Green 1Interdisciplinary Unit 1Narrative WritingLeigh J. GreenREAD 7140ASummer 2005Dr. RootGreen 2Student Characteristics and Individual Differences- School System and Schoolo Name of school system: Valdosta City Schoolso Name of school: Valdosta Middle School- School’s Student Characteristics o Students (total of 985 school wide) Number of boys: 542 Number of girls: 443 Age range: 11 – 15 years oldo Ethnicity (number of students) African American: 620 Asian American: (counted in “other” category) Native American: (counted in “other” category) Hispanic: (counted in “other” category) Caucasian: 306 Other: 59o Reading Achievement (6th gr. Team 7 scores – English/Lang. Arts) Based on: 2005 Disaggregated Data of CRCT Scores % Above-average or advanced skill level (exceeds): 30 % Average or intermediate skill level (meets): 49 % Below average skill level (does not meet):21o Writing Achievement Based on: 2004 Middle Grades Writing Assessment (8th gr. only)  % Above-average or advanced skill level (exceeds): 3 % Average or intermediate skill level (meets): 78 % Below average skill level (does not meet): 19o OTHER % of Students receiving free/reduced lunch: 60 Attendance: % Absent over 15 days: 13.7  % of Students enrolled in Special Education: 16 % of Students enrolled in Gifted Education: 17 VMS has been accredited by SACS since 1995- Classroom’s Student Characteristicso Students ( total of 99 on Team 7) Number of boys: 58  Number of girls: 41 Age range: 11 – 13 yrso Ethnicity African American: 59 Asian American: 2 Native American: 0 Hispanic: 2 Caucasian: 34 Other: 2READ 7140, Summer 2005, RootGreen 3Interest Inventory / Multiple Intelligence SurveyGreen 4Parent LetterValdosta Middle School110 Burton AvenueValdosta, Georgia 31602(229) 333-8555Dear Parent,First I would like to welcome you and your child to the Valdosta Middle School family. I anticipate that your child’s sixth grade year will be oneof personal growth fostered by a collection of engaging learning experiences. In each class, your child’s teacher will be striving to prepare for upcoming assessments later this year, as well as those to come later in his/her educational career.In Language Arts we will be focusing heavily on writing. Writing is a crucial component to all children’s educational development. There are several elements of writing that we will discuss in class, such as narrative, journal, expository, persuasive, and poetry. In each of these types of writing, your child will be working extensively with the writing process. This is a method of writing that will take a student’s work through several stages, before producing a “polished” piece.In order to ensure your child’s success, I am asking that you work with you child on any assignments that are brought home and encourage the family to read and write together. Read with him/her, anything from the newspaper to a cookbook. You may then write about what you have read, what you did that day, or summarize a movie or television show you have recently seen. You may also ask your child toshare with you what he/she has been writing in class, or teach you one of the writing process steps that we are currently working on in class.Soon you will see a positive growth in your child’s writing skills, as well as his/her self-confidence in sharing unique and original ideas through writing. By supporting reading and writing in the home, your will be fostering a healthy learning environment that will motivate academic achievement within your child. Please feel free to contact me with any concerns you may have about your child’s progress in Language Arts.Thank you,Mrs. Leigh Green, Team 7 Language Arts TeacherValdosta Middle SchoolGreen 5Pre/Post Test for Narrative Writing (Unit 1)- (Pre): Students will be given a choice of one of the following four prompts. After choosing a prompt, the student will complete the story of at least ½ page in length.- (Post): At the end of the unit, the student will choose a different (so the student will not be tempted to simply rewrite the same story) prompt and complete the story that is also ½ page in length.- Both the pre and post assessment will be scored using the same rubric as for publishing from this unit.- Prompts and graphics from: www.lauracandler.comGreen 6Interdisciplinary Writing Unit Lesson Plan GuideGrade Level: 6Content Area: Language ArtsMode of Writing: narrativeStage of writing: pre-writing (Unit 1 Lesson 1)GPS: ELA6W1 a – The student produces writing that establishes an appropriate organizational structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a coherent focus throughout, and provides a satisfying closure; the student Selects afocus, organizational structure, and a point of view based on purpose, genre expectations, audience, length, and format requirements. ELA6W2 b – The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres: The student produces a narrative (fictional, personal) that: Creates an organizing appropriate to purpose, audience, and context. ELAW2 b - The student produces a response to literature that: Demonstrates anunderstanding of the literary work. ELAW2 c - The student produces a response to literature that: Advances a judgmentthat is interpretive, analytic, evaluative, or reflective. ELAW4 a – The student consistently uses the writing process to develop, revise, and Evaluate writing; the student Plans and drafts independently and resourcefully.Student Materials: Student copy of Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt Character Map graphic organizer Rubric for prewriting (check list) PencilTeacher Materials: A Collection of Animal Stories retold by Graeme Kent- Story #1 “The Jumping Frog” by Mark Twain Tuck Everlasting with Connections (Teacher Guide) H,R&W Character Map graphic organizer overheadRubric for Prewriting overheadInstructionMode of Writing Instruction: Who can tell me what type of writing tells a story? (student: fiction) Good, and when we write, we call this narrative writing. Narrative writing is used to tell a story. Narrative writing is the type of writing that Natalie Babbitt used when she wrote Tuck Green 7Everlasting that we just finished reading. In a couple of minutes I’m going to read to you