Welcome to Mrs. Baker's Language arts class
Mrs. Baker teaches 6th grade language arts at Hunter Middle School.
Mrs. Baker teaches alongside the rest of the Raptors team teachers:
Mrs. Baker teaches alongside the rest of the Raptors team teachers:
- Mrs. Cuttle (team leader, math)
- Mr. Browder (social studies and science)
- Mrs. Amos
- Mrs. Jarrett
- Mrs. Shetter
About Mrs. Baker's ClassES
“You must write every single day of your life... You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads... may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”
― Ray Bradbury
In 6th grade writing this year, we will be writing personal narratives, argument-based essays, informational pieces, fiction stories, and much, much more! In other words, we will be writing a LOT!
At Hunter Middle, we follow the reading and writing workshop method of teaching language arts. Students don't have textbooks, and we don't all read one book together and write book reports on it. At our school, we focus on the individual student as a reader and a writer. We create our own textbooks by practicing and modeling inside our readers' and writers' notebooks. We read books in the same genre using our "just right" leveled books and work on the same skills together as readers. We work together with a classroom partner, in small groups, and in regular teacher conferences as a community of learners who are focused on our literary lives. We aren't just "playing school." We are learning how our lives as readers and writers connect us to the world around us by studying real-life texts closely, such as news articles, current events stories, and stories related to our lives.
Another main focus in my language arts classroom is to prepare students for the TCAP Writing Assessment, which is usually administered in February. To help students prepare for this, we will be working on improving their typing and word processing skills, and even drafting our work on the computer, rather than always hand-writing it first before typing. This will help students feel more confident and prepared when the test is administered, so all they have to focus on is using their awesome reading and writing skills! On the test, they are typically asked to read a passage and then respond to a prompt using information found in the passage to support their writing. As this is a state-mandated test, my focus as a teacher will be to utilize state-provided materials, along with general pre-writing and drafting strategies, to ensure that students feel poised for success on this important task.
― Ray Bradbury
In 6th grade writing this year, we will be writing personal narratives, argument-based essays, informational pieces, fiction stories, and much, much more! In other words, we will be writing a LOT!
At Hunter Middle, we follow the reading and writing workshop method of teaching language arts. Students don't have textbooks, and we don't all read one book together and write book reports on it. At our school, we focus on the individual student as a reader and a writer. We create our own textbooks by practicing and modeling inside our readers' and writers' notebooks. We read books in the same genre using our "just right" leveled books and work on the same skills together as readers. We work together with a classroom partner, in small groups, and in regular teacher conferences as a community of learners who are focused on our literary lives. We aren't just "playing school." We are learning how our lives as readers and writers connect us to the world around us by studying real-life texts closely, such as news articles, current events stories, and stories related to our lives.
Another main focus in my language arts classroom is to prepare students for the TCAP Writing Assessment, which is usually administered in February. To help students prepare for this, we will be working on improving their typing and word processing skills, and even drafting our work on the computer, rather than always hand-writing it first before typing. This will help students feel more confident and prepared when the test is administered, so all they have to focus on is using their awesome reading and writing skills! On the test, they are typically asked to read a passage and then respond to a prompt using information found in the passage to support their writing. As this is a state-mandated test, my focus as a teacher will be to utilize state-provided materials, along with general pre-writing and drafting strategies, to ensure that students feel poised for success on this important task.