W. S.

Holland Middle School

Date(s) Nov 7

Lesson Plans for the Week of: Nov 7-11Course: 6th ELA

Teacher: Bowler

Objectives:

ELA 6.14C Revise drafts to clarify meaning, enhance style, include simple and compound sentences, and improve transitions by
adding, deleting, combining, and rearranging sentences or larger units of text after rethinking how well questions of purpose,
audience, and genre have been addressed.
The Student will be able to:

Revising for sentence variety

ELPS:

ELPS.C.5f Write using a variety of grade-appropriate sentence lengths, patterns, and connecting words to combine phrases,
clauses, and sentences in increasingly accurate ways as more English is acquired.
Do Now:
Engage / Focus:

As students view this video, they create a venn diagram to compare compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.

Compound
Sentence
Characteristics

CompoundComplex
Sentence
Characteristics

Complex
Sentence
Characteristics

Resources:

Teacher-created expository essay

Yellow highlighter
Red, blue, and black pens
FANBOYS anchor chart
AWUBIS anchor chart

Vocabulary:

Sentence Variety using different types of sentences to keep your writing interesting and eliminate repetition
Compound Sentence 2 independent clauses joined with a comma and FANBOYS
Complex Sentence 1 independent + 1 (or more) dependent clauses joined with comma and WABU WABU WATIST
Independent Clause contains subject and verb and expresses one complete thought
Dependent Clause contains a subject and a verb but does not express a complete thought
Compound-Complex Sentence combination of independent and dependent clauses
Coordinating Conjunction FANBOYS; For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So

W. S. Holland Middle School

Lesson Plans for the Week of: Nov 7-11Course: 6th ELA

Teacher: Bowler

Subordinating Conjunction WABU WABU WATIST; When, As, Because, Until, Where, After, Before, Why not, Although, That,
Unless, If, Since, Than

I do:

Debrief the Engage and Connect activity by reminding students of the use of independent and dependent clauses when
writing simple, compound, and complex sentences.
Explain that students will be exchanging essays and checking for sentence variety.
Define sentence variety. Explain that sentence variety keeps the essay interesting and reduces repetition. It can also help
emphasize important information or crucial points.
We do:

Using the teacher-created expository essay, model marking the essay for the following:
- Highlighted in yellow = simple sentence
- Underlined in red = compound sentence
- Underlined in blue = complex sentence
-

Circled in black = compound-complex sentence

In a Think-Aloud, model examining the marked essay and determining where and how you will include more sentence variety by
revising essays to create compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.
You do:

With a partner or small group, students exchange essays and mark for sentence variety:

Highlighted in yellow = simple sentence

Underlined in red = compound sentence
Underlined in blue = complex sentence
Circled in black = compound-complex sentence

Students return essays to original owners and consider revising sentences to include a variety of sentence types.
Students should have at least 2 compound-complex sentences in their essays.

Exit Ticket:

On a sticky note, explain the importance of sentence variety in your essay.

Rewrite one sentence that you revised in your essay based on this lesson.

Homework:
Evaluation/Assessment:
Confer with students about their essays

W. S. Holland Middle School

Date(s) Nov 8

Lesson Plans for the Week of: Nov 7-11Course: 6th ELA

Teacher: Bowler

Objectives:

ELA.6.14D Edit drafts for grammar, mechanics, and spelling.

ELA.6.19A.i Identify, use and understand the function of verbs (irregular verbs and active and passive voice) in the context of
reading, writing, and speaking.
ELA.6.20B.ii Recognize and use punctuation marks including proper punctuation and indention and paragraphing for quotations.
The Student will be able to:

Revising for Active Voice; Editing for Grammar, Mechanics, Spelling, and Punctuation Correctness
ELPS:

ELPS.C.5d Edit writing for standard grammar and usage, including subject-verb agreement, pronoun agreement, and appropriate
verb tenses commensurate with grade-level expectations as more English is acquired.
Do Now:
Engage / Focus:

Students create notes in their Literacy Notebook about active and passive verb use based on this video.
Resources:

