Grade 6 - English Language Arts (2022)

English Language Arts

Text Forms and Structures: Identifying and applying text forms and structures improves understanding of content, literary style, and our rich language traditions.

Oral Language: Listening and speaking form the foundation for literacy development and improve communication, collaboration, and respectful mutual understanding.

Vocabulary: Communication and comprehension are improved by understanding word meaning and structures.

Comprehension: Text comprehension is supported by applying varied strategies and processes and by considering both particular contexts and universal themes.

Writing: Ideas and information can be articulated accurately and imaginatively through the use of writing processes and an understanding of the author�s craft.

Conventions: Understanding grammar, spelling, and punctuation makes it easier to communicate clearly, to organize thinking, and to use language for desired effects.

Students analyze how text form and structure clarify information and support connecting with self, others, and the world.

Students connect the quality and efficacy of oral communication to oral language skills.

Students evaluate how vocabulary enhances communication and provides clarity.

Students interpret and respond to texts through application of comprehension strategies.

Students create texts that reflect personal voice and style through creative and critical thinking processes.

Students apply and analyze conventions that support accuracy or enhance creative expression.

Knowledge

Understanding

Skills & Procedures

Knowledge

Understanding

Skills & Procedures

Knowledge

Understanding

Skills & Procedures

Knowledge

Understanding

Skills & Procedures

Knowledge

Understanding

Skills & Procedures

Knowledge

Understanding

Skills & Procedures

Texts can have more than one purpose and may have one that stands out.

Reading a variety of texts for enjoyment can support academic development.

Literary texts can be categorized by genre, including fiction and non-fiction.

Literary text forms can be digital or non-digital and include articles, speeches and hybrids.

Narrative texts can be fiction or non-fiction and can be structured in a variety of ways to create effect.

Text features can be digital or non-digital and can organize and present important content, enhance comprehension of content and expand vocabulary.

Fiction sub-genres include traditional literature and comedy.

Comedic text is amusing in tone and often has a cheerful ending.

Fictional texts can have a variety of structures, including a story within a story.

Elements of fiction include conflict, which is a struggle between individuals, groups, or forces that prevents the protagonist from achieving a goal.

Types of characters include stock, protagonist and antagonist.

A stock character is a stereotypical figure who is recognized from familiar literature and traditions.

A protagonist is the main character at the centre of a story who makes decisions, deals with consequences, and faces obstacles.

An antagonist is an opponent of or force acting against the protagonist and often gets in the protagonist �s way or creates challenges.

Non-fiction texts include speeches.

Non-fiction texts can have a variety of structures, including problem and solution.

The content and source of information should be analyzed for factual accuracy.

Poetic structures include ballads, poems, or songs narrating stories in short stanzas.

Forms of drama include comedy and tragedy.

A comedy is a humorous story with a happy ending.

A tragedy is a serious story with an unhappy ending.

Human-made structures of land convey meaning, such as First Nations pictographs, First Nations petroglyphs, Inuit inuksuit, M�tis lobsticks, Coastal First Nations totem poles, Pyramids (Egyptian and Mesoamerican), Stonehenge, Neolithic burial mounds, Cave paintings at Lascaux and Chauvet and Mesopotamian dams and dikes.

Land is a text that can be read for multiple meanings and understandings.

Text genres, forms, and structures can enhance and influence the enjoyment and communication of ideas and information.

Text features are used to navigate, enhance, or create complex information in an efficient manner.

Engaging with fictional texts can develop empathy and inspire creativity.

Non-fiction texts have structures that support factual information that can be analyzed for accuracy.

Poetry can be explored to build a foundation of cultural knowledge and a sense of historical continuity.

Forms of drama can influence the outcome of the story being represented.

Land literacy can be enhanced through examining human-made structures of land.

Analyze the purpose of a variety of digital or non-digital texts.

Categorize a variety of texts according to genre.

Examine the form and structure of a variety of literary texts.

Make connections between texts read for enjoyment and academic development.

Examine a variety of text features that organize content, identify important information, and enhance understandings of texts.

Include a variety of text features to help organize content, identify important information, and enhance personal expression.

Examine mentor texts to deepen understandings of fiction sub-genres.

Examine a variety of fictional text structures, including a story within a story.

Examine elements within a variety of fictional texts, including conflict.

Examine characters based on what they say, think, or do or what others say and think about them.

Describe the protagonist and antagonist in a variety of fictional texts.

Investigate ways that non-fiction texts can be organized to enhance the presentation of factual information.

