By the end of SIXTH GRADE

Reading

Students will:

•Read independently every day in class

•Discuss forms of writing; include use of dialogue, suspense, point of view, and sensory detail

•Recognize the difference between autobiography and biography

•Analyze whether the characters and/or plot are contrived or real

•Recognize and interpret figurative language such as simile, metaphor, idioms, and figures of speech

•Analyze how human qualities affect the plot, and resolution of the conflict

•Support opinion with evidence from text

•Clarify and connect main ideas to related themes

•Understand plot, characters, setting, and theme of a story

•Use word, sentence, and paragraph clues to determine meaning of unknown words

•Draw conclusions about the feelings and attitudes of a character

•Relate text to personal experience and other texts

•Read, discuss and analyze various types of literature in fiction and nonfiction

Speaking and Listening

Students will:

•Demonstrate good manners

•Restate and follow multiple-step oral instructions and directions

•Present an oral report with detailed evidence and visual or media display

•Identify a speaker's purpose and technique (e.g., propaganda)

Writing

Students will:

•Write daily for 30 minutes on self-selected topics

•Writing Domains: Speculation About Effects, Report of Information, Problem Solution, Story

•Write in a variety of forms including friendly letter, reviews, poetry, response to literature, and Writing Domains

•Create compositions that include; an introduction, several paragraphs that develop the topic, and a concluding paragraph

•Write responses to literature, essays or reports

•Use correct punctuation: colons after the salutations in business letters, semicolon to connect independent clauses, commas when linking two clauses with a conjunction

•Use correct grammar: indefinite pronouns, present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect verb tenses and ensure that verbs agree with compound subjects

•Spell high frequency list and hard to spell words correctly

•Develop skills in using a variety of reference materials and sources