Grade 6 English Language Arts
11 units matched to the Newfoundland and Labrador Curriculum. Kids see this subject as “Language Arts”.
Learning focus
- Speaking and listening: explore and reflect. Students will speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences.
- Speaking and listening: communicate. Students will be able to communicate information and ideas effectively and clearly, and to respond personally and critically.
- Speaking and listening: interact with respect. Students will be able to interact with sensitivity and respect, considering the situation, audience, and purpose.
- Reading and viewing: select and read. Students will be able to select, read, and view with understanding a range of literature, information, media, and visual texts.
- Reading and viewing: interpret and combine information. Students will be able to interpret, select, and combine information using a variety of strategies, resources, and technologies.
- Reading and viewing: respond personally. Students will be able to respond personally to a range of texts.
- Reading and viewing: respond critically. Students will be able to respond critically to a range of texts, applying their understanding of language, form, and genre.
- Writing and representing: explore and reflect. Students will be able to use writing and other ways of representing to explore, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and learning; and to use their imagination.
- Writing and representing: create texts. Students will be able to create texts collaboratively and independently, using a variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes.
- Writing and representing: strategies. Students will be able to use a range of strategies to develop effective writing and other ways of representing and to enhance their clarity, precision, and effectiveness.
Units
Unit 1
Close Reading
Reading original stories and information texts, then finding the theme or main idea, making inferences, explaining why characters act as they do and choosing the sentence that best supports an answer.
Curriculum outcome: Reading and viewing: respond personally (by Grade 6) · reading closely for meaning
Unit 2
Point of View
Telling first person, third person limited and third person omniscient apart, and thinking about what each narrator can and can't know.
Curriculum outcome: Reading and viewing: respond critically (by Grade 6) · point of view and perspective
Unit 3
Figurative Language
Naming similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, alliteration and idioms, explaining what they mean, finding the sense an image appeals to and working out what a symbol stands for.
Curriculum outcome: Writing and representing: create texts (by Grade 6) · figurative language
Unit 4
Connotation & Tone
Words can share a dictionary meaning (denotation) but carry different feelings (connotation), like “cozy” and “cramped.” Students choose words for effect and identify a writer's tone.
Curriculum outcome: Reading and viewing: respond personally (by Grade 6) · connotation and tone
Unit 5
Make Your Case
Building an argument: stating a claim, choosing the strongest evidence, recognizing counterarguments and rebuttals, spotting persuasive techniques and ordering a persuasive paragraph.
Curriculum outcome: Writing and representing: create texts (by Grade 6) · writing to persuade
Unit 6
Sources & Bias
Separating fact from opinion, judging whether a source is reliable, spotting loaded words and one-sided reporting, and asking who made a message and why.
Curriculum outcome: Reading and viewing: respond critically (by Grade 6) · sources, bias and reliability
Unit 7
Agreement
Making verbs agree with their subjects (even with tricky phrases, “each,” “everyone” and “either…or”) and choosing pronouns that clearly match the nouns they replace.
Curriculum outcome: Writing and representing: strategies (by Grade 6) · subject-verb and pronoun agreement
Unit 8
Sentence Repair
Spotting sentence fragments, run-on sentences and comma splices, and choosing correct ways to fix them with periods, semicolons, joining words or dependent clauses.
Curriculum outcome: Writing and representing: strategies (by Grade 6) · fixing run-ons, fragments and awkward sentences
Unit 9
Commas & Clauses
Finding dependent clauses, telling simple, compound and complex sentences apart, and using commas in lists, compound sentences, introductions and appositives.
Curriculum outcome: Writing and representing: strategies (by Grade 6) · commas and clauses
Unit 10
Roots & Analogies
Using Greek and Latin roots (like “geo,” “aud” and “port”) to work out unfamiliar words, and completing analogies that compare word relationships.
Curriculum outcome: Reading and viewing: select and read (by Grade 6) · word roots and analogies
Unit 11
Text Forms & Features
Recognizing problem-and-solution reports, scripts, and web features like menus, and explaining how pictures and graphics add to a text.
Curriculum outcome: Reading and viewing: respond critically (by Grade 6) · text forms and features
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