In 6th grade, students apply skills they learned in earlier grades to make sense of longer, more challenging books and articles. That includes learning about how authors try to influence readers and find reasons to support their ideas. Focusing on how authors make their points and support their arguments with evidence and reasoning helps 6th grade students sharpen their ability to write and speak with more clarity and coherence. Students also will expand their vocabularies and use new words in their stories, reports, and essays. To meet these literacy goals, students must devote significant attention to precise details in their reading and when writing. This year they will be :
Analyzing how chapters of a book, scenes of a play, or stanzas of a poem fit into the overall structure of the piece and contribute to the development of ideas or themes
Gaining knowledge from materials that make extensive use of elaborate diagrams and data to convey information and illustrate concepts
Evaluating the argument and specific claims in written materials or a speech, and distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not
Presenting claims and findings to others orally, sequencing ideas logically, and accentuating main ideas or themes
Conducting short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and sharpening the focus based on the research findings
Reviewing and paraphrasing key ideas and multiple perspectives of a speaker
Recognizing variations from standard English in his or her own and others’ writing and speaking, and using this knowledge to improve language use
Determining the correct meaning of a word based on the context in which it is used (e.g., the rest of the sentence or paragraph; a word’s position or function in a sentence