California State Standards |
READING |
| Engage the interest of the reader and state a clear purpose. |
| Develop the topic with supporting details and precise verbs, nouns, and adjectives to paint a visual image in the mind of the reader. |
| Conclude with a detailed summary linked to the purpose of the composition. |
Research and Technology 1.4 Use organizational features of electronic text (e.g., bulletin boards, databases, keyword searches, e-mail addresses) to locate information. 1.5 Compose documents with appropriate formatting by using word-processing skills and principles of design (e.g., margins, tabs, spacing, columns, page orientation).
Evaluation and Revision 1.6 Revise writing to improve the organization and consistency of ideas within and between paragraphs.
2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)
Students write narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive texts of at least 500 to 700 words in each genre. Student writing demonstrates a command of standard American English and the research, organizational, and drafting strategies outlined in Writing Standard 1.0.
Using the writing strategies of grade six outlined in Writing Standard 1.0, students: 2.1 Write narratives:
Establish and develop a plot and setting and present a point of view that is appropriate to the stories. Include sensory details and concrete language to develop plot and character. Use a range of narrative devices (e.g., dialogue, suspense).
State the thesis or purpose. Explain the situation. Follow an organizational pattern appropriate to the type of composition. Offer persuasive evidence to validate arguments and conclusions as needed.
Pose relevant questions with a scope narrow enough to be thoroughly covered. Support the main idea or ideas with facts, details, examples, and explanations from multiple authoritative sources (e.g., speakers, periodicals, online information searches). Include a bibliography.
Develop an interpretation exhibiting careful reading, understanding, and insight. Organize the interpretation around several clear ideas, premises, or images. Develop and justify the interpretation through sustained use of examples and textual evidence.
State a clear position on a proposition or proposal. Support the position with organized and relevant evidence. Anticipate and address reader concerns and counterarguments.
The standards for written and oral English language conventions have been placed between those for writing and for listening and speaking because these conventions are essential to both sets of skills.
1.0 Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Students write and speak with a command of standard English conventions appropriate to this grade level.
Sentence Structure 1.1 Use simple, compound, and compound-complex sentences; use effective coordination and subordination of ideas to express complete thoughts.
Grammar 1.2 Identify and properly use indefinite pronouns and present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect verb tenses; ensure that verbs agree with compound subjects.
Punctuation 1.3 Use colons after the salutation in business letters, semicolons to connect independent clauses, and commas when linking two clauses with a conjunction in compound sentences.
Capitalization 1.4 Use correct capitalization.
Spelling 1.5 Spell frequently misspelled words correctly (e.g., their, they're, there).
Listening and Speaking
1.0 Listening and Speaking Strategies
Students deliver focused, coherent presentations that convey ideas clearly and relate to the background and interests of the audience. They evaluate the content of oral communication.
Comprehension 1.1 Relate the speaker's verbal communication (e.g., word choice, pitch, feeling, tone) to the nonverbal message (e.g., posture, gesture). 1.2 Identify the tone, mood, and emotion conveyed in the oral communication. 1.3 Restate and execute multiple-step oral instructions and directions.
Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication 1.4 Select a focus, an organizational structure, and a point of view, matching the purpose, message, occasion, and vocal modulation to the audience. 1.5 Emphasize salient points to assist the listener in following the main ideas and concepts. 1.6 Support opinions with detailed evidence and with visual or media displays that use appropriate technology. 1.7 Use effective rate, volume, pitch, and tone and align nonverbal elements to sustain audience interest and attention.
Analysis and Evaluation of Oral and Media Communications 1.8 Analyze the use of rhetorical devices (e.g., cadence, repetitive patterns, use of onomatopoeia) for intent and effect. 1.9 Identify persuasive and propaganda techniques used in television and identify false and misleading information.
2.0 Speaking Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)
Students deliver well-organized formal presentations employing traditional rhetorical strategies (e.g., narration, exposition, persuasion, description). Student speaking demonstrates a command of standard American English and the organizational and delivery strategies outlined in Listening and Speaking Standard 1.0.
Using the speaking strategies of grade six outlined in Listening and Speaking Standard 1.0, students:
2.1 Deliver narrative presentations:
Establish a context, plot, and point of view. Include sensory details and concrete language to develop the plot and character. Use a range of narrative devices (e.g., dialogue, tension, or suspense).
Pose relevant questions sufficiently limited in scope to be completely and thoroughly answered. Develop the topic with facts, details, examples, and explanations from multiple authoritative sources (e.g., speakers, periodicals, online information).
Develop an interpretation exhibiting careful reading, understanding, and insight. Organize the selected interpretation around several clear ideas, premises, or images. Develop and justify the selected interpretation through sustained use of examples and textual evidence.
