6th grade English Language Arts
17 units matched to the New York State Learning Standards. Kids see this subject as “Language Arts”.
Focus areas
- Reading: point of view, word choice and tone, tracing an argument
- Comparing texts: judging quality and how culture, place and era shape a text
- Writing: claims and evidence, judging whether a source is credible
- Language: agreement, fixing run-ons, commas and spelling
Units
Unit 1
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.
Learning standard: 6R6 · point of view and narration
Unit 2
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.
Learning standard: 6R4; 6L5; 6L3 · connotation and tone
Unit 3
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.
Learning standard: 6W1; 6R8 · claims, evidence and counterarguments
Unit 4
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.
Learning standard: 6L1 · subject-verb and pronoun agreement
Unit 5
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.
Learning standard: 6L1; 6L2 · fixing fragments, run-ons and comma splices
Unit 6
Commas & Clauses
Finding dependent clauses, telling simple, compound and complex sentences apart, and using commas in lists, compound sentences, introductions and appositives.
Learning standard: 6L2 · commas, clauses and sentence types
Unit 7
Roots & Analogies
Using Greek and Latin roots (like “geo,” “aud” and “port”) to work out unfamiliar words, and completing analogies that compare word relationships.
Learning standard: 6L4; 6L5; 6L6 · Greek and Latin roots and analogies
Unit 8
Punctuation Power
Using a colon in a formal greeting or after a speaker's name in a script, and putting a comma after words like However and phrases like For example.
Learning standard: 6L2 · colons, scripts and transitions
Unit 9
Text Forms & Features
Recognizing problem-and-solution reports, scripts, and web features like menus, and explaining how pictures and graphics add to a text.
Learning standard: 6R5; 6R7 · text patterns, scripts and visual features
Unit 10
Check the Source
Children practice judging whether a source is credible and accurate, reading laterally, checking text and images made by technology such as chatbots, narrowing research questions and citing sources.
Learning standard: 6W6; 6W7 · research questions and judging whether a source is credible
Unit 11
Media Techniques
Children name persuasion techniques such as bandwagon, testimonials, fear and scarcity, notice camera angles, music and what is left out, and think about why people react to the same message differently.
Learning standard: 6R7; 6SL2 · an author's purpose and the techniques media messages use
Unit 12
Spelling: Endings and Sound-Alikes
Children practice US spelling: when to double a final consonant, -ance and -ence, -cious and -tious, words that break i before e, and commonly confused words such as their, there and they're.
Learning standard: 6L2 · spelling correctly with suffix rules, tricky patterns and commonly confused words
Unit 13
Plan & Organize Writing
Practices choosing a focused topic for an audience, planning with organizers, using organization patterns such as cause and effect, and building introductions, paragraphs and conclusions.
Learning standard: 6W2 · planning informational writing and organizing it in paragraphs and text patterns
Unit 14
Media, Bias & Diversity
Practices how multimodal texts combine modes, how audience and purpose shape a text, and how to notice bias, stereotypes, inclusion and equity in texts.
Learning standard: 6SL5 · how words, pictures and sound work together in media and presentations
Unit 15
Judge and Compare Texts
Your child uses clear criteria to judge texts, tells a summary from an evaluation, and compares texts across genres, cultures and eras, including how an author's place or background shapes their perspective.
Learning standard: 6R9; 6R6 · judging texts with criteria and comparing them across genres, cultures, eras and perspectives
Unit 16
Read Closely: Evidence, Theme and Change
Your child picks the evidence that supports an inference, tells explicit from implied meaning, traces how a theme or central idea develops, writes objective summaries and follows how plots unfold, characters change and ideas are introduced and connected.
Learning standard: 6R1; 6R2; 6R3 · citing evidence for inferences, how a theme or central idea develops, summarizing, and how plots and ideas unfold
Unit 17
Stories, Responses and Evidence
Your child chooses narrative techniques (openings, dialogue, pacing, transitions, sensory details, reflective endings), creative responses to texts, and evidence that supports analysis, reflection and research.
Learning standard: 6W3; 6W4; 6W5 · narrative technique, creative responses to texts, and drawing evidence for analysis, reflection and research
Ready to try Gradelings?
Curriculum-matched practice for Kindergarten to Grade 9 in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Nunavut, and in Washington, Oregon, California, New York, Texas, Maine, Minnesota, Alaska, Alabama, Arizona and Arkansas, with kind hints, learning games and no ads. Subscribe now, or try everything free for 30 days with no card.