6th Grade ELA (Iowa Core)

Reading Literature (RL)

• RL.6.1 Back up analysis of what a text states and implies with evidence from it.
• RL.6.2 Analyze how a literary text develops.
  • a. Identify a theme and the details that carry it.
  • b. Fold the theme and key details into an objective summary.
• RL.6.3 Describe how a plot unfolds episode by episode and how characters react or change on the way to the resolution.
• RL.6.4 Work out word and phrase meanings, including figurative and connotative ones, and how a word choice affects meaning and tone.
• RL.6.5 Analyze how a sentence, chapter, scene or stanza fits the whole and helps build theme, setting or plot.
• RL.6.6 Explain how an author builds the narrator's or speaker's point of view or perspective.
• RL.6.7 Compare reading a story, play or poem with hearing or watching a version of it, contrasting what each mode lets you notice.
• RL.6.9 Compare how texts in different forms or genres treat similar themes and topics.
• RL.6.10 Read and understand grade 6–8 band literature well by year end, with support at the top of the range.

Reading Informational Text (RI)

• RI.6.1 Back up analysis of what a text states and implies with evidence from it.
• RI.6.2 Analyze how an informational text develops.
  • a. Identify a central idea and the details that carry it.
  • b. Write an objective summary with the central idea and key details.
• RI.6.3 Analyze in detail how a key person, event or idea is introduced, shown and expanded in a text.
• RI.6.4 Figure out what words and phrases in a text mean, including figurative, connotative and technical senses.
• RI.6.5 Analyze how a sentence, paragraph, chapter or section fits the whole and builds the ideas.
• RI.6.6 Identify the author's viewpoint or purpose and explain how the text shows it.
• RI.6.7 Combine information from visuals, numbers and words to build a clear picture of a topic.
• RI.6.8 Trace and judge an argument, separating claims backed by reasons and evidence from unbacked ones.
• RI.6.9 Compare two authors' accounts of the same events, e.g. a memoir and a biography.
• RI.6.10 Read and understand grade 6–8 band literary nonfiction well by year end, with support at the top of the range.

Writing (W)

• W.6.1 Write arguments that back claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
  • a. State the claim and lay out reasons and evidence clearly.
  • b. Support the claim with reasons and evidence from credible sources, showing grasp of the topic.
  • c. Use linking words and clauses to show how claims and reasons connect.
  • d. Keep a tone and style suited to the task and readers.
  • e. Close with a statement or section drawn from the argument.
• W.6.2 Write informative pieces that explore a topic and present ideas and information through chosen, organized, analyzed content.
  • a. Introduce the topic and organize it by definition, classification, comparison or cause and effect, adding headings, graphics or media when useful.
  • b. Build the topic with facts, definitions, details, quotations and examples.
  • c. Use transitions to make links between ideas clear.
  • d. Use precise and subject-specific vocabulary.
  • e. Keep a tone and style suited to the task and readers.
  • f. Close with a statement or section that follows from the explanation.
• W.6.3 Write narratives of real or imagined events with effective technique, descriptive detail and a clear order of events.
  • a. Set the scene, introduce narrator or characters, and order events naturally.
  • b. Use dialogue, pacing and description to develop events and characters.
  • c. Use varied transitions to show order and shifts in time or setting.
  • d. Use precise words, descriptive detail and sensory language.
  • e. End with a conclusion that follows from the events.
• W.6.4 Produce clear, coherent writing whose development, organization and style fit the task, purpose and audience.
• W.6.5 With some help from classmates and adults, improve writing through planning, revising, editing, rewriting or a fresh approach.
• W.6.6 Use technology to produce, publish and collaborate on writing, with enough keyboarding skill.
• W.6.7 Do short research projects that answer a question from several sources, refocusing when needed.
• W.6.8 Gather information from print and digital sources, judge each source's credibility, quote or paraphrase without plagiarism and give basic citations.
• W.6.9 Draw on evidence from literature or informational texts to back up analysis, reflection and research.
  • a. Apply grade 6 literature reading standards in writing.
  • b. Apply grade 6 literary nonfiction reading standards in writing.
• W.6.10 Write regularly over long and short time frames for many subject-specific tasks, purposes and audiences.

Speaking and Listening (SL)

• SL.6.1 Join many kinds of discussion on grade 6 topics and texts, adding to others' ideas and voicing their own clearly.
  • a. Arrive prepared and use evidence from that preparation to probe and reflect on ideas.
  • b. Follow agreed discussion rules, set goals and deadlines, and assign roles as needed.
  • c. Ask and answer specific questions with detail that adds to the discussion.
  • d. Review key ideas and show grasp of several perspectives by reflecting and paraphrasing.
• SL.6.2 Interpret information from varied media and formats and explain what it adds to the topic.
• SL.6.3 Trace a speaker's argument, separating claims backed by reasons and evidence from unbacked ones.
• SL.6.4 Present claims and findings in logical order, using relevant facts and details to highlight main ideas.
• SL.6.5 Add multimedia and visual displays to presentations to make information clearer.
• SL.6.6 Adjust speech to the context, using formal English when called for, with good eye contact, volume and clear pronunciation.

Language (L)

• L.6.1 Show control of standard English grammar and usage in speech and writing.
  • a. Use subject, object and possessive pronoun cases correctly.
  • b. Use intensive pronouns.
  • c. Spot and fix unwanted shifts in pronoun number and person.
  • d. Spot and fix pronouns with unclear antecedents.
  • e. Notice nonstandard usage in their own and others' language and use strategies to express ideas conventionally.
• L.6.2 Show control of capital letters, punctuation and spelling in writing.
  • a. Set off nonrestrictive or parenthetical elements with commas, parentheses or dashes.
  • b. Spell correctly, checking references when needed.
• L.6.3 Use knowledge of language and conventions when writing, speaking, reading or listening.
  • a. Vary sentence patterns for meaning, interest and style.
  • b. Keep style and tone consistent.
• L.6.4 Figure out new and multiple-meaning words met in grade 6 reading and content, using several strategies.
  • a. Use sentence or paragraph context and a word's role as clues.
  • b. Use familiar Greek or Latin word parts as clues to meaning.
  • c. Use dictionaries, glossaries and thesauruses for pronunciation, exact meaning or part of speech.
  • d. Check a guessed meaning in context or in a reference.
• L.6.5 Show understanding of figurative language, word relationships and small differences in meaning.
  • a. Interpret figures of speech such as personification and hyperbole in context.
  • b. Use relationships such as cause and effect or part and whole to understand words better.
  • c. Tell apart the connotations of words with similar definitions.
• L.6.6 Learn and correctly use grade-level academic and subject words, building vocabulary when a word matters for understanding.