Andover Public Schools- Andover, Massachusetts English/Language Arts Standards and Benchmarks Grade 6 Strand 1: LANGUAGE (L) Students will demonstrate an understanding of the structure of the English language. Learning Standard 1: Students will use agreed-upon rules for informal and formal discussions in small and large groups. Determine the difference in rules of order for formal/informal discussion. Apply understanding of agreed-upon rules and individual roles in order to make decisions. Learning Standard 2: Students will pose questions, listen to the ideas of others, and contribute their own information or ideas in group discussions and interviews in order to acquire new information. Paraphrase positions shared by other members of the group. Demonstrate the social skills appropriate to group presentations (eye contact, quiet and still, attentive, supportive). Gather relevant information for a research project or composition through interviews (i.e. family history). Learning Standard 3: Students will give oral presentations for various purposes, showing appropriate changes in delivery (gestures, vocabulary, pace, visuals) and using language for dramatic effect. Use correct voice (volume, pace, clarity), body language (eye contact, stance, gestures, handling of notes and visual aids), usage, vocabulary, and sentence structure. Present using appropriate sequence and a basic three-part format (introduction, body, and review). Select, develop, and use a variety of visual aids. Support the ideas of the speech with proper research and justified conclusions. Orally read imagery with dramatic impact. Use teacher-developed assessment criteria to prepare their presentations. 1
Learning Standard 4: Students will acquire and use correctly an advanced reading vocabulary of English words, identifying meanings through an understanding of word relationships. Use textbooks, dictionaries, atlases, encyclopedias, and thesauruses to understand unknown words (pronunciations, meanings, alternate word choices, and parts of speech). Determine meaning of a word through context. Determine the meaning of unfamiliar words using knowledge of common Greek and Latin roots, suffixes and prefixes. Learning Standard 5: Students will analyze standard English grammar and usage and recognize how its vocabulary has developed and been influenced by other languages. Identify the 8 Parts of Speech, with specific usage of: - Pronoun agreement with antecedents in number and gender; - Coordinating conjunctions and, but, or correctly; - Interjections to express emotion; - Action, linking, and helping verbs; and - Verb tenses Demonstrate verb agreement with simple subjects, compound subjects, and indefinite pronouns. Distinguish between and construct simple and compound sentences. Identify correct sentence structure (elimination of fragments and run-ons). Identify correct mechanics (apostrophes, quotation marks, commas, paragraph indentations). Learning Standard 6: Students will describe, analyze, and use appropriately formal and informal English. Meet the standard as stated and as appropriate to the grade level. Demonstrate through role-playing appropriate use of formal and informal language. Write stories using a mix of formal and informal language. Identify differences between oral and written language patterns. 2
Learning Standard 7: Students will understand the nature of written English and the relationship of letters and spelling patterns to the sounds of speech. The majority of students will have met these standards by the end of Grade 4, although teachers may need to continue addressing earlier standards. Strand 2: LITERATURE (LT) Students will learn to respond thoughtfully to all forms of spoken and written literature. Learning Standard 8: Students will identify the basic facts and main ideas in a text and use them as the basis for interpretation. For imaginative / literary texts: Identify and analyze sensory details and figurative language. Identify and analyze the author s use of dialogue and description. For informational/expository texts: Recognize organizational structures (chronological order, logical order, cause and effect, classification schemes). Identify and analyze main ideas, supporting ideas, and supporting details. Learning Standard 9: Students will deepen their understanding of a literary or non-literary work by relating it to its contemporary context or historical background. Relate a literary work to information about its setting. Learning Standard 10: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the characteristics of different genres. Identify the characteristics of non-fiction, fiction, poetry, short story, and dramatic literature. 3
Learning Standard 11: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of theme in a literary work and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Distinguish between theme and topic. Identify the theme of a story through writing or discussion. Learning Standard 12: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Locate and determine the elements of setting, characterization, conflict, and plot. Learning Standard 13: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the structure and elements of non-fiction or informational material and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Identify and use knowledge of common textual features (paragraphs, topic sentences, concluding sentences, glossary). Identify and use knowledge of common graphic features (charts, maps, diagrams, captions, illustrations). Identify and use knowledge of common organizational structures ( chronological order, logical order, cause and effect, classification scheme). Identify and analyze main ideas, supporting ideas, and supporting details. 4
Learning Standard 14: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the structure, elements, and theme of poetry and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Respond to and analyze the effects of sound (alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, and rhyme scheme). Respond to and analyze figurative language (personification, metaphor, simile, hyperbole). Respond to and analyze graphics (capital letters, line length). Learning Standard 15: Students will identify and analyze how an author s choice of words appeals to the senses, creates imagery, suggests mood, and sets tone and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Identify imagery, figurative language, rhythm, and flow when responding to literature. Identify and analyze the importance of determining the meaning of word choice in a piece of literature. Learning Standard 16: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structures, and elements of myths, traditional narratives, and classical literature and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Compare traditional literature from different cultures. Identify common structures (magic helper, rule of three, transformation) and stylistic elements (hyperbole, refrain, simile) in traditional literature. 5