Teacher created essay

CUPS anchor chart
Expository Rubric

Vocabulary:

Voice the individual writing style of an author

Active Voice the subject of a sentence does the action
Passive Voice the subject of a sentence receives the action
Tone the attitude of the writer toward the subject or audience
CUPS Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation, Spelling

I do:

Debrief the Engage and Connect activity by explaining that active and passive verbs are determined by knowing if the
subject of a sentence did the action (active) or received the action (passive). Go through the correct answers from the
Engage and Connect video:
o The student wrote a letter to his mother. (Active the student wrote)
o A letter was written by the student to his mother. (Passive) Ask students how to reword it so it is active.
o A delicious meal was prepared by Louise yesterday. (Passive) Ask students how to reword it so it is active.
o Susan saw her friends in the mall last weekend. (Active Susan saw)
o Three big burgers were eaten by Sam this morning. (Passive) Ask students how to reword it so it is active.
o I have learned active and passive voice today.
Explain that active and passive verbs affect the ability of a reader to understand the essay. Active verbs are easy to
understand because they are direct. Passive verbs are more difficult to understand because they are vague.
Verb usage, which contributes to voice, also affects the tone of an essay. Using passive voice makes an essay sound more
mysterious, whereas active voice is very direct and clear.

W. S. Holland Middle School

Lesson Plans for the Week of: Nov 7-11Course: 6th ELA

Teacher: Bowler

We do:

Model revising sentences to change from passive to active voice.

Explain that as we reread our essay, we also edit for grammar, mechanics, spelling, and punctuation errors. Explain that
indenting paragraphs is considered punctuation. Remind students of using CUPS to edit essays.
Model editing for grammar, mechanics, spelling, and punctuation errors using CUPS.
Introduce students to the Expository Rubric. Model self-scoring the essay using the rubric. Then staple it to the essay.

You do:

Students independently revise essays to change passive verbs to active ones.

Using CUPS, students edit their essays for grammar, mechanics, spelling, and punctuation correctness, specifically the
indentation of paragraphs and ending punctuation.

Exit Ticket:

Independently, students review the expository essay rubric and score themselves.
On a sticky note, students explain what score they think they deserve for the essay with a short (1 sentence) explanation.
Students place the sticky note on the front of their essay.

Homework:
Evaluation/Assessment:

Date(s) Nov 9

Direct students to Purdue OWL for further understanding active and passive verbs.
Continue to conference with students regarding their writing progress or the need for clarification.

Objectives:

ELA.6.14E Revise final draft in response to feedback from peers and teacher and publish written work for appropriate audiences.
ELA.6.28A Participate in student-led discussions by eliciting and considering suggestions from other group members and by
identifying points of agreement and disagreement.
The Student will be able to:

Three-person revision of expository essay

ELPS:

ELPS.C.2i Demonstrate listening comprehension of increasingly complex spoken English by following directions, retelling or
summarizing spoken messages, responding to questions and requests, collaborating with peers, and taking notes commensurate
with content and grade-level needs.
ELPS.C.3g Express opinions, ideas, and feelings ranging from communicating single words and short phrases to participating in
extended discussions on a variety of social and grade-appropriate academic topics.
Do Now:
Engage / Focus:

In their Literacy Notebooks, students copy the following notes:

o During the final revision and editing of essays, writers must check for:
- Content = clear thesis, relevant supporting points, answers the prompt
- Development = specific examples and explanations, details support main idea(s)
- Organization = logical transitions, paragraph order
In a Pair-Share, students discuss what they think their essays need the most work (content, development, organization).

W. S. Holland Middle School

Lesson Plans for the Week of: Nov 7-11Course: 6th ELA

Teacher: Bowler

Students consider how to correct one specific area.

Resources:

Teacher-created essay
Red, blue, and black pens

Vocabulary:

Content the subject or topic covered in an essay

Development how the main idea or thesis is elaborated on throughout the essay
Organization the structure of an essay, including sentence and paragraph structure

I do:

Debrief the notes from the Engage and Connect activity by explaining the following:
o Content means that the essay responds to the prompt or topic. There is a clear thesis and relevant points made by
the writer.
o Development means that there are clear explanations and examples to support the main idea(s).
o Organization means that there is a logical flow to the essay.

