English Language Arts — Grade 6

How do I look to you?

In this lesson, students will evaluate public service posters and a grooming pamphlet to determine if and how propaganda was used to improve the health of children, and define acceptable appearances for young women in the 1930s.

Format: lesson plan (grade 5–8 English Language Arts)

By Loretta Wilson.

Finding hidden messages in advertising

In CareerStart lessons: Grade six, page 1.3

In this lesson for grade six, students will look for hidden messages in magazine advertisements and will create their own ads with hidden messages.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Dance Arts Education and English Language Arts)

By Jennifer Brookshire and Julie McCann.

Resources on the web

You know the movie is coming—Now what?

After exploring cinematic terms, students read a literary work with director's eyes and then try to predict what elements would be present in the film version of the book. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Writing alternative plots for Robert C. O'Brien's “Z for Zachariah”

As a culminating activity for Robert C. O'Brien's Z for Zachariah, students apply their knowledge of cause and effect to create alternative plots. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Using picture books to explore identity, stereotyping and discrimination

Students are challenged to analyze the concepts of identity, stereotyping and discrimination by reading picture books that depict characters who are different from others in their communities. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Using classic poetry to challenge and enrich students' writing

In this lesson, students learn to interpret multiple perspectives while reading, analyzing, and discussing classic works of poetry. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Traveling the road to freedom through research and historical fiction

In this lesson, students read historical fiction and participate in a webquest to gain an understanding of an important period in American history. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Travel brochures: Highlighting the setting of a story

Students create travel brochures in this lesson that introduces the author's creation of setting in a literary work. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Teaching Voice with Anthony Browne's "Voices in the Park"

By reading and discussing the characters in Anthony Browne's picture book, Voices in the Park, students gain a clear understanding of how to use voice in their own writing. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Robert Frost prompts the poet in you

In this lesson, students write poems similar in form and style to one of three poems by Robert Frost. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

The reading performance: Understanding fluency through oral interpretation

This lesson examines how the oral reading of poetry may be useful in supporting fluency for sixth- through eighth-grade students. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Reading and analyzing multigenre texts

Students develop a definition of multigenre texts by exploring a multigenre picture book, short chapter books, and multigenre novels. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Products across borders

In this lesson, students identify foreign products available in the United States and learn about U.S. companies that sell products abroad. The students discuss globalization and illustrate two maps to show where products come from and where they're sold. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–7 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provided by: National Geographic

Press Conference for "Bud, Not Buddy"

By further analyzing the characters in preparation for a class “press conference,” students better understand the characters' impact in the story Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Postmodern picture books in the middle school

Students analyze the structure of a postmodern picture book to uncover how authors form relationships between words and illustrations. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Plot structure: A literary elements mini-lesson

This lesson provides a basic introduction to plot structure using the Freytag's Pyramid, a graphic organizer that charts the elements of plot. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Media literacy: Examining the world of Lizzie McGuire

Students develop media literacy skills as they explore and analyze an episode of the television series Lizzie McGuire. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Media Awareness, Lesson 3

In this final lesson of the Media curriculum unit from ARTSEDGE, students create a drawing to be used as an advertisement for their toy. They select the background/foreground space as well as possible symbols for their advertisement, with consideration... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 5–8 Visual Arts Education and English Language Arts)

Provided by: ArtsEdge

Media Awareness, Lesson 1

In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students discuss why they like the particular toy they have chosen to bring to class. They brainstorm, making a list of different categories of toys, and then discuss reasons for valuing particular toys. They begin to explore the... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 5–8 Visual Arts Education and English Language Arts)

Provided by: ArtsEdge

Lonely as a cloud: Using poetry to understand similes

Students use listening comprehension skills in this lesson that introduces the poetic device of similes. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE