English Grade6

Pan-Asia English Language Arts – Grade 6

Discussion and Oral Presentation

Standard One: Students will use agreed-upon rules for informal and informal discussions in small and large groups. Students will pose questions, listen to the ideas of others and contribute their own information or ideas in group discussions or interviews in order to acquire new knowledge and make oral presentations that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audience, purpose and the information to be conveyed.

1. Benchmarks:
1.1. Use agreed-upon rules for informal and formal discussions in large and small groups such as Book Club, Literature Circles and Buddy Reading.
1.2. Facilitate discussion groups independent from the teacher; identify and practice techniques to improve group productivity such as discussion guidelines, setting time limits for speakers and deadlines for decision-making.
1.3. Organize and present ideas in a logical order.
1.4. Ask for clarification when others’ responses are unclear.
1.5. Actively listen, respond to, and build on ideas generated during group discussions.
1.6. Use information to inform or change their perspectives.
1.7. Support their responses with evidence or details; expect and request the same of others.
1.8. Summarize and evaluate what they have learned from the discussion.
1.9. Evaluate the productivity of group discussion using group created criteria and make suggestions to address the needs of the group.
1.10. Give oral presentations for a variety of purposes, using teacher-made criteria that demonstrate consideration of audience, purpose and content.
1.11. Use assessment criteria to prepare their presentations.
1.12. Listen critically and express opinions in oral presentations.
1.13. Distinguish between fact and opinion.
1.14. Compare and contrast points of view.
1.15. Gather relevant information for a research project or composition through interviews.
1.16. Conduct interviews for research projects and writing.

Language

Standard Two: Students will understand and acquire new vocabulary and use it correctly in reading and writing. They will analyze standard English grammar and usage and recognize how its vocabulary has developed and been influenced by other languages. Students will describe, analyze, and appropriately use formal and informal English.

2. Benchmarks:
2.1. Determine the meaning of unfamiliar words using knowledge word parts and context clues.
2.2. Recognize that a word performs different functions according to the position in the sentence.
2.3. Understand how the features of word dictionaries and thesauruses help them determine pronunciations, meanings, alternate word choices, and parts of speech of words.
2.4. Identify the eight basic parts of speech.
2.5. Expand or reduce sentences during oral and written responses.
2.6. Demonstrate appropriate use of formal and informal language.
2.7. Identify differences between oral and written language patterns.
2.8. Recognize common irregularly spelled words by sight.
2.9. Use letter-sound knowledge to decode written English.
2.10. Read grade-appropriate imaginative/literary and informational/expository text fluently, accurately, and understanding.
2.11. Understand how language is used for different purposes: creative expression, description, explaining, and persuading.
2.12. Identify and analyze sensory details and figurative language.
2.13. Identify and analyze the author’s use of dialogue and description.
2.14. Recognize organizational structures of informational/expository texts.

Reading and Literature

Standard Three: Students will understand the nature of written English and the relationship of letters and spelling patterns to the sounds of speech and identify the basic facts and main ideas in a text and use them as the basis of interpretation. They will deepen their understanding of a literary or non-literary work by relating it to its contemporary context or historical background.

3. Benchmarks:
3.1. Demonstrate fluency and understanding when reading different grade-level appropriate text.
3.2. Select books for independent reading.
3.3. Use before, during, and after reading strategies to enhance their comprehension of texts.
3.4. Use background knowledge to make inferences and predictions and to make personal connections with what is being read.
3.5. Set a purpose for reading.
3.6. Ask questions to clarify information.
3.7. Summarize information to check understanding.
3.8. Visualize information in text to support comprehension.
3.9. Identify the topic and main idea of different texts.
3.10. Understand genres and organizational structure and apply that knowledge to their reading of different texts.
3.11. Use knowledge of text features and organizational structure to make meaning of what is being read.
3.12. Demonstrate an understanding of the intratextuality of the text they are reading.
3.13. Develop personal or critical theory about what they are reading.
3.14. Be self-monitoring/metacognitive: understand when comprehension breaks down; know and using self-correcting strategies to make meaning of what is being read.
3.15. Relate a literary work to information about its setting.
3.16. Apply knowledge of the concept that theme refers to the main idea and meaning of a selection, whether it is implied or stated.
3.17. Identify and analyze the elements of setting, characterization, and plot (including conflict).
3.18. Identify and use knowledge of common textual features, graphic features, and organizational structures.
3.19. Identify and analyze main ideas, supporting ideas, and supporting details in informational and expository texts.
3.20. Respond to and analyze the effects of sound, figurative language, and graphics in order to uncover meaning in poetry.
3.21. Identify imagery, figurative language, rhythm, or flow when responding to literature.
3.22. Identify and analyze the importance of shades of meaning in determining word choice in a piece of literature.
3.23. Compare traditional literature from different cultures.
3.24. Identify common structures and stylistic elements in folktales, fairytales, legends and myths.
3.25. Use knowledge of character development to create an original character for an oral presentation or performance.

Composition

Standard Four: Students will write with a clear focus, coherent organization and sufficient detail and will write for different audiences and purposes. They will demonstrate improvement in organization, content, paragraph development, level of detail, style, tone and word choice(diction) in their compositions after revising them.

4. Benchmarks:
4.1. Collect ideas for writing from different texts and sources (dialogue, artifacts, memories, images, etc.).
4.2. Maintain a process for recording, collecting, referring to, and sharing their ideas for writing, as well as more formal writing products, including drafts.
4.3. Write for different purposes and for different audiences.
4.4. Understand different genres and organizational structures.
4.5. Select appropriate genres and organizational structures for drafts.
4.6. Select appropriate strategies for developing ideas into drafts.
4.7. Select appropriate strategies for revising the organization and ideas in drafts.
4.8. Understand and use effective language for talking about pieces of writing (e.g. craft, focus, structure, genre, voice, audience).
4.9. Use their knowledge of standard English conventions (mechanics, grammar, and spelling) to edit work.
4.10. Make distinctions among fiction, nonfiction, dramatic literature, and poetry, and use these genres selectively when writing for different purposes.
4.11. Identify verb phrases and verb tenses.
4.12. Identify simple and compound sentences.
4.13. Identify correct mechanics and correct sentence structure.
4.14. 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.
4.15. Create short stories.
4.16. Decide on the placement of descriptive details about setting, characters, and events in stories.
4.17. Group related ideas and place them in logical order when writing summaries or reports.
4.18. Organize information about a topic into a coherent paragraph with a topic sentence, sufficient supporting detail, and a concluding sentence.
4.19. Reflect on and self-monitor their development as a writer.
4.20. Write stories or scripts containing the basic elements of fiction and using a mix of formal and informal language.
4.21. Write poems using poetic techniques, figurative language, and graphic elements.
4.22. Write brief research reports with clear focus and supporting detail.
4.23. Write short explanation of a process that includes a topic statement, supporting details, and a conclusion.
4.24. Write formal letters to correspondents such as authors, newspapers, businesses, or government officials.
4.25. Apply steps for obtaining information from a variety of sources, organizing information, documenting, and presenting research in individual and group projects:
4.26. Use an expanded range of print and non-print sources
4.27. Follow established criteria for evaluating information
4.28. Locate specific information within resources by using indexes, tables of contents, electronic search key words
4.29. Organize and present research using the learning standards in the Composition Strand as a guide for writing, and
4.30. Provide appropriate documentation in a consistent format.
4.31. Use prescribed criteria from a scoring rubric to evaluate compositions, recitations, or performances before presenting them to an audience.

Media and Technology

Standard Five: Students will identify, analyze and apply knowledge of the conventions, elements and techniques of films, radio, video, television, multimedia productions, the Internet, and emerging technologies and provide evidence from their works to support their understanding.

