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Oklahoma Standards

Oklahoma 6th Grade ELA Standards

All 54 Oklahoma English language arts standards for 6th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is one click away under each one.

54 standards

Listening and Speaking: Listening

2 standards
Students will develop and apply effective communication skills through active listening.
6.1.L.1
Listen in discussions by the class rules, notice tone, gestures and facial expressions, and respond with awareness of how others feel.
Official wording
Students will actively listen using agreed-upon discussion rules, recognizing verbal and nonverbal cues while maintaining social awareness and responding accordingly.
6.1.L.2
Listen closely to a speaker, work out the message, and ask questions to learn why they are speaking, like to inform or to persuade.
Official wording
Students will actively listen and interpret a speaker’s verbal messages and ask questions to clarify the speaker’s purpose.

Listening and Speaking: Speaking

3 standards
Students will develop and apply effective communication skills to share ideas through speaking.
6.1.S.1
Do a fair share of the work in a group project, treat every teammate with respect, and give credit for what each member adds.
Official wording
Students will work effectively and respectfully in diverse groups by sharing responsibility for collaborative work and recognizing individual contributions.
6.1.S.2
Talk about books and writing with a partner, a small group or the whole class, stating ideas clearly and adding on to what classmates say.
Official wording
Students will engage in collaborative discussions about what they are reading and writing, expressing their own ideas clearly while building on the ideas of others in pairs, diverse groups, and whole-class settings.
6.1.S.3
Plan and give talks alone or with a group, formal or casual, choosing the purpose, content and format that fit the listeners, like a class report.
Official wording
Students will give formal and informal presentations in a group or individually, organizing information and determining the purpose, content, and form to suit the audience.

Reading and Writing Process: Reading

3 standards
Students will read and comprehend inclusive, diverse, and increasingly complex literary and informational texts.
6.2.R.1
Give a short summary of a print or multimedia text that states its main idea, like a recap of a magazine article or a video.
Official wording
Students will summarize alphabetic and/or multimodal texts, including main idea, to demonstrate comprehension.
6.2.R.2
Study details in stories, poems and nonfiction to tell which genre each belongs to, like rhyme and stanzas marking a poem.
Official wording
Students will analyze details in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction texts to distinguish genres.
6.2.R.3
Retell one paragraph using different wording to show it was understood, like rewriting a textbook paragraph in plain words.
Official wording
Students will paraphrase a paragraph in their own words to demonstrate comprehension.

Reading and Writing Process: Writing

5 standards
Students will engage in a recursive process that may include prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.
6.2.W.1
Plan before and during writing by brainstorming ideas and mapping them out, returning to planning whenever needed, like a web or a quick list.
Official wording
Students will routinely and recursively prewrite (e.g., develop ideas and plan).
6.2.W.2
Arrange and build out ideas into a first draft, going back to reshape them as often as needed.
Official wording
Students will routinely and recursively organize and develop ideas to compose a first draft.
6.2.W.3
Revise drafts again and again so they fit the purpose and readers, putting ideas in a logical order and linking them with transitions.
Official wording
Students will routinely and recursively revise drafts for intended purpose, audience, and organization (e.g., logicalorder and transitions).
6.2.W.4
Proofread writing for grammar, word usage, spelling and punctuation as often as needed, using tools like a dictionary or a grammar guide.
Official wording
Students will routinely and recursively edit for correct grammar, usage, and mechanics, using various resources.
6.2.W.5
Share finished writing with real readers, like posting it online, reading it aloud or entering a writing contest.
Official wording
Students will routinely and recursively publish final drafts for an authentic audience (e.g., publishing digitally, performing, entering contests).

Critical Reading and Writing: Reading

8 standards
Students will analyze, interpret, and evaluate increasingly complex literary and informational texts that include a wide range of historical, cultural, ethnic, and global perspectives from a variety of genres.
6.3.R.1
Compare and contrast why authors from different times, cultures or places wrote about the same topic, whether they say so or only hint at it.
Official wording
Students will compare and contrast stated or implied purposes of authors writing on the same topic from a variety of historical, cultural, ethnic, and global perspectives.
6.3.R.2
Judge how a historical, cultural, ethnic or global viewpoint shapes a story or nonfiction text, like a war described from two sides.
Official wording
Students will evaluate how perspective (e.g., historical, cultural, ethnic, and global) affects a variety of literary and informational texts.
6.3.R.3
Explain how setting, plot, hero and villain, characterization, inner and outer conflict, and limited or omniscient narrators shape a story's meaning.
Official wording
Students will analyze how literary elements contribute to the meaning of a literary text:•setting•plot•characters (i.e., protagonist, antagonist)•characterization•conflict (i.e., internal, external)•point of view (i.e., third person limited and omniscient)
6.3.R.4
Explain how similes, metaphors, hyperbole, symbols, idioms and other figurative language, plus alliteration and onomatopoeia, add to a text's meaning.
Official wording
Students will analyze how literary devices contribute to the meaning of a text:•figurative language (i.e., simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, imagery, symbolism, idiom)•sound devices (i.e., onomatopoeia, alliteration)
6.3.R.5
Point out the story elements and literary devices that shape a text's theme, like a recurring symbol that hints at the lesson.
Official wording
Students will identify literary elements and devices that impact a text’s theme.
6.3.R.6
Sort the facts in an argument into those that support an issue and those that oppose it, like pro and con columns on school uniforms.
Official wording
Students will categorize facts included in an argument as for or against an issue.
6.3.R.7
Explain how a text's structure, like compare and contrast, cause and effect, problem and solution, description or sequence, serves the author's purpose.
Official wording
Students will analyze how informational text structures support the author’s purpose:•compare/contrast•cause/effect•problem/solution•description•sequential
6.3.R.8
Dig into one or more ideas in a text and back each inference about them with details drawn from the text.
Official wording
Students will analyze one or more ideas from a text, providing textual evidence to support their inferences.

