Sixth grade marks the transition to middle school and, for many students, the transition to early adolescence. The sixth-grade classroom is a place where problem-solving and abstract thinking skills can flourish as teachers devise creative ways to integrate language arts with effective content-area instruction. This book walks the reader through everyday life in a successful sixth-grade language arts-social studies classroom and provides foundational knowledge and hands-on strategies for working with diverse learners. This book is part of the Tools for Teaching Literacy Series, edited by Donna Ogle and Camille Blachowicz. It contains the following eight chapters: (1) A Day in the Life of a Sixth-Grade Teacher: The School, the Classroom, the Learner (Lynne Bailey and Jeanneine Jones); (2) Standards and Goals for Sixth-Grade Literacy Learning; (3) Establishing a Supportive Literacy Environment; (4) Assessing Students and Communicating with Families; (5) A Week in a Sixth-Grade Classroom: A Multidisciplinary View; (6) Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners in the Sixth-Grade Classroom; (7) Flexible Grouping in the Sixth-Grade Classroom; and (8) Resources for Teachers.