5. Benchmarks:
5.1. Create presentations using computer technology, posters, reports, and graphic design
5.2. Develop and apply criteria for assessing the effectiveness of presentations
5.3. Gather information using the Internet and information databases
5.4. Use their understanding of television to distinguish between fact and fiction
5.5. Examine and explain advertising
5.6. View, understand and discuss informational media productions.
5.7. Compare stories in print with their filmed adaptations, describing the similarities and differences in the portrayal of characters, plot, and settings
5.8. View, understand, and discuss informational media productions.
5.9. Use film, radio, TV and the Internet to demonstrate an understanding of how these mediums convey information and entertain in ways that are different from text.
5.10. Create a media production using effective images from text, music, software or graphics.

Discussion and Oral Presentation

Benchmarks:

1.1 Use agreed-upon rules for informal and formal discussions in large and small groups such as Book Club, Literature Circles and Buddy Reading.
1.2 Facilitate discussion groups independent from the teacher; identify and practice techniques to improve group productivity such as discussion guidelines, setting time limits for speakers and deadlines for decision-making.
1.3 Organize and present ideas in a logical order.
1.4 Ask for clarification when others’ responses are unclear.
1.5 Actively listen, respond to, and build on ideas generated during group discussions.
1.6 Use information to inform or change their perspectives.
1.7 Support their responses with evidence or details; expect and request the same of others.
1.8 Summarize and evaluate what they have learned from the discussion.
1.9 Evaluate the productivity of group discussion using group created criteria and make suggestions to address the needs of the group.
1.10 Give oral presentations for a variety of purposes, using teacher-made criteria that demonstrate consideration of audience, purpose and content.
1.11 Use assessment criteria to prepare their presentations.
1.12 Listen critically and express opinions in oral presentations.
1.13 Distinguish between fact and opinion.
1.14 Compare and contrast points of view.
1.15 Gather relevant information for a research project or composition through interviews.
1.16 Conduct interviews for research projects and writing.

Language

Standard Two: Students will acquire and understand new vocabulary and use it correctly in reading and writing. They will analyze standard English grammar and usage and recognize how its vocabulary has developed and been influenced by other languages and they will describe, analyze and use appropriately formal and informal English.

Benchmarks:

2.1 Determine the meaning of unfamiliar words using knowledge word parts and context clues.
2.2 Recognize that a word performs different functions according to the position in the sentence.
2.3 Understand how the features of word dictionaries and thesauruses help them determine pronunciations, meanings, alternate word choices, and parts of speech of words.
2.4 Identify the eight basic parts of speech.
2.5 Expand or reduce sentences during oral and written responses.
2.6 Demonstrate appropriate use of formal and informal language.
2.7 Identify differences between oral and written language patterns.
2.8 Recognize common irregularly spelled words by sight.
2.9 Use letter-sound knowledge to decode written English.
2.10 Read grade-appropriate imaginative/literary and informational/expository text fluently, accurately, and understanding.
2.11 Understand how language is used for different purposes: creative expression, description, explaining, and persuading.
2.12 Identify and analyze sensory details and figurative language.
2.13 Identify and analyze the author’s use of dialogue and description.
2.14 Recognize organizational structures of informational/expository texts.

Reading and Literature

Benchmarks:

