Grade 6 ( Age 11 )
Reading Literature and Informational Text and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
• Cite evidence from text to support analysis of both explicit and implicit messages within the text
• Cite evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources
• Find and explain the theme or central idea of a text and details that support it
• Summarize literary and informational or explanatory texts
• Describe how a plot unfolds in a series of episodes
• Analyze how a key event, idea, or character is developed in a text
• Identify key steps in a text’s description of a process related to history or social studies
• Describe how a text presents information
• Follow a multistep written procedure when performing science or technical tasks
• Compare and contrast characters, settings, events, or ideas in a text
• Determine meanings and effects of words, phrases, or symbols as used in a text
• Analyze the effect of specific word choices on a text’s meaning and tone
• Analyze how a particular part of a text fits into the overall structure
• Describe overall structure of a passage and its effect on the message
• Compare and contrast the experience of reading a literary passage with viewing or listening to the same text
• Compare and contrast texts in different genres and forms
• Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic
• Describe how an author develops the point of view of a speaker in a text
• Integrate quantitative or technical information presented in text form with
information expressed visually
• Explain how visual and multimedia elements help to develop the topic
• Trace and evaluate the argument and supporting reasons in a text
• Compare and contrast two authors’ presentations of the same events
• By the end of the academic year, read and understand grade-level literary and
informational texts (including history/social studies, science, and technical subjects) independently and with proficiency
Speaking and Listening
• Participate in collaborative discussions on a variety of grade-level topics
• Follow agreed-upon rules and preparation procedures for discussions
• Listen and respond to others with focus and care
• Interpret information presented in many media and formats
• Identify an argument, claims, and evidence presented by a speaker
• Present claims or information in logical sequence supported with relevant facts and details
• Use clear diction, appropriate eye contact, and adequate volume when speaking
• Add multimedia and visual components to clarify ideas in presentations
• Show command of formal English language when speaking for a variety of tasks
Writing
• Write arguments supported with clear reasons and relevant evidence, including
arguments in history, social studies, science, and technical topics
• Write informative or explanatory pieces developed with relevant details, including
arguments in history, social studies, science, and technical topics
• Write narrations that include details, put events in order, and provide a conclusion
• Produce writing appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience
• Strengthen writing by getting feedback, revising, editing, and rewriting
• Add dialogue and descriptions to develop characters and events
• Use tools, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing
• Contribute to collaborative group writing projects
• Conduct short research tasks on a topic through investigation
• Gather information from various sources to answer a question
• Include evidence from literary or informational texts
• Regularly produce clear writing for a variety of tasks, purposes, and audiences
(including writing in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects)
English Language Skills
• Recognize and follow proper usage of pronouns; correct improper usage
• Form, recognize, and use various verb tenses and appropriate shifts in verb tense
• Correctly use conventions of English when writing (capitalization, punctuation, and spelling)
• Spell grade-level words correctly
• Consult reference materials to check spellings
• Vary sentence patterns for meaning, interest, and style when writing; avoid passive constructions
• Maintain consistency in style and tone when writing
• Know the difference between formal and informal English and when to use each
Vocabulary
• Use context clues to determine word and phrase meanings
• Use word structure clues to determine meanings of unknown words
• Use relationships between words to better understand each word
• Use references (print and digital) to determine or verify a word’s meanings, find its pronunciation or its part of speech
• Interpret and use figurative language (similes, metaphors, idioms, adages, proverbs, etc.) and nuances in words
• Distinguish literal and nonliteral meanings of words in context
• Distinguish shades of meaning among related words
• Distinguish among connotations of words with similar denotations
• Learn and use grade-level general academic vocabulary
The Number System
• Compute fluently with multi-digit numbers including decimals
• Interpret and compute division of fractions by fractions
• Represent fraction operations with models and equations
• Find common factors and multiples of whole numbers
• Understand positive and negative numbers
• Describe real world uses of positive and negative numbers
• Compare and order rational numbers on a number line
• Understand and find absolute values of numbers
• Identify and explain prime and composite numbers
• Find and graph positive and negative numbers as ordered pairs in a coordinate plane
• Solve real world problems with fractions and positive and negative numbers
Ratios and Proportional Relationships
• Describe ratio relationships between two quantities
• Understand the concept of unit rate
• Use models to show and solve rate and ratio problems
• Use ratio reasoning to solve problems involving unit pricing and constant speed
• Find and use equivalent ratios to solve problems
• Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100
• Solve problems involving finding the whole, given a part and percent
• Convert measurement units when multiplying and dividing quantities
Algebra
• Evaluate positive rational numbers with whole number exponents
• Read, write, simplify, and evaluate expressions in which letters stand for numbers
• Identify parts of an expression
• Identify equivalent expressions
• Read, write, and solve one-variable equations
• Read, write, represent (on a number line), and solve inequalities
• Recognize that inequalities have an infinite number of solutions
• Apply the order of operations and properties to operations to solve equations
Geometry
• Find areas of right triangles, quadrilaterals, and polygons by composing them into rectangles or decomposing them into triangles or other shapes
• Find volumes of right rectangular prisms (including those with fractional edge
lengths) by packing with cubes and applying formulas.