Provide personal opinions regarding the structure, content, or source of information expressed in non-fiction texts.

Confirm the accuracy of information presented in non-fiction texts.

Listen to, recite, or sing poetry.

Analyze figurative language that can develop empathy and inspire creativity.

Investigate poetic structures that contribute to creative expression of ideas, including ballads.

Experiment with creating poetry of various structures.

Listen to, read, or view dramatic works, including comedy and tragedy.

Examine narrative structures in dramatic works.

Describe how meaning is conveyed through human-made structures of land by First Nations, Mtis, or Inuit and peoples from other parts of the world.

Oral communication can be enhanced through use of protocols that support respectful relationships.

First Nations, Mtis, and Inuit communication processes and protocols can preserve shared knowledge and include practices such as ongoing conversations, sharing circles, respectfully acknowledging all voices, waiting to take turns, active listening, focusing on the idea rather than on who gave the idea and ending with consensus.

Effective oral communication is supported by combining verbal, non-verbal, and paraverbal language.

Styles of speaking can be selected, adapted, or changed depending on the situation or desired effect.

Styles of speaking include formal, informal, colloquial and slang.

Organization and preparation for presentations can support confidence.

Selection of digital or non-digital tools or formats can enhance presentation delivery and capture the interest and attention of the audience.

Collaborative dialogue can empower individuals or groups to voice ideas, express understandings, consider a variety of perspectives and examine new ways of thinking.

Collaborative dialogue can be used as a process to solve problems and generate innovative ideas.

Collaborative dialogue can increase individual or group confidence through the development of trust and the building of relationships.

Respectful language and humour can advance collaborative dialogue.

An oration is a formal speech that can be given on a special occasion by an orator.

The art of effective speaking (rhetoric) can be used to share information or understandings, influence change and persuade.

Skilled orators are able to combine the musicality and rhythmicity of the spoken word to enhance the power of their messages.

Elements of public speaking include invention, arrangement, style, memory, delivery.

Oral traditions can enhance relationships and preserve shared knowledge.

Oral communication style and delivery can be influenced by the connections between verbal, non-verbal, and paraverbal language.

Oral communication content, style, and delivery can be adjusted to share ideas and information for specific purposes and audiences.

Collaborative dialogue can be used to expand ideas and deepen understandings of self, others, and the world.

Skillful oration can be examined to provide inspiration for effective speaking.

Reflect on how oral communication processes or protocols can enhance the quality of personal relationships.

Examine communication processes and protocols that contribute to the transmission or preservation of knowledge.

Analyze the effectiveness of verbal, non-verbal, and paraverbal language used in oral communications.

Select a speaking style to fit a text or situation.

Develop and deliver presentations for specific purposes and audiences.

Adjust presentations based on audience background, motivation, or interests.

Reflect on the preparation, content, and delivery of oral communication and consider opportunities for improvement.

Offer relevant information and logical reasoning to enhance collaborative dialogue.

Consider varied perspectives or opinions when collaborating.

Reflect on and share new, expanded, or adjusted learnings resulting from collaborative dialogue.

Describe how effective speaking can impact daily life.

Examine speeches for their ability to persuade and engage an audience.

Apply elements of public speaking for planning and delivering a speech.

The English language has been influenced by people, places, and events in history.

Vocabulary is contextual and influenced by emerging or changing conditions, including technology.

Many words with Greek or Latin roots are still in use today.

Words that are specific to First Nations, Mtis, and Inuit languages can be found in the people, places, and things that surround us.

Many words in the English language have French origins.

Suffixes, including < en > and < ize >, change the meaning of a word when applied to a base.

Prefixes change the meaning of a word when applied to a base and include < pro >, < com >, < con >, < en >, and < oc >.

Words can be categorized by forms of writing, parts of speech, content, context, definition and word origins.

Figurative language is language that has non-literal or figurative meanings and includes palindromes.

A palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same backward and forward (e.g., radar).

Word origins and morphemes can reflect the past and influence how we understand the present.

Vocabulary learning involves an intentional desire to deepen knowledge of words.

Precise vocabulary leads to engaging, clear, concise, and intentional communication.

Examine the historical origins of words in the English language.

Examine words with meanings that have changed over time.

Research the meaning of words with Greek or Latin roots that are still in use today.

Study the origin and meaning of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit words in local environments.

Examine words in the English language that have French origins.

Examine words or sayings that are new to the English language and are based on recent innovations or changes in society.

Analyze how adding affixes changes the meaning of words.

Add affixes to bases to build new words.

Categorize words and phrases of personal interest gleaned from a wide variety of texts.

