Sixth Grade Wonders: Drumbeat of Freedom, Unit 1 Week 2

 This Reading-Writing Workshop selection in Unit 1, Week 2 is a strong story. When I used it in a co-taught setting, though, I needed to add some more activities to allow for differentiation and some small group meetings. Over several years I added and refined these activities. Here they are, ready for you to use in your own classroom this year!

Speed Drill, Multiple Choice Questions, and Story Map

I still like using speed drills to increase student automaticity and fluency. Not only do speed drills help students to recognize words, but they also give us a chance to talk about word meanings that might be new for them.

I also wrote some multiple choice questions in the style of the questions used on the Weekly Assessments. These questions proved useful for small group work, as we could talk together about the questions and possible answers. Students are much more willing to share their thinking when talking to five others as opposed to talking with the entire class! For the Part A and Part B questions, I learned that some of my students really didn't know what to look for, and this allowed me to target instruction to help them with this.

Finally, I added a story map and list of events for students to work on. I really like giving students lists of events from a story to read and sequence. No matter what the age, this activity helps students to think about how a story unfolds. Students can also use the given events to help them write a short summary of the story, or create an illustrated plot diagram.

If you try these out, be sure to write a note and let me know!