• Draw polygons in a coordinate plane when given coordinates for vertices
• Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made of rectangles and triangles
• Use nets to find surface area of three-dimensional figures
• Solve real world and mathematical problems involving area, surface area, and
volume
Statistics
• Develop an understanding of statistical variability
• Recognize, describe, and formulate statistical questions
• Interpret and create graphical representations of numerical data
• Understand that a set of data has a distribution described by its center, spread (or range), and overall shape
• Summarize and describe numerical data sets
Life Science
• Biological classification systems
• Structure and function of living things
• Cell structures and their functions
• Relationships of cells, tissues, organs, and systems
• Growth and development of organisms
• Single-cell and multicellular organisms
• Sexual and asexual transfer of genetic information to offspring
• Traits, variations of traits, and inheritance of traits
• Animal behaviors that increase odds of reproduction
• Sensory receptors and processes in animals
• Plant reproduction
• Food chains and food webs
• Global temperature trends and effects on organisms
• Ecosystems and ecological communities
Physical Science
• Potential and kinetic energy
• Mechanical energy
• Simple and complex machines
• Friction
• Law of Conservation of Energy
• Phases of matter and particle motion
• Density
• Changes in energy
• Energy transfer
• Relationship between temperature and energy
Earth and Space Science
• Climate and biomes
• Ecosystems and ecological communities
• Human impacts on Earth systems and habitats
• Water cycles
• Changes and movement of water
• Global movements of water
• Ocean temperatures and currents
• Role of density and salinity in ocean currents
• Weather and climate patterns and what influences these
• Influence of oceans on weather and climate
• Weather predictions
• Global climate patterns and changes
• Health choices and long-term consequences of choices
• Benefits of, practices for, and personal responsibility for health (including healthy eating, personal hygiene, exercise, stress-management, adequate sleep, social and emotional health, disease prevention, and avoidance of accidents and dangers)
• Components of a personal health plan
• Impacts of social pressures on physical, emotional, and social health
• Structure, functions, and interdependence of major body systems
• Changes in anatomy during puberty
• Role of hormones in growth, development, and personal health
• Myths and facts related to disease transmission and prevention
• Ways the body defends itself against germs
• Communicable, non-communicable, and hereditary diseases
• Use, abuse, and effects of medications, tobacco, alcohol, and other substances
• Relationship between tobacco, alcohol, and drugs and unsafe situations
• Preventing the use of tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs
• Basic understanding of first-aid procedures
• Prevention of and response to deliberate and accidental injuries
• Reasons and ways to avoid violence, gangs, weapons, and drugs
• Environmental factors that affect health
• Basic safety rules for daily and recreational activities
• Skills to identify, avoid, report, and cope with potentially dangerous situations
• Practices for responding to emergencies
• Positive and negative characteristics of social groups, gangs, clubs, cliques
• Development of self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-control
• Physical, social, and emotional impacts of decisions regarding sexual behavior
• Strategies to resist pressures to become sexually active
• Respect and consideration for all individuals
• Understand appropriate ways to express emotions
• Positive social interactions with peers, in home, and in the community
• Bullying, alternative behaviors to bullying, and appropriate responses to bullying
• Strategies for resolving conflicts with peers and others
• Skills for meeting people, making friends, and being a good friend
• Getting personal support from family
• How and where to get help in making health decisions
The Eastern Hemisphere to the Renaissance
Community and Culture
• Current cultural makeup and features of the regions or the hemisphere
• Cultural contributions of past societies to current societies
• Cultural interactions and issues in the regions of the hemisphere
• Cultural diffusion in the hemisphere
• Detailed study of the culture of one region or country in the hemisphere
Geography
• Geographical features of the hemisphere
• Patterns of settlement in the hemisphere
• Patterns of movement and migration in the hemisphere
• Interactions of geography, history, and economics in the hemisphere
• Mapping a variety of physical and cultural features of regions or countries
• Detailed study of the geography of one region or country in the hemisphere
History
• How archaeologists have learned about past cultures and activities
• First humans in the hemisphere and their ways of life
• Hunter-gatherer societies
• Development of tools and use of fire
• Climate changes and human adaptations
• Patterns of settlement and movement over time
• Neolithic Revolution
• Comparison of the Paleolithic and Neolithic ages
• Agriculture and domestication of animals
• The river civilizations: Mesopotamia, Indus River Valley, Yellow River Valley, and the Nile River Valley
• Major religions and belief systems
• Lasting influences of various belief systems
• The classical civilizations