Provide a clear statement of the position. Include relevant evidence. Offer a logical sequence of information. Engage the listener and foster acceptance of the proposition or proposal.
Theorize on the causes and effects of each problem and establish connections between the defined problem and at least one solution. Offer persuasive evidence to validate the definition of the problem and the proposed solutions.
Number Sense
1.0 Students compare and order positive and negative fractions, decimals, and mixed numbers. Students solve problems involving fractions, ratios, proportions, and percentages:
1.1 Compare and order positive and negative fractions, decimals, and mixed numbers and place them on a number line. 1.2 Interpret and use ratios in different contexts (e.g., batting averages, miles per hour) to show the relative sizes of two quantities, using appropriate notations ( a/b, a to b, a:b ). 1.3 Use proportions to solve problems (e.g., determine the value of N if 4/7 = N/ 21, find the length of a side of a polygon similar to a known polygon). Use cross-multiplication as a method for solving such problems, understanding it as the multiplication of both sides of an equation by a multiplicative inverse. 1.4 Calculate given percentages of quantities and solve problems involving discounts at sales, interest earned, and tips.
2.0 Students calculate and solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division:
2.1 Solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of positive fractions and explain why a particular operation was used for a given situation. 2.2 Explain the meaning of multiplication and division of positive fractions and perform the calculations (e.g., 5/8 ÷ 15/16 = 5/8 x 16/15 = 2/3). 2.3 Solve addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems, including those arising in concrete situations, that use positive and negative integers and combinations of these operations. 2.4 Determine the least common multiple and the greatest common divisor of whole numbers; use them to solve problems with fractions (e.g., to find a common denominator to add two fractions or to find the reduced form for a fraction).
Algebra and Functions
1.0 Students write verbal expressions and sentences as algebraic expressions and equations; they evaluate algebraic expressions, solve simple linear equations, and graph and interpret their results:
1.1 Write and solve one-step linear equations in one variable. 1.2 Write and evaluate an algebraic expression for a given situation, using up to three variables. 1.3 Apply algebraic order of operations and the commutative, associative, and distributive properties to evaluate expressions; and justify each step in the process. 1.4 Solve problems manually by using the correct order of operations or by using a scientific calculator.
2.0 Students analyze and use tables, graphs, and rules to solve problems involving rates and proportions:
2.1 Convert one unit of measurement to another (e.g., from feet to miles, from centimeters to inches). 2.2 Demonstrate an understanding that rate is a measure of one quantity per unit value of another quantity. 2.3 Solve problems involving rates, average speed, distance, and time.
3.0 Students investigate geometric patterns and describe them algebraically:
3.1 Use variables in expressions describing geometric quantities (e.g., P = 2w + 2l, A = 1/2 bh, C = p d - the formulas for the perimeter of a rectangle, the area of a triangle, and the circumference of a circle, respectively). 3.2 Express in symbolic form simple relationships arising from geometry.
Measurement and Geometry
1.0 Students deepen their understanding of the measurement of plane and solid shapes and use this understanding to solve problems:
1.1 Understand the concept of a constant such as p ; know the formulas for the circumference and area of a circle. 1.2 Know common estimates of p (3.14; 22/7) and use these values to estimate and calculate the circumference and the area of circles; compare with actual measurements. 1.3 Know and use the formulas for the volume of triangular prisms and cylinders (area of base x height); compare these formulas and explain the similarity between them and the formula for the volume of a rectangular solid.
2.0 Students identify and describe the properties of two-dimensional figures:
2.1 Identify angles as vertical, adjacent, complementary, or supplementary and provide descriptions of these terms. 2.2 Use the properties of complementary and supplementary angles and the sum of the angles of a triangle to solve problems involving an unknown angle. 2.3 Draw quadrilaterals and triangles from given information about them (e.g., a quadrilateral having equal sides but no right angles, a right isosceles triangle).
Statistics, Data Analysis, and Probability
1.0 Students compute and analyze statistical measurements for data sets:
1.1 Compute the range, mean, median, and mode of data sets. 1.2 Understand how additional data added to data sets may affect these computations of measures of central tendency. 1.3 Understand how the inclusion or exclusion of outliers affects measures of central tendency. 1.4 Know why a specific measure of central tendency (mean, median) provides the most useful information in a given context.
2.0 Students use data samples of a population and describe the characteristics and limitations of the samples:
2.1 Compare different samples of a population with the data from the entire population and identify a situation in which it makes sense to use a sample. 2.2 Identify different ways of selecting a sample (e.g., convenience sampling, responses to a survey, random sampling) and which method makes a sample more representative for a population. 2.3 Analyze data displays and explain why the way in which the question was asked might have influenced the results obtained and why the way in which the results were displayed might have influenced the conclusions reached. 2.4 Identify data that represent sampling errors and explain why the sample (and the display) might be biased. 2.5 Identify claims based on statistical data and, in simple cases, evaluate the validity of the claims.
