Grade 6 English Language Arts: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 6 english language arts in the Nova Scotia Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- A1 Foundations of Language: Learners will apply listening, speaking, and non-verbal communication skills and strategies to understand and communicate meaning for various audiences, purposes, and cultural contexts.
- A2 Foundations of Language: Learners will apply understanding of foundational language knowledge and skill when reading and writing.
- A3 Foundations of Language: Learners will apply knowledge of sentence structure, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation when reading and writing.
- B1 Comprehension: Learners will apply knowledge of text forms and organizational structures to comprehend texts.
- B2 Comprehension: Learners will use reading, listening, and viewing strategies to comprehend a variety of texts that represent diverse perspectives, cultures and experiences.
- B3 Comprehension: Learners will analyse a variety of texts that represent individuals with diverse identities, perspectives, cultures and experiences.
- C1 Composition: Learners will apply pre-writing skills and strategies to develop various texts for a range of authentic audiences and purposes.
- C2 Composition: Learners will apply knowledge and understanding of text forms to write a variety of texts.
- C3 Composition: Learners will use suitable and effective media, techniques, and tools to publish and present final texts in a range of text forms.
- D1 Content areas: Learners will apply literacy skills to comprehend and communicate ideas in the content areas.
Easy ways to practise english language arts at home
- Read what they are interested in: graphic novels, sports pages, series. Then talk about it.
- Ask for the main idea and one piece of evidence from the text.
- Have them write real messages: a thank-you note, a short review, a note to a relative.
- Read their writing aloud to them; they often spot their own mistakes by ear.
What each unit covers
Roots & Analogies
Using Greek and Latin roots (like “geo,” “aud” and “port”) to work out unfamiliar words, and completing analogies that compare word relationships.
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.
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.
Commas & Clauses
Finding dependent clauses, telling simple, compound and complex sentences apart, and using commas in lists, compound sentences, introductions and appositives.
Text Forms & Features
Recognizing problem-and-solution reports, scripts, and web features like menus, and explaining how pictures and graphics add to a text.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Limited
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Basic
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Good
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Thorough
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Nova Scotia report card guide.
Common questions
Read what they are interested in: graphic novels, sports pages, series. Then talk about it. Ask for the main idea and one piece of evidence from the text. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Nova Scotia Curriculum Grade 6 english language arts units include roots & analogies, agreement, sentence repair, commas & clauses, text forms & features, close reading.
Free printable Grade 6 english language arts practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.