout

Tuesday: AR test over “The Gold Cadillac”

complete extending interpretations pg. 329 (half a page for each question)/vocab. sentences

Wednesday: Begin novel study of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Read pages 3-16, fill out character chart

Thursday: Read pages 17-27 (continue adding details to character chart)

Friday: voc. test #9, read pages 28-35 (reading guide)

 

Jan. 6-10, 2020

Monday: AR Reading Day

plot diagram vocabulary: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution

Tuesday: Read “The Mysterious Mr. Lincoln” pg. 545

                           “Lincoln’s Humor” pg. 553

Wednesday: Read “A Glory Over Everything” pg. 468/quiz

Thursday: Read “All Aboard with Thomas Garrett” pg. 483

Friday: voc. test /plot diagram

Harriet Tubman series, pg. 489

 

 

Dec. 16-20

Monday: Benchmark review

Tuesday: Benchmark reading test

Wednesday: Benchmark reading test

Thursday:  Go over benchmark results/address poems/create foldable for final drafts

Friday: final drafts of address poems/decorate house foldables

 

 

Dec. 9-13, 2019

Monday:  Practice in library

Tuesday: POETRY FESTIVAL!

Wednesday:  Collection 2 & Collection 6 Skills Review: pgs. 212-215, pgs. 612-616

Thursday: ACT ASPIRE READING TEST

Friday:  Begin benchmark review

 

Dec. 2-6, 2019

(THIS WEEK STUDENTS WILL BE PREPARING FOR THE POETRY FESTIVAL.  THEIR PARTICIPATION IN THIS EVENT WILL COUNT AS 50% OF THEIR SEMESTER BENCHMARK TEST GRADE.)

Monday:  Practice in classroom

Tuesday: Practice in classroom

Wednesday: Practice in library

Thursday: Practice in library

Friday: No School (WHS Eagles State Championship Game)

 

Nov. 18-22

Monday: Send parent letters home explaining poetry festival

work on group novel project

Tuesday: Work on group novel project

Wednesday:  Present projects

Thursday: Complete novel projects (if needed)

Students will take pics for the festival and they will be assigned their class poem/line

Friday:  Students will share which of the three poems in their collection they intend to share/ they will sign up for refreshments, and complete  paper chain for tree decoration in library by signing a strip of green construction paper.  Students will practice reciting their poem of choice with an elbow partner.

 

 

Nov. 11-15, 2018

Monday: Veterans’ Day Assembly (AM classes)

Team character quotes: (Partners will search through the pages we have read to find “Telling” quotes that reveal something significant about the character they have selected.  Each index card will contain the quote, the page number where the quote is found, and on the flip side of the card, they will reveal what the attached quote reveals about the personality of the character.

Tuesday: Read page 234-247 (reading guide)

Wednesday: Read pages 247-262 (complete author’s note exercise)

Thursday: AR test over novel/ Esperanza Crossword

Friday: Introduce novel project/assign groups

                  

Nov. 4-8, 2019

Monday: vocab #7: roots: cide= to kill, cise = to cut

makeshift, tinged, propelled, immunized, taut, regal suspetible, encrusted, deportation, devoutly

Read pages 139-157 (reading guide)

Tuesday: Read pages 158-178 (illus. blocks)

Wednesday: Read pages 179-198 quiz

Thursday: Read pages 199-213 (reading guide)

Friday: voc. test #7 

Read pages 214-233 (discuss/identify static/dynamic characters and supply text evidence for support)

 

Oct. 28-Nov. 1, 2019

Monday:  voc. #6: roots: auto=self, chrom=color, chron=time

arbors, tendril, reaping, premonition, serenaded, massive, capricious, forlorn, anguish, methodically

Read pages 58-72 (reading guide)

Tuesday: read pages 73-80/ Write a letter from Esperanza to Marisol...a letter from Mama to Abuelita...or a diary entry from Miguel which explores his feelings about recent events

Wednesday: read pages 81-99/quiz

Thursday: read pages 100-120 (5Q&A)

Friday: voc. test #6, read pages 121-138

 

Oct. 21-25, 2019

Monday: voc. list #5:  antagonist, flat character, round character, dynamic character, static character, dialogue, foreshadowing, protagonist, suspense, symbol

spiral evaluation #1

Students will study voc. words, while I prepare the poetry packets for shipping

Tuesday: spiral evaluation

                anticipation guide/quotes

Wed: Begin Esperanza Rising: read pgs. 1-22 quiz

Thurs.: read pages 23-38 (reading guide)

Fri.: voc. test #5

read pages 39-57 

 

 

