In sixth grade Language and Literature, students enhance their skills in four core areas: analysis, organization, producing text, and using language. We read four core texts: Wonder by RJ Palacio, The Giver by Lois Lowry, The Outsiders by SE Hinton, and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. With each of these texts, we explore themes of courage, kindness, loyalty, freedom, and the importance of staying true to yourself. Each book also focuses on the variety of ways you can be an upstander in your community and standing up in the face of injustice. Students learn active reading strategies such as annotation to interact with the text and focus on how authors develop themes that relate to real-world scenarios. All year, students practice finding relevant evidence to support their claims with these annotations. They learn to justify their choice of evidence with detailed explanations. They engage with each of their texts through written analysis, ranging from 3 to 5-paragraph essays. After written analysis, students dive deeper into the content with projects to express their creativity and explain their creative choices in relation to their novels. Students learn to use organizers to guide their thoughts in the writing process. They complete peer reviews and learn how to use feedback to make necessary changes as an important part of the writing process. Students use No Red Ink throughout the year as a grammar program. They take the skills from this program and apply them to Latin Morpheme vocabulary quizzes and tests. On these tests, students are asked to use their vocabulary words in sentences with context clues. They must use the words correctly according to the correct part of speech. Theme analysis, non-fiction and fiction texts, organization and transitions, annotations, vocabulary, and editing are essential parts of sixth Grade Language and Literature.