Learning Standard 17: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structure, and elements of drama and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Recognize that a film or drama can reflect attitudes and beliefs as well as the ideas, customs, and outlooks of a people living in a particular time in history. Identify and analyze structural elements particular to dramatic literature (scenes, acts, cast of characters, stage directions) in the plays they read, view, write, and perform. Identify and analyze the similarities and differences between a narrative text and its film or play version. Learning Standard 18: Students will plan and present dramatic readings, recitations, and performances that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audience and purpose. Develop characters through the use of basic acting skills (memorization, sensory recall, concentration, diction, body alignment, expressive detail). Self-assess using teacher-developed criteria before performing. 6
Strand 3: COMPOSITION (C) Student will write well-organized compositions with a beginning, middle, and end, drawing on a variety of strategies as needed to generate and organize ideas. Learning Standard 19: Students will write compositions with a clear focus, developing the composition with logically related ideas and adequate supporting detail. Utilize the components of the writing process (preparation strategies, several drafts, revising and editing strategies, and different forms of publishing). For imaginative/literary writing: - Write stories or scripts containing the basic elements of fiction (characters, dialogue, setting, plot with a clear resolution). - Write poems using poetic techniques (alliteration, onomatopoeia), figurative language (simile, metaphor), and graphic elements (capital letters, line length). For informational/expository writing: - Write brief research reports with clear focus and supporting detail. - Write a short explanation of a process that includes a topic statement, supporting details, and a conclusion. - Write formal letters to correspondents such as authors, newspapers, businesses, or government officials. Learning Standard 20: Students will write for different audiences and purposes. Use appropriate genres such as: traditional narrative, myth, fables, folktales, cinquain, haiku, shape poems, advertisements, object descriptions, directions, diary entries, and journal entries. Select a genre appropriate to the given situation (audience, purpose, space, and time). Make distinctions among fiction, nonfiction, dramatic literature, and poetry, and use genres selectively when writing for different purposes. 7
Learning Standard 21: Students will demonstrate improvement in organization, content, paragraph development, level of detail, style, tone, and word choice (diction) in their compositions after revising them. Revise their writing to improve level of detail and precision of language after determining where to add images and sensory detail, combine sentences, vary sentences, and rearrange text. Develop main ideas in more than one paragraph. Elaborate on and develop the main idea with appropriate examples and support. Learning Standard 22: Students will use knowledge of standard English conventions in their writing, revising, and editing. Listen to a classmate and give feedback. Self edit work to correct sentence structure, usage, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling using the conventions listed in Learning Standard #5. Use additional knowledge of correct mechanics (apostrophes, quotation marks, comma use in compound sentences, paragraph indentations), correct sentence structure (elimination of fragments and run-ons), and correct standard English spelling (commonly used homophones) when writing, revising, and editing. Learning Standard 23: Students will organize their ideas in writing in ways that make sense for their purpose. Decide on the placement of descriptive details about setting, characters, and events in stories. Group related ideas and place them in logical order when writing summaries or reports. Organize information about a topic into a coherent paragraph with a topic sentence, sufficient supporting detail, and a concluding sentence. 8
Learning Standard 24: Students will gather information from a variety of sources, analyze and evaluate the quality of the information they obtain, and use it to answer their own questions. Apply steps for obtaining information from a variety of sources, organizing information, documenting sources, and presenting research in individual and group projects: - Using an expanded range of print and non-print sources (atlases, date bases, electronic, on line resources); - Following established criteria for evaluating information; - Locating specific information within resources by using indexes, tables of contents, electronic search key words; - Organizing and presenting research using the grade 5-6 Learning Standards in the Composition Strand as a guide for writing; and - Providing bibliographic documentation in a consistent format. Learning Standard 25: Students will develop and use appropriate rhetorical, logical, and stylistic criteria for assessing final versions of their compositions or research projects before presenting them to varied audiences. Use prescribed criteria from a scoring rubric to evaluate their own and others compositions, recitations, or performances before presenting them to an audience. Strand 4: MEDIA (M) Students will obtain information by using a variety of media and evaluate the quality of materials they obtain. Learning Standard 26: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the conventions, elements, and techniques of film, radio, video, television, multimedia productions, the Internet, and emerging technologies, and provide evidence from the works to support their understanding. (Continue to address earlier standards as needed and as they apply to more difficult texts or media productions.) Identify techniques used in educational reference software and websites and describe how these techniques are the same as or different from the techniques used by authors and illustrators of print materials. 9
Learning Standard 27: Students will design and create coherent media productions (audio, video, television, multimedia, Internet, emerging technologies) with a clear controlling idea, adequate detail, and appropriate consideration of audience, purpose, and medium. (Continue to address earlier standards as needed and as they apply to more difficult texts or media productions.) Create a media production using effective images, text, music, sound effects, or graphics. 10