Grade 6 ESL

ESL focuses on systematic, explicit, and sustained language development within the context of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and WIDA. Language is taught within the rich, meaningful circumstances of key academic practices, and the teacher builds on students’ cultural and linguistic knowledge to develop key academic habits of thinking. The Big Ideas and Major Learning Experiences reflect priority language skills across grade-level content and serve as a focus of collaboration between the Multilingual Department and other departments.

Unit

Time

frame

Big Ideas (Statements or Essential Questions)

Major Learning Experiences from Unit 

Striving and Thriving in Middle School


Connect to:

Social and Instructional Language

6 weeks 

  • How are schools the same and different across countries or levels (e.g. elementary and middle)?


  • What skills, habits, and routines prepare students for success in 6th grade and beyond?

Students will: 

  • NARRATE by sharing ideas about one’s own and others’ lived experiences and previous learning

  • INFORM by describing characteristics, patterns, and behaviors

  • EXPLAIN by following and describing steps or procedures and their causes and effects

  • ARGUE by generating questions about different perspectives

Lessons from Literature


Connect to:

Language of ELA


and


Social and Instructional Language

6

weeks 


  • How do stories teach lessons and give meaning to our lives?


  • How do communities of readers enjoy and share what they learn from stories?


  • How do characters change from the beginning to the end of a story?

Students will:

  • INTERPRET LANGUAGE ARTS NARRATIVES by identifying themes or central ideas that develop over the course of a text

  • INTERPRET LANGUAGE ARTS NARRATIVES by analyzing how character attributes and actions develop in relation to events or dialogue

  • CONSTRUCT LANGUAGE ARTS ARGUMENTS that logically organize a claim with clear reasons and relevant evidence, and offer a conclusion 

  • NARRATE by sharing ideas about one’s own and others’ lived experiences and previous learning


The focus this year is on explanatory (CER) writing.  See Grade 6 ELA Overview for more context.

Debating Issues and Questions from History


Connect to: Language of Social Studies


and


Social and Instructional Language

6 Weeks

  • How can we use text features to support our understanding of what we read?


  • How can writers explain how their selected evidence best relates to a specific prompt?


  • How can we present claims and findings with relevant evidence, sound reasoning, and appropriate eye contact, volume, and pronunciation?

Students will:

  • INTERPRET SOCIAL STUDIES EXPLANATIONS by determining multiple points of view in sources for answering compelling and supporting questions about events

  • CONSTRUCT SOCIAL STUDIES EXPLANATIONS that generalize multiple causes and effects of developments or events

  • CONSTRUCT SOCIAL STUDIES ARGUMENTS that show relationships between claims and counterclaims, differences in perspectives, and evidence and reasoning.

  • ARGUE by supporting or challenging an opinion, premise, or interpretation.


See Grade 6 Social Studies Overview for more context.

Structures and Functions in the Scientific World


Connect to: Language of Science


and


Social and Instructional Language

6 weeks 


  • How do scientific models (diagrams, maps, charts) help explain structures and their functions in the natural world?


  • How do scientists measure and describe the natural world in order to form and share conclusions?

Students will: 

  • CONSTRUCT SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS that describe valid and reliable evidence from sources about a phenomenon

  • INTERPRET SCIENTIFIC ARGUMENTS by identifying convincing evidence from data, models, and/or information from investigations of phenomena 

  • CONSTRUCT SCIENTIFIC ARGUMENTS that introduce and contextualize topic/phenomenon in issues related to the natural world

  • INFORM by describing the parts and wholes of a system


See Grade 6 Science Overview for more context.

Using Data to Advocate for Change


Connect to:  Language of Mathematics


and


Social and Instructional Language

6 weeks 

  • How can we collect and analyze real-world data to make recommendations to improve our school community?


  • How can we clearly present our research visually (in tables, graphs, charts) and orally for a specific audience?


  • How can percents help us discuss how frequently or how likely something is to happen?

Students will:

  • CONSTRUCT MATHEMATICAL EXPLANATIONS that introduce concept or entity

  • CONSTRUCT MATHEMATICAL EXPLANATIONS that describe data 

  • CONSTRUCT MATHEMATICAL ARGUMENTS that justify conclusions with evidence and mathematical facts

  • SUMMARIZE most important aspects of information


See Grade 6 Mathematics Overview (Unit 3: Ratios, Rates, and Percents) for more context.