Anonymous
Post 04/23/2025 07:42     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
Anonymous wrote:My 4th grader at a DCPS has read 2 full books in ELA so far plus another for a school extracurricular. If they aren’t reading more than that by 6th grade, I will be very annoyed.


My kids also read more books in elementary school than in middle school (at one of the 3 novel a year schools) -- but English is a much smaller part of the day, and the kids have to learn a lot of history, science, geography so there is plenty of reading outside of "ELA," unlike elementary.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2025 22:30     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
My 4th grader at a DCPS has read 2 full books in ELA so far plus another for a school extracurricular. If they aren’t reading more than that by 6th grade, I will be very annoyed.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2025 22:14     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am really interested in how many books your 6th grader has been assigned to read this year? Mine only had 2 (one on slavery, one on refugees). I assumed there would be at least one per term at a minimum. I know DCPS dumbs down the curriculum but this is ridiculous. FWIW this is a school that regularly is in the top 10 city wide for parc scores.


Hi, 6th grade ELA teacher here. DCPS curriculum has three units, one novel per each. They reduced the number from four to three so that we have the opportunity to read full novels rather than just focal passages. Unfortunately, the number of instructional days lost to required testing in grade six is outrageous and makes pacing/completion of each unit a challenge. It's doable, but takes pretty meticulous planning and organization to make it happen. At my school students are also required to read 1-3 books independently per term depending on the grade level. Most student finish 6th grade reading at least 7 books in total.


What are the 3 novels the students read as a class?
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2025 14:28     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
Reading complete novels is omprotant and seems to be dying off in schools. Kids already have such short attention spans (thanks social media, you tube etc) I’m worried they really struggle to complete a full novel.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2025 13:31     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
the 3 books on the BASIS 6th grade curriculum are Hatchet, The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Out of the Dust.

I wish they read more than 3, but at least they are reading complete novels.

Anonymous
Post 04/22/2025 11:33     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
Anonymous wrote:I am really interested in how many books your 6th grader has been assigned to read this year? Mine only had 2 (one on slavery, one on refugees). I assumed there would be at least one per term at a minimum. I know DCPS dumbs down the curriculum but this is ridiculous. FWIW this is a school that regularly is in the top 10 city wide for parc scores.


Hi, 6th grade ELA teacher here. DCPS curriculum has three units, one novel per each. They reduced the number from four to three so that we have the opportunity to read full novels rather than just focal passages. Unfortunately, the number of instructional days lost to required testing in grade six is outrageous and makes pacing/completion of each unit a challenge. It's doable, but takes pretty meticulous planning and organization to make it happen. At my school students are also required to read 1-3 books independently per term depending on the grade level. Most student finish 6th grade reading at least 7 books in total.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2025 09:44     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
Anonymous wrote:I am really interested in how many books your 6th grader has been assigned to read this year? Mine only had 2 (one on slavery, one on refugees). I assumed there would be at least one per term at a minimum. I know DCPS dumbs down the curriculum but this is ridiculous. FWIW this is a school that regularly is in the top 10 city wide for parc scores.


That's because DC CAPE test for 6th grade has them reading passages that are 1-3 pages long. One way to get strong scores is to practice with excerpts all year rather than read full books.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2025 08:01     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My 6th grader is currently reading I am Malala in class but they’ve read several other books this year. Blood on the River. Ramayana. The Oddysey. Written in Bone. DC charter school.


Is this Latin?


ITDS
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2025 07:53     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
If you don't share schools, this thread is useless. I don't get why people don't want to share schools? It's not like in elementary where there are few enough kids that it might feel less than anonymous. No one is going to know you are the one sharing about reading lists at Latin, Hardy, BASIS, Stuart-Hobson.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2025 07:50     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
Anonymous wrote:My 6th grader is currently reading I am Malala in class but they’ve read several other books this year. Blood on the River. Ramayana. The Oddysey. Written in Bone. DC charter school.


Is this Latin?
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2025 01:05     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
My 6th grader is currently reading I am Malala in class but they’ve read several other books this year. Blood on the River. Ramayana. The Oddysey. Written in Bone. DC charter school.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2025 00:09     Subject: Re:Assigned books-6th grade?

My son is in seventh grade and they have read 3 to 4 novels per year, but they also do a lot of units on poetry and other genres. If you do a bit of digging, that seems a bit standard for this age.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 21:25     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
6th Grader- They are on their 6th book study
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 15:14     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
What school?

My kid is in 3rd but it would be incredibly helpful to know what various MS in the city assign for 6th grade ELA.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 15:09     Subject: Assigned books-6th grade?
I am really interested in how many books your 6th grader has been assigned to read this year? Mine only had 2 (one on slavery, one on refugees). I assumed there would be at least one per term at a minimum. I know DCPS dumbs down the curriculum but this is ridiculous. FWIW this is a school that regularly is in the top 10 city wide for parc scores.