Critical Reading and Writing: Writing

3 standards
Students will thoughtfully and intentionally write, addressing a range of modes, purposes, and audiences.
6.3.W.1
Write true or invented stories told in time order where characters solve a conflict, using a narrator, dialogue, sensory details and techniques from model texts.
Official wording
Students will compose narratives reflecting real or imagined experiences that:•include plots involving characters resolving conflicts•unfold in chronological sequence•include a narrator, precise language, sensory details, and dialogue to enhance the narrative•use sentence variety to create clarity•emulate literary elements and/or literary devices from mentor texts
6.3.W.2
Write organized informative essays or reports that present a topic fairly, use facts, details, charts or data as evidence, and borrow craft from model texts.
Official wording
Students will compose informative essays or reports that:•objectively introduce and develop topics•incorporate evidence (e.g., specific facts, details, charts and graphs, data)•maintain an organized structure•use sentence variety and word choice to create clarity•emulate literary devices from mentor texts
6.3.W.3
Write argument essays with a precise claim, solid evidence from credible sources in logical order, and varied sentences and word choice for clarity.
Official wording
Students will compose argumentative essays that:•introduce precise claims•organize claims and evidence in a logical sequence•provide relevant evidence to develop arguments, using credible sources•use sentence variety and word choice to create clarity

Vocabulary: Reading

4 standards
Students will expand their grade-level vocabularies through reading, word study, and class discussion.
6.4.R.1
Explain how words relate as synonyms, antonyms and analogies, like hot is to cold as up is to down.
Official wording
Students will analyze the relationships among synonyms, antonyms, and analogies.
6.4.R.2
Work out a word's meaning from context, connotation and denotation, and tell apart words with several meanings, like a tree's bark and a dog's bark.
Official wording
Students will use context clues, connotation, and denotation to determine or clarify the meaning of words or distinguish among multiple-meaning words.
6.4.R.3
Use prefixes, suffixes, Latin roots and stems to define harder words, like spect meaning look in inspect and spectator.
Official wording
Students will use word parts (e.g., affixes, Latin roots, stems) to define and determine the meaning of increasingly complex words.
6.4.R.4
Look words up in a dictionary, glossary or thesaurus to check meaning, syllables, pronunciation, synonyms, antonyms and part of speech.
Official wording
Students will use a dictionary, glossary, or thesaurus to determine or clarify the meanings, syllabication, pronunciation, synonyms, antonyms, and parts of speech of words.

Vocabulary: Writing

2 standards
Students will apply knowledge of vocabulary to speak and write effectively.
6.4.W.1
Choose exact grade-level words in writing so ideas come across clearly, like sprinted instead of went fast.
Official wording
Students will use precise, grade-level vocabulary in writing to clearly communicate ideas.
6.4.W.2
Pick words on purpose in writing to create an effect, like a creepy mood in a scary story or urgency in a persuasive letter.
Official wording
Students will select language in writing to create a specific effect according to purpose.

Language: Reading

2 standards
Students will expand and apply knowledge of grammar, usage, mechanics, and style to comprehend, analyze, and/or evaluate a variety of texts.
6.5.R.1
Identify simple, compound and complex sentences when reading, like spotting two ideas joined by because.
Official wording
Students will recognize simple, compound, and complex sentences.
6.5.R.2
Explain how word types change meaning, like verb tense, subject verb agreement, prepositional phrases, reflexive pronouns, singular they and subordinating conjunctions.
Official wording
Students will recognize and explain the impact on meaning of parts of speech in sentences:•nouns•verb tense to signify various times, sequences, conditions, and states•subject and verb agreement•adjectives•prepositional phrases•reflexive pronouns and their antecedents•singular they/them/their•subordinating conjunctions•adverbs•interjections

