Greetings! 6th grade has been doing amazing work this semester. We published feature articles, one form of informational writing, read the book Seedfolks as our class mentor text for fiction, read Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, and its sequel, Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling, we wrote many reading responses based on our our reading outside of the classroom. we studied subjects, predicates, and types of nouns. Our read aloud and class book taught amazing lessons about kindness, being different, immigration, low income neighborhoods, and building community. Currently we are learning comma rules and writing a fictional narrative based on the book, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. This is a unique and suspenseful children’s book. The same narrative we are writing is a timeless project, apparently, because I wrote one too when I was in 5th grade. The students started with immersion/generating ideas by reading the picture book. Next, they moved into selecting/collecting by completing a plot diagram. The students are currently in the drafting phase, but on Monday we will begin revising focusing on comma rules and writing dialogue. Our new read aloud book is The Night Diary, by Veera Hiranandani. It is written in the form of a diary, as the title alludes, and focuses on the 1947 division which created the two countries, Pakistan and India and the conflicting religious ideals. It is so enjoyable to learn with these kids who have such kindness and passion for reading and writing.