We do:

Using the teacher-created essay, model checking for those three areas using color-coded annotations:
o Content red ink
o Development blue ink
o Organization black ink
In a Think-Aloud, read the essay and mark the essay for each area by writing in the margins to either affirm or challenge
what the writer did.
Model making simple revisions based on the margin notes.

You do:

Use a randomizer to group students into threes. Each person will read the essay for a specific area, either content,
development, or organization.
1. Content (red) will check for a thesis and supporting points. Make sure the essay answers the prompt.
2. Development (blue) will check for explanations and examples to support each paragraphs main idea.
3. Organization (black) will check for paragraph indentations and the flow of the essay does it go in order.
Each student will only read for their specific area (Student 1 will read three essays only checking for content.). Students
should respond to each essay in the margins of the essays they are reading.
Allow 5 minutes per rotation.
Once essays are returned to the original owner, students make revisions based on the margin notes and mark the changes
in their essays.

Exit Ticket:

On the last page or back of the essay, students explain what they believe they did well when writing this essay and one
challenge that they encountered as well as how they overcame it (or didnt).
Students turn in their essays and self-scored rubrics to the teacher as they leave.
Homework:
Evaluation/Assessment:

Post a timer and encourage students to remain on-task for the duration.

W. S. Holland Middle School

Lesson Plans for the Week of: Nov 7-11Course: 6th ELA

Date(s) Nov 10

Teacher: Bowler

Once the rotations are complete, encourage students to read the margin notes and make revisions in their essays.

Objectives:

ELA.6.28A Participate in student-led discussions by eliciting and considering suggestions from other group members
and by identifying points of agreement and disagreement.
The Student will be able to:

This lesson prepares students for Book Clubs

ELPS:

ELPS C.2i Demonstrate listening comprehension of increasingly complex spoken English by following directions,
retelling or summarizing spoken messages, responding to questions and requests, collaborating with peers, and taking
notes commensurate with content and grade-level needs.
Do Now:
Engage / Focus:

Share the definition of a Book Club.

Show the video embedded in the HUB.
Ask students to turn and talk and generate a list of the possible benefits of Book Clubs.
Resources:

Book Club Book Sets

Index Cards
I am a Story text
Chart Paper
Sentence Stems

Vocabulary:
I do:

Part I: Review the video of the Book Club. You may consider asking students if theyve ever been part of a Book
Club or if their parents have ever joined one. Ask students why people might want to join a Book Club.
Read aloud Reading and Relating. Revisit the question of why people might want to join a Book Club.
Introduce the concept of Book Clubs in a classroom. Specifically differentiate the concept of an assigned task
versus a voluntary discussion.
Discuss the social and academic benefits.
You may want to discuss how participants may:
o Focus on topics of interest
o Informally discuss events and reactions
o Learn from the viewpoints of others
o Converse with peers with similar interests

Lesson Plans for the

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W. S. Holland Middle School

Week of: Nov 7-11Course: 6th ELA

Teacher: Bowler
Learn more about characters by studying issues
Make connections within and across texts
Discuss, define and explore unfamiliar words
Ask relevant and focused questions to clarify understanding
Respond to questions and discussion with relevant and focused comments
Paraphrase and summarize information from the text
Identify and analyze literary elements in the text
Predict events using previous knowledge and evidence from text
Use evidence in text to verify predictions

We do:

Review the responsibilities of Book Club Readers. You may want to create an anchor chart and invite students to
add to the chart as issues arise.
Model setting page goals. Ask students to consider how many class meetings they need to finish the book and
how many pages they have to read. You may want to factor in holidays and weekends if students can be
expected to read outside of class.

You do:

Allow students time to preview texts. As this unit focuses primarily on fiction, you may want to restrict choices to
fiction. Consider sharing details of the books and your personal impressions, especially if it is a book you love.
You can also find book trailers for many popular books.
As students move organically into groups, hand out index cards.
Support hesitant students in joining groups, but dont force them into uncomfortable situations.
Part 1: Students will preview the texts and organically form groups based on choices.

