Sixth Grade Unit 1
September/October: APS Assessment Planning System
Reading Whole Class
Instruction
Text Choices
1. Launching:
 Balanced reading diet
Genre: Realistic Fiction
2.Monitoring for Meaning
 Self-correct: stop when
not understanding and
doesn’t make sense
 Pronunciation (M, S, V)
 Meaning
 Noticing: new vocabulary
Picture Books:
Jacqueline Woodson
Patricia Pollaco
 Butterfly
 Lemonade/cancer
 Pink and Say
 Bully
 Just in Time
 Mr. Lincoln’s Way
3. Inferring
 Understand how the
social; economic;
historical context impacts
character and theme, infer
about the author’s intent
through word choice,
structure, point of view,
symbolism, title, mood,
tone, figurative language
 Setting impacts the theme
 The characters’ influence
and impact one another
 Infer and
compare/contrast
character traits
 Character change
internally
 How the character’s trait
impacts the theme/plot
4. Response
Notebook/stop & jot
 Use notes to grow ideas
 Ideas connect to deep
understanding
 Track bigger ideas
 Use multiple pieces of
evidence
Talk: Partnerships
 Listen and build on ideas
 Employ the use of the
notes
 Talk worthy ideas
Book Clubs:
Writing:
 Blog on the wall
 Book talk
5. Engagement
 Setting goals/action plan
Last updated January 2017
Possible chapter author
study:
Gary Paulsen
Jerry Spinelli
Patricia Riley Giff
Writing Whole Class Instruction
Literary Essay
1. Topic/Structure
 Develop a big idea (the inferring
topics)
 Support with multiple pieces of
evidence throughout the text
 Purposefully arrange the
argument, essay, and evidence to
best convey the message
2.Elaboration
 Explain how the evidence supports
the big idea
 Variety: quotes from the text,
paraphrase the text
3. Craft
 Include concrete details that
support the big idea “angle
evidence”
 Use comparisons to other
characters or books
 Use transitions to help the writing
fit together
4. Conventions
 Paragraphing
 Dialog-quotations
 Edit as writing, edit final piece
5. Revision
 Evaluate own writing
 Identify places that I need to set
goals
Sixth Grade Unit 1
September/October: APS Assessment Planning System
Reading: Instructional
Goals/Prompts to Ask:
Evidence of Understanding
1. What are you excited to
read? What genre do
you read? Favorite
author/series…
2. Take me to a “tricky”
place in the text. Tell me
what you did as a
reader.
Formal Assessment:
 Fountas and Pinnell
 On demand writing
prompts
Accountable talk
 Partnerships
Note-taking: Systems and
structures to capture ideas and
support thinking with evidence
3. How are the setting,
theme, plot and
characters impacting
the plot?
Writing
Book talk
Blog on the wall
4. Tell me what you know
about the character.
Pathways:
Writing process progression
Genre Progression
5. What are you proud
about or find
challenging?
Writing:
 Literary essay
 Pre/post -Ondemand
6. What are your next
steps as a learner?
Writing: Assessing Instructional Goals/
Prompts to Ask:
1. Tell me your big idea and show me
your evidence to support it.
2. How are you using your notebook
to keep track of your thinking?
3. How are you deciding to organize
your evidence to support your big
idea?
4. How does your evidence prove
your big idea to the reader?
5. What craft moves have you
learned that you are trying in your
literary essay?
6. Show me how you punctuate your
dialog.
7. Show me a place in your writing
that your tried something new.
What are your next steps?
7. Why did the author
write this book?
Author’s intent.
Engagement
Text
Metacognition
Adapted from Landrigan and Mulligan 2012 Stenhouse Publishers
Last updated January 2017
Reader Response
Sixth Grade Unit 1
September/October: APS Assessment Planning System
Grade 6 2016-2017 Unit 2 (Text ONLY)
Reading Whole Class
Instruction
1 Launching

2. Monitoring for Meaning

Genre:
Content: Social Issues
Paper Things
Fly Away Home
One for the Murphy’s
Crenshaw
One and Only Ivan
Loser
Bud Not Buddy
Al Capone Does my shirts
Star Girl
Tangerine (adcanced)
Long Walk to Water
War
Making a difference
Inside outside back again
El Deafo
Esperenza Rising
Holes
The Lorax
Drown City
Lizzie Bright and the
Buckminster Boy
The Well
3. Retelling
4. Response
5. Engagement
Assessing Instructional
Goals/
Prompts to Ask:
Response
Evidence of
Understanding
Engagement
Adapted from Landrigan and Mulligan
Last updated January 2017
Text Choices
Text
Writing Whole Class Instruction
1. Systems/Structures/Materials
2.Generating Topic Ideas
3. Organizing Writing
4. Craft
5. Revision
6. Editing
Assessing Instructional Goals/
Prompts to Ask:
Metacognition
Reader