Hello Parents and Students!

My name is Mrs. Russell and this is my first year teaching at Wilder's Preparatory Academy Charter School. I am thrilled that I found a school that, like me, believes all students can achieve. I wholeheartedly believe that all my students are college-bound. To prepare them for high school, college and life, the sixth grade Language Arts program will focus on reading, writing and speaking skills. 

Each month we will focus on a different mode of writing. In September, students penned a formal letter to President Obama. This month we will be building our skills with a fictional narrative writing project. Later, we will move on to writing literary criticism, compare and contrast essays, biographies and persuasive arguments. All writing projects follow the writing process, so expect your child to work on several drafts before turning in a typed final draft. These writing assignments are based on the California State Standards and are intended to prepare all students for the rigorous writing they will be expected to do in the upper grades.

Besides writing, students will also spend sixth grade becoming better, more critical readers. We will move from just reading and comprehending literature to analyzing, critiquing and responding to the author's themes, characters and biases. In addition to reading fiction, we will focus much of  our time reading and understanding informational materials. From newspapers to online articles, we will learn about the features and functions informational media. Sixth grade students will become knowledgeable consumers of information and will be able to make decisions about the reliability and quality of sources. By the end of the year, students will be better readers of fiction and nonfiction which will make them successful on the CST. 

Finally, I will focus on making sixth grade students more able, skilled and confident speakers. By working in small groups and doing in-class presentations, students build their skills and become more confident. Though it is not tested, speaking is still important CA Standard. Being self assured and skilled public speaker is valuable not just for success in school, but for success later in a career. 

These three elements: reading, writing and speaking are the core focus of the sixth grade Language Arts program. I hope your child will enjoy the challenging of learning them as much as I enjoy the challenge of teaching them.