Exit Ticket:

Part I: If dividing the lesson, end by asking students to use an index card to note their Book Clubs choices and
the pages students have agreed to read.
Consider using the index cards to help track groups and progress made.
For students who have chosen not to participate, use the index cards to pull students for conferences in the next
lessons. You may want to discuss their decisions and confirm their choices. Again, do not force students to join;
reading choices from the library are not to be prescribed.

Evaluation/Assessment:

Support students as they choose books.

Confer with students who choose to opt out.
Monitor practice sessions and remodel as necessary.

W. S. Holland Middle School

Date(s) Nov 11

Lesson Plans for the Week of: Nov 7-11Course: 6th ELA

Teacher: Bowler

Objectives:

ELA.6.28A Participate in student-led discussions by eliciting and considering suggestions from other group members
and by identifying points of agreement and disagreement.
The Student will be able to:

This lesson prepares students for Book Clubs

ELPS:

ELPS C.2i Demonstrate listening comprehension of increasingly complex spoken English by following directions,
retelling or summarizing spoken messages, responding to questions and requests, collaborating with peers, and taking
notes commensurate with content and grade-level needs.
Do Now:
Engage / Focus:

Return to whole group. Show I am a Story.

Ask students to turn and talk with a shoulder partner about some of the ways stories are powerful.
Resources:

Book Club Book Sets

Index Cards
I am a Story text
Chart Paper
Sentence Stems

Vocabulary:

Book Club -- a group of people who are reading the same book and who meet together to discuss what they've
read
Discussion -- conversation for the purpose of understanding or debating a question or subject

I do:

Because Book Club relies on authentic discussion, explain to student they will again practice Purposeful Talk.
You may want to talk about groups that are on task versus groups that have been way off task. Explain to
students that lively groups are formed by Discussion Sparks and destroyed by Discussion Killers.
Ask students to generate a list of Sparks and Killers. An anchor chart might look like this:
Discussion Sparks
Discussion Killers
Readers share opinions about characters,
Members talk about random topics or go off
events, authors choices etc., and ask for the on tangents
opinions of others
Members make connections that are not
Readers make predictions
meaningful
Readers make meaningful connections to
Members concentrate on one topic only
other books or media or to their lives
Not allowing everyone to speak

W. S. Holland Middle School

Lesson Plans for the Week of: Nov 7-11Course: 6th ELA
Readers discuss personal reactions and
feelings
Readers think about big ideas or themes

Teacher: Bowler
Members respond inappropriately or
offensively
Members dominate conversations or dont
listen

We do:

Once guidelines have been established, return to the discussion of the story.
Share sentence stems and handouts.
Share, one person might say something like:
o "The character of the story says she will live forever because..."
o "My favorite part of the text was..."
o "This part of the text reminds me of..."
o "I think stories are like people because..."
Once one person has shared their idea, another person will respond. Words that help us build upon the thinking
of others include:
o "Can you tell me more?"
o "Why do you think that?"
o "I agree with you because..."
o "I disagree with you because..."'
When one person has shared and one or more people have responded, then it is time for more ideas. Words that
help new ideas to be shared include:
o "I'd like to add..."
o "What do you think?"
o "Your comment made me think..."
Sometimes it is helpful to focus on a specific scene or moment in a book, so perhaps we might get started by
someone saying,
o "My favorite part was..."
o "The character _____ said / did / thinks / feels _____ because_____."

You do:

Pull a small group and model using Purposeful Talk stems through a fishbowl.
Part 2: Invite students to practice using Purposeful Talk around I am a Story.
Exit Ticket:

Part 2: Ask students to think about how reading can be more meaningful when we talk about it.
Ask students to pair with a peer and share their thoughts.
If time permits, share out.

Evaluation/Assessment:

Support students as they choose books.

W. S. Holland Middle School

Lesson Plans for the Week of: Nov 7-11Course: 6th ELA
Teacher: Bowler
Confer with students who choose to opt out.
Monitor practice sessions and remodel as necessary.