• Lasting influences of the classical civilizations
• Comparison of the Chinese and Greco-Roman civilizations
• The rise and fall of Roman Empire
• Development of feudalism
• The Byzantine Empire
• Spread of Islam
• The Crusades
• Afro-Eurasian trade and its effects
• The Mongol Empire
• The Middle Ages
• Spread of the Bubonic Plague
• The Renaissance (Early Modern Period)
• Technology and transportation changes
• Detailed study of the history of one region or country in the hemisphere
Economics
• Use of resources in the earliest settlements
• Economies of the river valleys: products and activities
• Geographical influences on historical events
• Economic developments in early civilizations
• Economic interdependence in the hemisphere today
• Detailed study of the economy of one region or country in the hemisphere
Citizenship and Government
• Social hierarchies in early civilizations
• Development of political systems in early civilizations
• Roots of democracy in the classical civilizations
• Decentralization of political authority in medieval Europe
• Spread of Christianity and Church in authority in medieval Europe
• Current political features and issues of regions and countries in the hemisphere
• Political cooperation in the hemisphere or its regions today
• Current types of governments throughout the hemisphere
• Detailed comparison of the current governments of countries in one of the regions
Note about middle school arts curriculum: Middle-level curriculum often includes and offers experiences and study in a variety of areas in the arts. Some examples are:
• Animation
• Architecture
• Casting
• Ceramics
• Choral music
• Computer graphics and applications
• Construction
• Dance or other creative movement
• Digital arts
• Drama (including mime, storytelling, and technical aspects of theater)
• Drawing
• Film
• Graphic design
• Improvisational music
• Instrumental music
• Metal Sculpture
• Mosaics
• Sculpture
• Textiles and fiber art
In the study and practice of any of the performance or visual arts, students encounter such topics as:
• Skills of watching, listening, and responding to works of art
• Background and elements of particular art form
• Understanding of the processes and techniques of particular forms
• Principles of design
• Vocabulary of particular art forms
• Interpretation, analysis, and evaluation of works of art
• Reflecting on own experiences and creations or performances
• Art history
• Well-known artists and works of visual or performing art forms
• Cultural contexts and expressions of art
• Style, materials, and techniques used in a work of art
• Generating questions about a work of art
• Considering messages and purposes of a particular work of art
• Responding orally, in writing, or some other way to works of art
• Contributions of artists to society
• Careers in art
• Discipline and mindset for improving and developing skills in art
• Fostering of creativity and self-expression
• Development of artistic awareness, imagination, perception, skill
• Experimenting with a variety of media, forms, and techniques
• Solving design problems
• Use of digital media and tools for producing, viewing, or responding to art
• Polishing and furthering personal skills in a chosen area of art
• Participation in collaborative discussions about works of art
• Participation in collaborative creation of works of art
• Proper safety procedures for activities in the specific arts
General goal for middle-level students: Use technology within all content areas to collaborate, communicate, generate innovative ideas, create original works, and investigate and solve problems.
• Demonstrating proficient keyboarding skills
• Use of a variety of common applications and productivity tools
• Creation of products combining text, images, sound, music, and video
• Use of spreadsheet and concept-mapping software
• Use of interactive tools to design polls or surveys to gather data
• Making contributions to blogs, wikis, and other collaborative forums
• Gathering weather information and predictions
• Use of online databases or simulation software to interpret and predict trends
• Use of digital collaboration tools
• Increasing knowledge about many cultures through digital content
• Use of online interactive tools to communicate with learners from other cultures
• Communicating with multiple audiences through a variety of formats and media
• Increasing understanding of a local or global issue
• Choosing appropriate digital resources to plan a project or solve a problem
• Choosing appropriate search engines or directories
• Selecting and using appropriate online applications for various purposes
• Selecting appropriate, relevant sources for a purpose or audience
• Analysis and synthesis of information to make decisions or develop solutions
• Assessing the credibility and validity of online sources
• Following fair use rules
• Use of bibliography tools to cite sources from digital sources
• Reporting and sharing of results or solutions
• Exploring ways to receive feedback from multiple, appropriate audiences
• Recognition and avoidance of potential online dangers
• Safe and legal use of online sites and information
• Understanding of privacy issues
• Understanding how data are kept and available publicly
• Understanding safety issues related to sharing personal information online
• Practicing ethical and respectful behavior
• Careful, responsible use and maintenance of digital equipment
• Demonstrating openness to learning new technologies and procedures
