6th Grade ELA (Colorado Academic Standards)

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

• RWC.6.1.1 Use presenting and teamwork methods that fit the task and purpose. (being checked)
  • 1. Take part well in group and class discussions with varied partners, building on others' ideas and voicing your own.
  • 1.a. Prepare by reading or studying, then cite evidence to probe ideas in discussion.
  • 1.b. Follow discussion norms, set goals and deadlines and assign roles when needed.
  • 1.c. Ask and answer detailed questions that add relevant points.
  • 1.d. Sum up key points and show you understand other views by restating them.
  • 2. Interpret information in media such as charts or speech and explain how it adds to the topic.
  • 3. Identify a speaker's main claims and tell those backed by reasons and evidence from those that are not.
• RWC.6.1.2 Build, organize and deliver ideas and opinions clearly in presentations. (being checked)
  • 1. Present claims logically with relevant facts and details, using eye contact, good volume and clear speech.
  • 2. Add images, sound, music or visuals to presentations to make information clearer.
  • 3. Adapt speech to settings and tasks, using formal English when suitable.

Standard 2: Reading for All Purposes

• RWC.6.2.1 Analyze literary features in different kinds of stories to understand their meaning. (being checked)
  • 1. Key ideas and details
  • 1.a. Back up stated and implied meanings with quoted evidence from the text.
  • 1.b. Identify a theme or central idea and its details and summarize without personal opinion.
  • 1.c. Explain how a plot unfolds in episodes and how characters change toward the end.
  • 2. Craft and structure
  • 2.a. Work out word and phrase meanings, including figurative and connotative ones, and how word choice sets tone.
  • 2.b. Show how a sentence, scene or stanza fits the whole and builds theme, setting or plot.
  • 2.c. Describe how the author develops the narrator's or speaker's point of view.
  • 3. Integration of knowledge and ideas
  • 3.a. Contrast reading a story or poem with hearing or watching it in audio, video or live.
  • 3.b. Compare how texts in different genres treat similar themes and topics.
  • 4. Range of reading and text complexity
  • 4.a. Read and understand stories, plays and poems in the grades 6–8 band, with help as needed.
• RWC.6.2.2 Analyze how informational texts are organized to convey meaning. (being checked)
  • 1. Key ideas and details
  • 1.a. Back up stated and inferred meanings with evidence from the text.
  • 1.b. Find a central idea and its details and summarize without personal judgment.
  • 1.c. Examine how a key person, event or idea is introduced and developed, e.g. through examples.
  • 2. Craft and structure
  • 2.a. Work out word and phrase meanings, including figurative, connotative and technical ones.
  • 2.b. Analyze how a sentence, paragraph or section fits the overall structure and ideas.
  • 2.c. Identify the author's point of view or purpose and how the text conveys it.
  • 3. Integration of knowledge and ideas
  • 3.a. Combine information from visuals, numbers and words into one coherent understanding.
  • 3.b. Evaluate an argument, telling supported claims from unsupported ones.
  • 3.c. Compare how two authors present the same events, e.g. a memoir and a biography.
  • 4. Range of reading and text complexity
  • 4.a. Read literary nonfiction in the grades 6–8 band proficiently, with support at the high end.
• RWC.6.2.3 Use word relationships, structures and sentence patterns to work out new words in context. (being checked)
  • 1. Work out unknown and multiple-meaning words in grade 6 texts using several strategies.
  • 1.a. Use the meaning of the sentence or paragraph and a word's position as clues.
  • 1.b. Use common Greek or Latin roots and affixes as clues to meaning.
  • 1.c. Check print or digital references for pronunciation, precise meaning or part of speech.
  • 1.d. Confirm a guessed meaning by checking context or a dictionary.
  • 2. Understand figurative language, word relationships and shades of meaning.
  • 2.a. Interpret figures of speech such as personification in context.
  • 2.b. Use relationships such as cause and effect or part and whole to understand words.
  • 2.c. Tell apart near-synonyms with similar definitions but different connotations.
  • 3. Learn and accurately use general academic and subject words, looking up key terms when needed.

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

• RWC.6.3.1 Write arguments with clear reasons, relevant evidence, credible sources and formal style. (being checked)
  • 1. Write arguments that back claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
  • 1.a. Introduce the claim and order reasons and evidence logically.
  • 1.b. Back claims with relevant evidence from credible sources, showing understanding of the topic.
  • 1.c. Use words and phrases to link claims and reasons clearly.
  • 1.d. Keep a formal style throughout.
  • 1.e. End with a conclusion that follows from the argument.
• RWC.6.3.2 Write informative texts with fitting organization, developed content, precise words and formal style. (being checked)
  • 1. Write informative texts that examine a topic through chosen content, organization and analysis.
  • 1.a. Introduce the topic and organize ideas by definition, comparison or similar methods, adding headings or graphics when helpful.
  • 1.b. Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, details, quotations or examples.
  • 1.c. Use transitions to show how ideas relate.
  • 1.d. Use precise language and subject vocabulary to explain the topic.
  • 1.e. Keep a formal style.
  • 1.f. End with a conclusion that follows from the information.
• RWC.6.3.3 Write engaging real or imagined stories with sensory language, dialogue, description and clear sequence. (being checked)
  • 1. Write narratives about real or invented experiences with good technique, details and ordered events.
  • 1.a. Set the context, introduce the narrator or characters and order events naturally.
  • 1.b. Build experiences, events or characters through dialogue, pacing and description.
  • 1.c. Use varied transitions to show event order and shifts in time or setting.
  • 1.d. Use precise words, details and sensory language to convey events.
  • 1.e. End with a conclusion that follows from the events.
  • 1.f. Use devices such as alliteration, similes, metaphors and graphic choices to express voice.
• RWC.6.3.4 Plan, draft, revise and edit clear writing with standard conventions suited to purpose and audience. (being checked)
  • 1. Use standard English grammar in writing and speaking.
  • 1.a. Use the right pronoun case: subjective, objective and possessive.
  • 1.b. Use intensive pronouns such as myself and ourselves correctly.
  • 1.c. Fix unwanted shifts in pronoun number or person.
  • 1.d. Fix vague pronouns with unclear antecedents.
  • 1.e. Spot nonstandard English in your own and others' work and use conventional language instead.
  • 2. Use standard capitalization, punctuation and spelling when writing.
  • 2.a. Use commas, parentheses or dashes to set off nonrestrictive or parenthetical elements.
  • 2.b. Spell common words correctly and use references or trusted people for harder words.
  • 3. Use knowledge of language when writing, speaking, reading and listening.
  • 3.a. Vary sentence patterns for meaning, interest and style.
  • 3.b. Keep style and tone consistent.
  • 4. Write clearly and coherently with development, organization and style suited to task, purpose and audience.
  • 5. With help from peers and adults, improve writing by planning, revising, editing or trying new approaches.
  • 6. Use technology and the internet to produce, publish and collaborate on writing.
  • 7. Write routinely over long and short periods for many tasks, purposes and audiences.

Standard 4: Research Inquiry and Design

• RWC.6.4.1 Ask research questions, gather and credit reliable sources and present findings. (being checked)
  • 1. Do short research projects that answer a question from several sources, refocusing as needed.
  • 2. Gather information from varied sources, judge credibility and quote or paraphrase with citations, avoiding plagiarism.
  • 3. Use evidence from stories or nonfiction to support analysis, reflection and research.
  • 3.a. Apply grade 6 reading standards to compare texts in different forms or genres on similar themes.
  • 3.b. Apply grade 6 reading standards to judge claims in literary nonfiction, telling supported from unsupported claims.