3.1 Demonstrate fluency and understanding when reading different grade-level appropriate text.
3.2 Select books for independent reading.
3.3 Use before, during, and after reading strategies to enhance their comprehension of texts.
3.4 Use background knowledge to make inferences and predictions and to make personal connections with what is being read.
3.5 Set a purpose for reading.
3.6 Ask questions to clarify information.
3.7 Summarize information to check understanding.
3.8 Visualize information in text to support comprehension.
3.9 Identify the topic and main idea of different texts.
3.10 Understand genres and organizational structure and apply that knowledge to their reading of different texts.
3.11Use knowledge of text features and organizational structure to make meaning of what is being read.
3.12 Demonstrate an understanding of the intratextuality of the text they are reading.
3.13 Develop personal or critical theory about what they are reading.
3.14 Be self-monitoring/metacognitive: understand when comprehension breaks down; know and using self-correcting strategies to make meaning of what is being read.
3.15 Relate a literary work to information about its setting.
3.16 Apply knowledge of the concept that theme refers to the main idea and meaning of a selection, whether it is implied or stated.
3.17 Identify and analyze the elements of setting, characterization, and plot (including conflict).
3.18 Identify and use knowledge of common textual features, graphic features, and organizational structures.
3.19 Identify and analyze main ideas, supporting ideas, and supporting details in informational and expository texts.
3.20 Respond to and analyze the effects of sound, figurative language, and graphics in order to uncover meaning in poetry.
3.21 Identify imagery, figurative language, rhythm, or flow when responding to literature.
3.22 Identify and analyze the importance of shades of meaning in determining word choice in a piece of literature.
3.23 Compare traditional literature from different cultures.
3.24 Identify common structures and stylistic elements in folktales, fairytales, legends and myths.
3.25 Use knowledge of character development to create an original character for an oral presentation or performance.

Composition

Standard Four: Students will write with a clear focus, coherent organization and sufficient detail and will write for different audiences and purposes. They will demonstrate improvement in organization, content, paragraph development, level of details, style, tone and word choice(diction) in their compositions after revising them.

Benchmarks:

4.1 Collect ideas for writing from different texts and sources (dialogue, artifacts, memories, images, etc.).
4.2 Maintain a process for recording, collecting, referring to, and sharing their ideas for writing, as well as more formal writing products, including drafts.
4.3 Write for different purposes and for different audiences.
4.4 Understand different genres and organizational structures.
4.5 Select appropriate genres and organizational structures for drafts.
4.6 Select appropriate strategies for developing ideas into drafts.
4.7 Select appropriate strategies for revising the organization and ideas in drafts.
4.8 Understand and use effective language for talking about pieces of writing (e.g. craft, focus, structure, genre, voice, audience).
4.9 Use their knowledge of standard English conventions (mechanics, grammar, and spelling) to edit work.
4.10 Make distinctions among fiction, nonfiction, dramatic literature, and poetry, and use these genres selectively when writing for different purposes.
4.11 Identify verb phrases and verb tenses.
4.12 Identify simple and compound sentences.
4.13 Identify correct mechanics and correct sentence structure.
4.14 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.
4.15 Create short stories.
4.16 Decide on the placement of descriptive details about setting, characters, and events in stories.
4.17 Group related ideas and place them in logical order when writing summaries or reports.
4.18 Organize information about a topic into a coherent paragraph with a topic sentence, sufficient supporting detail, and a concluding sentence.
4.19 Reflect on and self-monitor their development as a writer.
4.20 Write stories or scripts containing the basic elements of fiction and using a mix of formal and informal language.
4.21 Write poems using poetic techniques, figurative language, and graphic elements.
4.22 Write brief research reports with clear focus and supporting detail.
4.23 Write short explanation of a process that includes a topic statement, supporting details, and a conclusion.
4.24 Write formal letters to correspondents such as authors, newspapers, businesses, or government officials.
4.25 Apply steps for obtaining information from a variety of sources, organizing information, documenting, and presenting research in individual and group projects:
4.26 Use an expanded range of print and non-print sources
4.27 Follow established criteria for evaluating information
4.28 Locate specific information within resources by using indexes, tables of contents, electronic search key words
4.29 Organize and present research using the learning standards in the Composition Strand as a guide for writing, and
4.30 Provide appropriate documentation in a consistent format.
4.31 Use prescribed criteria from a scoring rubric to evaluate compositions, recitations, or performances before presenting them to an audience.

Media

Benchmarks:

5.1 Identify and distinguish between the techniques used in educational reference software and websites and those used by authors and illustrators of print materials.
5.2 Develop and apply criteria for assessing the effectiveness of the presentation, style and content of films and other forms of electronic communication.