Oct. 14-18, 2019

Monday:  Final draft day

Tuesday: Final draft day

Wednesday: Final draft day

Thursday & Friday: NO SCHOOL (FALL BREAK)

 

Oct. 7-11, 2019

Monday:  Final draft day

Tuesday:  Read Billy Collins’ “On Turning Ten”

Write Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow poem

Wednesday: Write prep phrase poems

Thursday: Write If You Really Knew Me poem

Friday:  Final draft day

 

Sept. 30-Oct 4, 2019

Monday: NO SCHOOL (Parent-teacher conferences 12:00-7:00)

Tuesday: Write odes (poems of praise to a person/place)

Wednesday: Write “There’s a ______________ Inside Me poem

Thursday: Write memory poems “What I Remember About That Day”

Friday: Write Author Acrostics using students’ first and last names

 

Sept. 23-27, 2019

Monday: voc. #4 ROOTS: ali=other, alt=height, anni, enni, annu = year

poetry, alliteration, assonance, personification, alien, alibi, altitude, anniversary, centennial, annual

write limericks

Tuesday: brainstorm contrasting subjects in nature

Write two haiku

Wednesday: Write color poems using imagery

Thursday: Write place poems (The best/worst place to write a poem)

Friday: voc. test #4, final draft day

 

Sept. 16-20, 2019

Monday: Complete Aspire classroom tests 1, 2, 3

                Students will not write on test packet, but will use the answer sheet provided to document answers

Tuesday: Any students who did not complete Aspire classroom tests 1,2,3 will complete that first.  In Holt textbook, students will complete collection 1 skills review pgs. 114-118. They will document answer sheets on sheet provided.

Wednesday: Go over test results

voc. #3: simile, metaphor

Begin poetry unit...students will write original definitions of poetry.  After examining samples of descriptive sentences, students will compose three descriptive sentences using figurative language.

Thursday: Read “Poetry Rides the Bus” . Identify examples of personification.  Students will brainstorm positive and negative 

abstract nouns.  They will select one as the subject of a personification poem.  (Minimum 12 lines)

Friday:  voc. test #3

Write a season cinquain using all 5 senses and figurative language

 

 

 

Sept. 9-13, 2019

Monday:  pyramid exercise

                AR test over Freak the Mighty

Tuesday:  Begin movie : In section #2, note 5 similarities between the novel and film

Wednesday:  Continue movie: In section #2, note 5 differences between the novel and film

Thursday: Complete film...take notes over themes found within the novel

                 in composition notebook select the one theme you found most important.  Write about how this theme was revealed in the novel and how you could apply it to your own life.

Friday: ACT Aspire Reading test

             

 

 

 

Sept. 2-6, 2019

Monday: NO SCHOOL (Labor Day)

Tuesday:  read pgs. 100-114 (reading guide)

Wed.:  read pgs. 115-127 (illus. blocks & summary sentences)

Thurs.:  read pgs. 128-140 (reading guide)

Friday: read pages 141-160 (quiz)

 

 

Aug. 26-30, 2019  

Monday:  voc. #2: steed, tenement, optimum, injustice, urgency, deprived, divulged, sought, smirk, redeemed

read pgs. 28-40 (take notes over rules for Q&A:  1.  questions must be complete sentences, 2.  answers must be provided, 3.  provide page numbers where answers are found, 4.  capitalize and punctuate,  5.  no vague pronouns, 6.  only one fill-in-the-blank, 7.  no yes/no or true/false questions

Tuesday:  read pgs. 41-62

                 5 Q&A

Wednesday:  read pgs. 63-71 (reading guide)

Thursday:  read pgs. 72-87 (list 5 key events in the novel thus far using chronological order)

Friday:  voc. test #2

             read pages 88-99:  List 3 stellar sentences and provide reasons for your choice

 

 

August 19-23, 2019

Monday:  Go over results of scavenger hunt

                 label supplies

                 voc. #1: connotation, denotation, direct and indirect methods of characterization (ASATOD ...appearance, speech, actions, thoughts, other’s opinions, direct characterization)

Tuesday: 

Freak anticipation guide/ themes/composition notebook entries

Wednesday:  Begin Freak the Mighty chapters 1-3 quiz

Thursday:  pgs. 15-27 reading guide

Friday:  voc. test #1, ten unique traits

 

August 12-16, 2019

Monday:  Teacher work day

Tuesday: First day of classes

*rules         

*drills

*label supplies

Wednesday:  Goal letters (Using the friendly letter format, students will write letters to themselves outliing their persoal and academic goals for this school year

Thursday: Twenty questions: (textbook scavenger hunt using the Holt textbook)

Friday:  Ten unique traits (rotation exercise...getting to know each other)