Page 9 - SpringBoard_ELD_Grade6_Flipbook

to the student
Dear Student,
In the United States, the number of students whose first language is one other than English has grown. More and more students like you face the challenge of achieving academic success while continuing to develop their English skills.
While this is a big challenge, SpringBoard believes you can do it!
We designed this course to help you. Research shows that students who understand how English works, and who practice English in meaningful interactions can make huge gains. These gains lead to success in middle school courses as well as in high school, and eventually in the college and career choices you’ll make.
In SpringBoard English Language Development, you will build your language in four key ways. You will:
• Study language that helps you understand English language arts.
• Learn academic vocabulary, so you can express yourself in any class.
• Identify the meaning of language that you may encounter in the texts you’ll read.
• Use skills that will help you figure out the meaning of unknown or multiple meaning words when you read on your own.
The primary goal of SpringBoard English Language Development is to build your English language, and we hope
that you will make this your goal, too.
Another goal is for you to become a stronger reader who can make meaning from even the most challenging texts that you read. In SpringBoard English Language Development, you will spend more time with each text, returning to it while engaging in interactive activities with your classmates. Your teacher will lead you in close reading sessions, during which you will zoom in on complex parts of a text to increase your understanding.
In addition to the language and reading goals, SpringBoard English Language Development wants you to
speak and listen to your peers about the texts you’re reading, their themes, and, of course, your own ideas. Most importantly, while you are in discussions with your classmates, you will learn how to support your opinions and ideas with evidence, add details, and produce the effect you want by choosing just the right words. In addition to frequent academic conversations, you will also have the opportunity to plan, prepare for, practice, and deliver presentations and performances.
Every day in SpringBoard English Language Development you will be writing. Sometimes you will be jotting down notes after a conversation or annotating a text as you read. Sometimes you will be adding words and phrases to a graphic organizer. Other times you will be completing sentences or writing your own sentences. You will be writing short summaries and explanations. You will also be crafting longer arguments, as well as creating narratives of your own. You will do all of these kinds of writing with the collaboration and support of your peers and your teacher. Working together, you will inspire and help each other to achieve the best results.
A final goal for SpringBoard English Language Development is for you to achieve something beyond the classroom— beyond the ELD classroom, that is. All the work you will be doing—building your language, analyzing complex texts, expressing and defending your ideas in discussions, writing arguments, explanations, and stories, and presenting your work to your peers—will help you to achieve success in another class: SpringBoard English Language Arts. What you learn in the ELD class will prepare you with the language resources you need to achieve at the highest levels.
The challenge is yours and we hope you will accept the challenge! Sincerely,
SpringBoard
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SpringBoard® English Language Development Grade 6
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