Language: Writing

11 standards
Students will expand and apply knowledge of grammar, usage, mechanics, and style to speak and write effectively, demonstrating standard usage when appropriate.
6.5.W.1
Write simple, compound and complex sentences to make writing clearer and more varied, like joining two ideas with although.
Official wording
Students will compose simple, compound, and complex sentences to add clarity and variety in their writing.
6.5.W.2
Choose strong verbs, exact nouns, vivid adjectives and adverbs, prepositions and pronouns to make writing clear and varied, like dashed instead of went.
Official wording
Students will add clarity and variety to their writing with nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, adverbs, and pronouns.
6.5.W.3
Find and fix run-on sentences, subject verb agreement errors, and unneeded shifts in verb tense or in pronoun number and person.
Official wording
Students will recognize and correct the following: run-ons, errors in subject and verb agreement, inappropriate shifts in verb tense, and inappropriate shifts in pronoun number and person.
6.5.W.4
Capitalize correctly in writing, like names, places, titles and the first word of a sentence.
Official wording
Students will write using correct capitalization mechanics.
6.5.W.5
End each sentence with the right punctuation, a period, question mark or exclamation point.
Official wording
Students will write using correct end mark mechanics.
6.5.W.6
Use apostrophes correctly for contractions and possessives, like don't and the dog's bowl.
Official wording
Students will write using correct apostrophe mechanics.
6.5.W.7
Put a comma after an introductory word or phrase and when speaking directly to someone, like Yes, I can help or Sam, come here.
Official wording
Students will use commas to separate an introductory element from the rest of the sentence and to indicate direct address (e.g., Where are you, Sam?).
6.5.W.8
Use a colon to lead into a quotation from a source, like a fact from a magazine article placed after a full sentence.
Official wording
Students will use a colon to introduce a quotation from a source (e.g., According to National Geographic, meerkat homes are quite comfortable: “Each burrow is an extensive tunnel-and-room system that remains cool even under the broiling African sun.”).
6.5.W.9
Put quotation marks around spoken words, words borrowed from a source, and titles of works like poems and songs.
Official wording
Students will use quotation marks to indicate dialogue, quoted material, and titles of works.
6.5.W.10
Underline or italicize titles of works, like the name of a novel, a movie or a magazine.
Official wording
Students will use underlining or italics to indicate titles of works.
6.5.W.11
Join the two independent clauses of a compound sentence with a semicolon instead of a comma and a conjunction.
Official wording
Students will use a semicolon to punctuate compound sentences.

Research: Reading

3 standards
Students will gather, comprehend, evaluate, and synthesize researched information to acquire and refine knowledge.
6.6.R.1
Gather information on a topic by following workable research questions the student wrote, like how bees make honey.
Official wording
Students will use their own viable research questions to gather information about a topic.
6.6.R.2
Take notes from primary and secondary sources and sort them, like a diary entry and an encyclopedia article on the same event.
Official wording
Students will record and organize information from various primary and secondary sources.
6.6.R.3
Decide whether gathered information fits the topic and comes from a trustworthy source, like a museum website versus an anonymous post.
Official wording
Students will determine the relevance and reliability of the information gathered.

Research: Writing

4 standards
Students will synthesize information ethically through speaking and writing.
6.6.W.1
Write a research question that can actually be answered, then sharpen it, like narrowing sharks to how sharks find prey.
Official wording
Students will formulate and refine a viable research question.
6.6.W.2
Write a short, clear thesis sentence that states the main point of a research paper.
Official wording
Students will develop a clear, concise thesis statement.
6.6.W.3
Quote research findings and credit each source in one citation style used throughout, like MLA or APA, so nothing is plagiarized.
Official wording
Students will quote findings following a consistent citation style (e.g., MLA, APA) to avoid plagiarism.
6.6.W.4
Complete research papers or projects on one's own in short spans, like a single class period or a day or two.
Official wording
Students will create research papers and/or projects independently for shorter timeframes (e.g., a single sitting or a day or two).

Multimodal Literacies: Reading

1 standard
Students will comprehend and evaluate multimodal content.
6.7.R
Compare how well text, audio, images, layout and gestures get a message across from different viewpoints, like a poster versus a podcast on recycling.
Official wording
Students will compare and contrast the effectiveness of a variety of alphabetic, aural, visual, spatial, and/or gestural content from various perspectives.

Multimodal Literacies: Writing

1 standard
Students will create multimodal content to communicate effectively.
6.7.W
Create content mixing words, sound, images, movement or layout that gets ideas across to a chosen audience, like a slideshow with narration.
Official wording
Students will create multimodal content (i.e., alphabetic, aural, visual, gestural and/or spatial) that effectively communicates ideas for an intended audience.

Independent Reading and Writing: Reading

1 standard
Students will read self-selected texts independently, choosing genres to suit and expand their personal preferences and purposes.
6.8.R
Read books of one's own choosing independently for short and long stretches, sticking with favorite genres and trying new ones.
Official wording
Students will read self-selected texts independently and for various lengths of time, choosing genres to suit and expand their personal preferences and purposes.

Independent Reading and Writing: Writing

1 standard
Students will write independently, intentionally selecting modes, purposes, and audiences.
6.8.W
Write on one's own by hand, in cursive or by typing, for short or long stretches, choosing the genre that fits the reader and purpose.
Official wording
Students will write independently using print, cursive, and/or typing for various lengths of time, choosing modes and genres to suit their audience and purpose.

The official Oklahoma documents

Oklahoma Academic Standards for English Language Arts, Oklahoma State Department of Education.

The plain-English lines are EMStudio's own explanations, shown beside the official wording. They are not part of the standards.