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Wisconsin Standards

Wisconsin 6th Grade ELA Standards

All 29 Wisconsin English language arts standards for 6th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's document, linked at the end of this page.

29 standards

Reading

9 standards
R.6.1
Quote evidence from the text to back up an analysis of what it states and what it implies, like lines that reveal why a character lies.
R.6.2
Summarize texts across genres and trace how a theme or central idea grows through key details from beginning to end.
R.6.3
Describe how a plot unfolds and how characters react or change, and analyze how nonfiction introduces, connects, and develops people, events, and ideas.
R.6.4
Find the figurative and connotative meanings of words and analyze how word choices, like a word with two meanings, affect meaning, tone, and mood.
R.6.5
Analyze how one sentence, paragraph, chapter, or scene fits a text's overall structure and helps build its theme, central idea, setting, or plot.
R.6.6
Spot point of view and possible bias in stories, explain how an author's home, identity, or culture shapes their view, and show how they set it apart from others.
R.6.7
Compare how different formats, like a printed article, a video, and a website, help readers understand the same subject.
R.6.8
Follow an argument step by step and judge which claims rest on solid reasons and evidence and which ones do not.
R.6.9
Rate the quality of a text and link it to other books, ideas, cultural views, identities, eras, and their own experiences, like a novel set during a war.

Writing

9 standards
W.6.1
Write reflectively, formally, and creatively, alone or combined, for quick and high-stakes purposes alike, like a learning journal or a research paper.
W.6.2
Write arguments with clear reasons and evidence, informative pieces that select and analyze content, and narratives with vivid details and a well-built sequence.
W.6.3
Introduce and organize a topic, end with a fitting conclusion, clarify links between ideas with transitions, and use precise, subject, and sensory words.
W.6.4
Write clearly and coherently, alone and with others, using development, organization, and style that fit the task and audience and honor the writer's culture.
W.6.5
Strengthen writing with help from classmates and adults by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a whole new approach.
W.6.6
Use paper, online, audio, and visual tools to publish and collaborate, and choose between handwriting, cursive, or typing three pages in one sitting.
W.6.7
Do short research projects to answer a question, using several sources and narrowing or shifting the question when needed.
W.6.8
Collect information from print and online sources, judge how credible each is, quote or paraphrase without plagiarizing, and list basic source details.
W.6.9
Back up analysis, reflection, and research with evidence taken from stories and informational texts, like a statistic from a science article.

Speaking and Listening

5 standards
SL.6.1
Come to discussions prepared with evidence, help set group norms and goals, elaborate on others' points, and paraphrase different perspectives.
SL.6.2
Interpret information from media like videos, infographics, and maps and explain what it adds to the topic or text being studied.
SL.6.3
Listen to a speaker's argument, like a debate speech, and judge which claims have reasons and evidence behind them and which do not.
SL.6.4
Share claims and research findings in a sensible order, backed by evidence, speaking clearly and engagingly and explaining why they chose their words.
SL.6.5
Add multimedia and visual displays, like a graph or short video clip, to presentations to make information clearer and stronger.

Language

6 standards
L.6.1
See standard English as one dialect shaped by power, fit language to each situation, combine or trim sentences for style, and keep a steady tone.
L.6.2
Figure out unknown words using context, word parts, and Greek or Latin roots, then confirm a guessed meaning in context or a dictionary.
L.6.3
Explain a nonliteral phrase like take steps, name someone who is friendly to link a word to real life, and rank knew, believed and suspected by how sure they are.
L.6.4
Build vocabulary alone and with others when meeting new cultural, academic, and subject words, and choose words on purpose to fit the situation.
L.6.5
Use standard grammar when it fits, explain choices with subject, object, possessive, and intensive pronouns like themselves, and polish how ideas are expressed.
L.6.6
Use commas, parentheses, and dashes to set off extra information in formal writing, explain why they were chosen, and spell correctly.

The official Wisconsin documents

The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Wisconsin's standards, not the official wording, which Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.