Analyze word parts and cross-check with context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words.

Read for enjoyment to enhance vocabulary.

Use similes, metaphors, and analogies to compare words or clarify word meanings.

Analyze the meanings of words or phrases expressed figuratively.

Apply tier 2 words across subjects to enhance precise communication.

Apply tier 3 words in subject-specific contexts.

Comprehension strategies can be used to interpret and respond to increasingly complex texts and include predicting, inferring, making connections, summarizing, synthesizing and evaluating.

Self-monitoring skills can support comprehension and interpretation of texts read independently.

Making text to self, text to text, and text to world connections can support analyzing, summarizing, and synthesizing texts.

Analyzing texts includes reading closely to examine ideas and information in texts separately and in relationship to each other.

Conclusions can be judgements reached based on information that is stated in or inferred from texts.

Context clues in texts include words, phrases, punctuation, dialogue and information in pictures, diagrams, charts, or graphs.

Perspectives can evolve for a variety of reasons, including passage of time, experience, context and new information.

Critical thinking involves considering the thoughts and experiences of others to develop empathy.

Authors can explicitly and implicitly share perspectives through text creation.

Bias is the favouring of one thing, person, or group over another, usually in a way that is considered to be unfair.

Texts are situated in and can be influenced by specific historical, social, and cultural contexts.

Specific historical and social contexts influence understandings of text.

Historical contexts include time and place.

Social contexts include beliefs.

Contexts can change and affect how texts are understood.

Artifacts as texts can provide insights into contexts of people, time, or place.

Authors or text creators may present information to deliberately influence an audience's beliefs, perspectives, values, or understandings, such as advertising or social media.

Comprehension, interpretation, and management of information from increasingly complex texts are enhanced through application of a variety of critical thinking strategies and skills.

Comprehension of texts includes analyzing, summarizing, and synthesizing information and ideas.

Comprehension and interpretation of texts requires attention to explicit and implicit contextual information and ideas.

Interaction with texts can deepen comprehension, expand perspectives, and help readers learn more about themselves and the world.

Historical, social, and cultural contexts can support readers in examining influences on texts.

Incorporate a variety of strategies to comprehend, interpret, and manage information from texts.

Evaluate the effectiveness of comprehension strategies used to interpret texts read independently.

Apply a variety of self-monitoring skills to comprehend and interpret texts.

Respond to texts by summarizing main ideas and providing supporting evidence from the texts.

Make connections between new ideas and information in texts and known ideas and information.

Analyze ideas and information to support comprehension and interpretation of texts.

Synthesize ideas and information in texts to confirm or expand understandings.

Revise or confirm predictions based on new or additional information and sources.

Infer meanings from texts based on context clues.

Interpret and draw conclusions from texts using stated and implied ideas or information.

Distinguish between information that is stated and inferred.

Analyze ideas and information using text evidence.

Connect perspectives reflected in texts to personal experiences.

Analyze factors that cause characters in texts to change their perspectives.

Compare personal perspectives to varied perspectives found in texts.

Select the information needed to support a perspective.

Share how considering differences in perspectives can develop empathy.

Consider whether an author or a text creator presents information with or without bias.

Analyze texts to determine contextual information that supports how a text can be understood.

Examine information in a text that implies or confirms that the context has changed.

Examine changes in context that affect actions, behaviours, or feelings of characters in texts.

Examine artifacts as texts that can provide insights into contexts of people, time, or place.

Consider how information in a text may be presented to influence an audience.

Writing processes can be used to clearly compose and refine ideas and develop personal style, and include planning, drafting, revising, editing and publishing.

Planning can help organize thoughts and prioritize information and includes consideration of audience, purpose, and form, idea generation and narrowing a topic.

Organizational structures can help focus the expression of ideas or information, such as introduction, opening, or lead details in order of sequence or importance, transitions and conclusions.

Variety in sentence length and structure can enhance writing fluency and reader engagement.

Fluent writing invites expressive oral reading that brings out the writer�s voice or style.

Revision may involve adding or deleting portions of text, moving pieces of text around, or restructuring sentences.

Revision can ensure writing is clear, focused, informative and engaging.

Creative thinking processes involve communicating an intent in a variety of contexts and for a variety of audiences, experimenting with ideas or processes to enhance expression, evaluating and adapting ideas in response to emerging conditions and being determined to succeed in producing a desired effect.

The products of creative thinking may be interpreted differently depending on the perspectives of the audience.

Words can create effects or emphasis, including simplicity, clarity, colourfulness, precision and appeal.

