Sixth Grade Wonders: Secret Life of Caves, Unit 1 Week 3

 This is my favorite week of the first unit of Wonders in sixth grade! Of course, if you know me and my interests, you will understand why. Caves, animal adaptations, deep sea exploration--this week has it all.

Which is why, in my classroom, it was never a single week of instruction. I think that the pacing of Wonders is far too fast, especially for complex texts and complex ideas. "Okay, kids, we're going to introduce the idea of chemosynthesis in a single day of reading. Don't understand the ideas in this text? No worries, we're already done and on to the next thing!" This doesn't really lead to the kind of thoughtful, reflective reading I hope to develop. So, for Unit 1 Week 3, I usually took 2-3 weeks.

Additions to the Wonders resources

In addition to the texts and activities provided in the weekly instruction, I supplemented with these resources.

Caverns Informational Text: This text, written by me for Reading Intervention, became a homework text to go along with the unit. I added a comprehension quiz and a note-taking sheet to reinforce the concepts of main idea.

Speed Drill and Questions for "The Secret Life of Caves"

Speed drills are a great way to increase fluency and help students to notice semantic elements. When I noticed that many of my students were skipping over the tougher words instead of breaking them apart, I added syllable practice to the page. This set also has some practice multiple choice questions and an open-ended response that mirrors the question for the Weekly Assessment.

Yeti Crab Subject and Predicate

My students loved reading about the yeti crab in "Journey Into the Deep," so I made them an additional grammar practice page starring this creature.

Troglobites Clip from BBC Earth

My students loved this clip and begged to watch it again during dismissal time!

I hope that you enjoy teaching this week of instruction as much as I did!