Grade 6: Our Road To MCAS Success!

May 2025

In preparation for the upcoming MCAS, our class has been diving into small group station activities that make up reviewing key ELA skills both fun and effective. Each station is designed to target specific areas students will encounter on the test, while keeping them engaged through hands-on learning. Students played a figurative language matching game to review similes, metaphors, and idioms in a creative way. They also worked on categorizing genres by sorting different texts and summaries into the correct literary category, helping them sharpen their understanding of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and more. 

Pip Castille and Alex Gale. Photo: Paige Jelliffe

At another station, students played a vocabulary guessing game using context clues to determine word meanings, and one fast-paced favorite was a grammar challenge where students competed to fix as many grammatical errors as possible on a jam-packed editing page! In addition to station work, we’ve been doing lots of multiple-choice practice, learning how to break down tricky questions and eliminate incorrect answers. 

Annabelle Hawley and William Drumm. Photo: Paige Jelliffe

We’ve also continued to strengthen our writing skills with essay practice - our most recent piece focused on the amazing features that help elephants survive in the wild. Students did a great job using evidence and clear explanations to support their ideas!