Word choice can reflect the author�s voice or style, including in texts that are brief, clear, and to the point (e.g., recipes, business letters), use specialized vocabulary (e.g., research reports, informative posters), provide the author the freedom to use unique or unexpected words or phrases (e.g., poetry, stories, advertisements) and express opinions (e.g., speeches, personal responses, opinion statements).

Tone expresses the text creator�s attitude toward or feelings about the topic and audience.

Research processes involve management of information, including questioning, gathering, organizing and recording.

Research processes can involve accessing information from multiple digital or non-digital sources.

Protocols for accessing information may vary by source, context, community, or culture.

Protocols can exist for requesting permission to share stories and histories from the original owner.

Information can be gathered and organized using a variety of methods and tools.

Research findings can be shared in a variety of digital or non-digital forms, including graphs, tables, or charts.

Ethical use of information includes asking permission to use, share, or store information that is about, was created by, or belongs to someone else, citing basic information used to inform writing and fair and accurate representation of individuals or information.

Written communication can be created or enhanced by selecting from a variety of digital or non-digital methods or tools, such as printing, keyboarding and cursive handwriting.

The selection of digital or non-digital tools for written works can be adapted according to audience, purpose, form, or context.

Writing can cultivate expression, problem solving, and critical thinking.

Creative thinking can enhance personal style and voice through experimenting with, evaluating, and selecting details.

Research processes can support systematic and objective management and sharing of information.

Written communication involves making choices to effectively convey messages.

Create written texts for a variety of audiences and purposes.

Create written texts in a variety of forms and structures.

Develop creative expression through the use of writing processes.

Analyze how ideas align with the purpose, audience, and form of writing.

Express personal ideas through multiple paragraphs for the purpose of engaging an audience.

Organize writing around clear ideas or positions that are supported by examples or relevant evidence.

Express ideas using organizational structures that enhance writing.

Relate ideas and connect paragraphs using a variety of transitions.

Revise text for clarity, focus, and audience.

Edit writing for spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

Publish selected writing, incorporating graphics, captions, charts, or other text features to express individuality.

Apply creative thinking processes through experimenting with, evaluating, and selecting details to produce a desired effect.

Analyze the descriptive language and word choice of professional authors as models for writing.

Create text that uses imagery, rhyme, dialogue, emphasis, or effect.

Create narratives that develop setting, plot, and character using suspense, figurative language, and dialogue.

Enhance personal style and voice through careful selection of words to create emphasis or effects.

Analyze writing for development of tone and point of view through language use.

Determine alternative words and meanings using a variety of digital or non-digital tools.

Write to inform, explain, describe, or report for a variety of purposes and audiences.

Narrow research questions to determine a clear, well-defined topic.

Support the main idea or topic with relevant facts, details, examples, and explanations from multiple sources.

Summarize and organize ideas gained from multiple sources using a variety of methods or tools.

Analyze the validity and reliability of information and sources.

Access and use information ethically.

Experiment with methods or tools to enhance communication or create effects.

Select a method or tool to present written works that supports clarity or voice.

Demonstrate legibility and writing fluency through the use of printing, cursive handwriting, or keyboarding.

Capitalization is used to indicate the importance of certain words in texts and can be used to create effects.

Abbreviations can make communications easy to read and understand.

Punctuation includes a colon, which can be used to introduce a list, give an explanation and give an example.

Verb tenses clearly establish the time of the actions in written or oral expression.

A simple sentence contains one independent clause.

A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb and is not always a complete sentence.

An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand on its own as a sentence.

A dependent clause does not express a complete thought and cannot stand on its own as a sentence.

A compound sentence contains two or more independent clauses that are usually joined by a conjunction.

Spelling accuracy can be supported by the application of complex patterns.

Spelling accuracy can involve understanding how words are created by manipulating prefixes and suffixes to a base (derivation).

Spelling accuracy and fluency enhance written communication.

Correct use of capitalization and punctuation can strengthen and enhance written communication.

Communication is enhanced when correct conventions of grammar are maintained.

Spelling accuracy can be enhanced by recognizing patterns and by making spelling-meaning connections.

Apply capitalization appropriately in written communication.

Apply punctuation appropriately in written communication.

Experiment with capitalization and punctuation to create a variety of effects.

Maintain consistent use of tense throughout communications.

Use subject-verb agreement in communications.

Use independent and dependent clauses in sentences.

Differentiate between simple and compound sentences.

Apply spelling patterns within and across known and unfamiliar words.

Apply knowledge of bases and affixes to spell words.