New York State Standards for Language Arts: Grade 6

NY.1. Reading: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

1.1. Locate and use school and public library resources, with some direction, to acquire information

1.2. Use the table of contents and indexes to locate information

1.3. Read to collect and interpret data, facts, and ideas from multiple sources

1.4. Read the steps of a procedure in order to accomplish a task such as completing a science experiment or installing software

1.5. Skim material to gain an overview of content or locate specific information

1.6. Use text features, such as headings, captions, and titles, to understand and interpret informational texts

1.7. Recognize organizational formats to assist in comprehension of informational texts

1.8. Identify missing, conflicting, unclear, and irrelevant information

1.9. Distinguish between fact and opinion

1.10. Identify information that is implied rather than stated

1.11. Compare and contrast information about one topic from multiple sources

1.12. Recognize how new information is related to prior knowledge or experience

1.13. Identify main ideas and supporting details in informational texts to distinguish relevant and irrelevant information

1.14. Apply thinking skills, such as define, classify, and infer, to interpret data, facts, and ideas from informational texts, with assistance

1.15. Use knowledge of structure, content, and vocabulary to understand informational texts, with assistance

1.16. Condense, combine, or categorize new information from one or more sources, with assistance

1.17. Draw conclusions and make inferences on the basis of explicit and implied information, with assistance

1.18. Make, confirm, or revise predictions, with assistance

NY.2. Reading: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.

2.1. Read, view, and interpret texts from a variety of genres

2.2. Define characteristics of different genres

2.3. Select literary texts on the basis of personal needs and interests and read silently for enjoyment for extended periods

2.4. Read aloud from a variety of genres; e.g., plays and poems (use inflection and intonation appropriate to text read and audience)

2.5. Recognize that the same story can be told in different genres (e.g., novels, poems, or plays)

2.6. Identify literary elements, (e.g., setting, plot, character, rhythm, and rhyme) of different genres

2.7. Recognize how the author uses literary devices, such as simile, metaphor, and personification, to create meaning

2.8. Recognize how different authors treat similar themes

2.9. Identify the ways in which characters change and develop throughout a story

2.10. Interpret characters, plot, setting, and theme, using evidence from the text, with assistance

2.11. Identify the author's point of view, such as first-person narrator and omniscient narrator, with assistance

2.12. Determine how the use and meaning of literary devices, such as symbolism, metaphor and simile, alliteration, personification, flashback, and foreshadowing, convey the author's message or intent, with assistance

2.13. Recognize how the author's use of language creates images or feelings, with assistance

2.14. Identify poetic elements, such as repetition, rhythm, and rhyming patterns, in order to interpret poetry, with assistance

2.15. Identify social and cultural context and other characteristics of the time period to enhance understanding and appreciation of text, with assistance

NY.3. Reading: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.

3.1. Evaluate information, ideas, opinions, and themes by identifying a central idea and supporting details

3.2. Evaluate information, ideas, opinions, and themes by identifying precise and vague language

3.3. Evaluate information, ideas, opinions, and themes by identifying statements of fact, opinion, and exaggeration

3.4. Evaluate information, ideas, opinions, and themes by identifying missing or unclear information

3.5. Use established and personal criteria to analyze and evaluate the quality of ideas and information in text

3.6. Identify different perspectives, such as social, cultural, ethnic, and historical, on an issue presented in one or more than one text

3.7. Recognize how one's own point of view contributes to forming an opinion about information and ideas

3.8. Evaluate, with assistance, the validity and accuracy of information, ideas, themes, opinions, and experiences in text to identify conflicting information

3.9. Evaluate, with assistance, the validity and accuracy of information, ideas, themes, opinions, and experiences in text to consider the background and qualifications of the writer

3.10. Evaluate, with assistance, the validity and accuracy of information, ideas, themes, opinions, and experiences in text to evaluate examples, details, or reasons used to support ideas

3.11. Evaluate, with assistance, the validity and accuracy of information, ideas, themes, opinions, and experiences in text to identify differing points of view in texts and presentations

3.12. Evaluate, with assistance, the validity and accuracy of information, ideas, themes, opinions, and experiences in text to identify cultural and ethnic values and their impact on content, with assistance

3.13. Evaluate, with assistance, the validity and accuracy of information, ideas, themes, opinions, and experiences in text to identify multiple levels of meaning

NY.4. Reading: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.

4.1. Share reading experiences to build a relationship with peers or adults; for example, read together silently or aloud with a partner or in small groups

4.2. Respect the age, gender, position, and cultural traditions of the writer

4.3. Recognize the types of language (e.g., jargon, colloquialisms, informal vocabulary, and email conventions) that are appropriate to social communication

2.16. Identify and describe characters and their motivations, with assistance

2.17. Analyze the impact of the setting, with assistance

2.18. Identify how the use of literary devices, such as symbolism, metaphor and simile, personification, and flashback, affects meaning, with assistance

2.19. Draw conclusions and provide reasons for the conclusions, with assistance

2.20. Compare and contrast characters, setting, mood, and voice in more than one literary text or performance, with assistance

4.4. Write personal reactions about experiences, events, and observations, using a form of social communication

4.5. Maintain a portfolio that includes writing for social communication