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Common Core ELA6th GradeSpeaking & Listening

SL.6.2: Explain What a Source Adds

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.2 · Cluster: Comprehension and Collaboration.

Make a Review GameAll 41 6th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 6, Speaking & Listening · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What SL.6.2 Means in Plain English

Sixth graders interpret a chart, a map, a video or a speech, then explain what it adds to the topic the class is studying. A graph of hours spent fetching water does more than repeat an article about a village well: it shows the pattern behind one girl’s story.

Fifth graders (SL.5.2) summarized a read-aloud or the information in a video or chart. Sixth grade keeps that summary short and takes on the harder half: what the source brings to the unit. Seventh grade (SL.7.2) analyzes the main ideas and details in each format.

SL.6.2 I Can Statements

  • I can say what a chart, map or video shows in a sentence.
  • I can explain what a source adds to the topic we’re studying.
  • I can name something a graph shows that the text didn’t.

SL.6.2 Worked Example

One graph, two spoken explanations. Both read it correctly, but only one says why it belongs in the unit.

Prompt

During a unit on fresh water, the class read an article about a girl who walked hours to a pond each day, until a well was dug and she could start school. Now the teacher shows a bar graph: in Village A, which has no well, girls spend about five hours a day collecting water. In Village B, which has one, they spend about thirty minutes. Explain what the graph adds.

Not YetThe graph shows Village A is five hours and Village B is thirty minutes. Village A has a way taller bar. Five hours is a really long time.Every number is right, and that’s the trouble: the answer reads the graph back and stops. Nothing links it to the article or the unit, so listeners can’t tell why it was shown.
Meets the StandardThe article told us about one girl, and the graph shows she isn’t unusual. Without a well, five hours a day is normal for girls in Village A. With a well, it drops to half an hour. That’s four and a half hours back every day, which explains how the girl in the article could start school once her village got a well. The graph turns her story into a pattern.It says what the graph shows in two sentences, then does the real work: it names what the graph adds, a pattern and a scale, and ties it back to the article the class read.
Moves to Use
Say what the source shows in one or two sentences, with its key numbers or words.Name what it adds: a pattern, a scale, a place, a voice.Tie it back to the text or question the unit is built on.Ask what this format shows that the others couldn’t.

Common Mistakes with SL.6.2

Reading the numbers back

“Village A is five hours and Village B is thirty minutes.” Then silence.

Try this: Follow every summary with “So what does that add to our unit?” and wait until the answer names the topic or text.

Watching the clip as a break

Students watch a two-minute video and afterward remember only the funny part

Try this: Pose one question before pressing play, like what this clip shows that the article didn’t, and discuss it right after.

Calling every source the same

“The graph is basically the same as the article.”

Try this: Ask students for one thing only the graph shows and one only the article shows, then how the two fit together.

Where SL.6.2 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.5.2Summarize a text read aloud or information from a video, chart or talk.
AlongsideRI.6.7Integrate information from words, charts and other formats into one understanding of a topic.SL.6.5Choose media for your own presentations, the same question from the speaker’s side.
Comes NextSL.7.2Analyze main ideas and supporting details across formats and how they clarify a topic.

Practice SL.6.2

Jeopardy Game MakerFree ToolBuild a unit review board with a category of questions about the charts, maps and clips the class studied, where each answer says what the source added.Unit reviewCharts and mapsTeam play
Make a Game
Classroom TimerFree ToolGive partners ninety seconds each after a chart or clip: one minute on what it shows, thirty seconds on what it adds.90-second turnsAfter a clip
Start a Timer

Quick Check

  1. What does the graph show, in one sentence?
  2. What does the graph add that the article alone didn’t?
  3. Why does the weak answer fall short even though its numbers are right?

SL.6.2: Other Names

SL.6.2CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.2

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.