Grade 6 English Language Arts: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 6 english language arts in the Prince Edward Island Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Speaking and Listening. Students will be expected to speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences.
- Speaking and Listening. Students will be expected to communicate information and ideas effectively and clearly, and to respond personally and critically.
- Speaking and Listening. Students will be expected to interact with sensitivity and respect, considering the situation, audience, and purpose.
- Reading and Viewing. Students will be expected to select, read, and view with understanding a range of literature, information, media, and visual texts.
- Reading and Viewing. Students will be expected to interpret, select, and combine information using a variety of strategies, resources, and technologies.
- Reading and Viewing. Students will be expected to respond personally to a range of texts.
- Reading and Viewing. Students will be expected to respond critically to a range of texts, applying their understanding of language, form, and genre.
- Writing and Other Ways of Representing. Students will be expected to use writing and other forms of representation to explore, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and learnings; and to use their imaginations.
- Writing and Other Ways of Representing. Students will be expected to create texts collaboratively and independently, using a wide variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes.
- Writing and Other Ways of Representing. Students will be expected to use a range of strategies to develop effective writing and other ways of representing and to enhance their clarity, precision, and effectiveness.
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
Learning to Learn
Practises using prior knowledge, asking open-ended questions, making connections, adjusting reading rate, and choosing and tracking learning goals.
Roots & Analogies
Using Greek and Latin roots (like “geo,” “aud” and “port”) to work out unfamiliar words, and completing analogies that compare word relationships.
Text Features & Forms
Practises text features such as the table of contents, index, glossary, captions and diagrams, the names of common text forms, and subject-specific vocabulary.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Media, Bias & Diversity
Practises how multimodal texts combine modes, how audience and purpose shape a text, and how to notice bias, stereotypes, inclusion and equity in texts.
Plan & Organize Writing
Practises choosing a focused topic for an audience, planning with organizers, using organization patterns such as cause and effect, and building introductions, paragraphs and conclusions.
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.
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.
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.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- 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 PEI 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 Prince Edward Island Curriculum Grade 6 english language arts units include learning to learn, roots & analogies, text features & forms, text forms & features, close reading, point of view.
Free printable Grade 6 english language arts practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.