3.0 Students determine theoretical and experimental probabilities and use these to make predictions about events:
3.1 Represent all possible outcomes for compound events in an organized way (e.g., tables, grids, tree diagrams) and express the theoretical probability of each outcome. 3.2 Use data to estimate the probability of future events (e.g., batting averages or number of accidents per mile driven). 3.3 Represent probabilities as ratios, proportions, decimals between 0 and 1, and percentages between 0 and 100 and verify that the probabilities computed are reasonable; know that if P is the probability of an event, 1- P is the probability of an event not occurring. 3.4 Understand that the probability of either of two disjoint events occurring is the sum of the two individual probabilities and that the probability of one event following another, in independent trials, is the product of the two probabilities. 3.5 Understand the difference between independent and dependent events.
Mathematical Reasoning
1.0 Students make decisions about how to approach problems:
1.1 Analyze problems by identifying relationships, distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information, identifying missing information, sequencing and prioritizing information, and observing patterns. 1.2 Formulate and justify mathematical conjectures based on a general description of the mathematical question or problem posed. 1.3 Determine when and how to break a problem into simpler parts.
2.0 Students use strategies, skills, and concepts in finding solutions:
2.1 Use estimation to verify the reasonableness of calculated results. 2.2 Apply strategies and results from simpler problems to more complex problems. 2.3 Estimate unknown quantities graphically and solve for them by using logical reasoning and arithmetic and algebraic techniques. 2.4 Use a variety of methods, such as words, numbers, symbols, charts, graphs, tables, diagrams, and models, to explain mathematical reasoning. 2.5 Express the solution clearly and logically by using the appropriate mathematical notation and terms and clear language; support solutions with evidence in both verbal and symbolic work. 2.6 Indicate the relative advantages of exact and approximate solutions to problems and give answers to a specified degree of accuracy. 2.7 Make precise calculations and check the validity of the results from the context of the problem.
3.0 Students move beyond a particular problem by generalizing to other situations:
3.1 Evaluate the reasonableness of the solution in the context of the original situation. 3.2 Note the method of deriving the solution and demonstrate a conceptual understanding of the derivation by solving similar problems. 3.3 Develop generalizations of the results obtained and the strategies used and apply them in new problem situations.
Focus on Earth Science
Plate Tectonics and Earth's Structure
Plate tectonics accounts for important features of Earth's surface and major geologic events. As a basis for understanding this concept:
Students know evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents; the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and midocean ridges; and the distribution of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones.
Students know Earth is composed of several layers: a cold, brittle lithosphere; a hot, convecting mantle; and a dense, metallic core.
Students know lithospheric plates the size of continents and oceans move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle.
Students know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface.
Students know major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from plate motions.
Students know how to explain major features of California geology (including mountains, faults, volcanoes) in terms of plate tectonics.
Students know how to determine the epicenter of an earthquake and know that the effects of an earthquake on any region vary, depending on the size of the earthquake, the distance of the region from the epicenter, the local geology, and the type of construction in the region.
Topography is reshaped by the weathering of rock and soil and by the transportation and deposition of sediment. As a basis for understanding this concept:
Students know water running downhill is the dominant process in shaping the landscape, including California's landscape.
Students know rivers and streams are dynamic systems that erode, transport sediment, change course, and flood their banks in natural and recurring patterns.
Students know beaches are dynamic systems in which the sand is supplied by rivers and moved along the coast by the action of waves.
Students know earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods change human and wildlife habitats.
Heat moves in a predictable flow from warmer objects to cooler objects until all the objects are at the same temperature. As a basis for understanding this concept:
Students know energy can be carried from one place to another by heat flow or by waves, including water, light and sound waves, or by moving objects.
Students know that when fuel is consumed, most of the energy released becomes heat energy.
Students know heat flows in solids by conduction (which involves no flow of matter) and in fluids by conduction and by convection (which involves flow of matter).
Students know heat energy is also transferred between objects by radiation (radiation can travel through space).
Many phenomena on Earth's surface are affected by the transfer of energy through radiation and convection currents. As a basis for understanding this concept:
Students know the sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on Earth's surface; it powers winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle.
Students know solar energy reaches Earth through radiation, mostly in the form of visible light.
Students know heat from Earth's interior reaches the surface primarily through convection.
Students know convection currents distribute heat in the atmosphere and oceans.
Students know differences in pressure, heat, air movement, and humidity result in changes of weather.
Organisms in ecosystems exchange energy and nutrients among themselves and with the environment. As a basis for understanding this concept:
Students know energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis and then from organism to organism through food webs.
Students know matter is transferred over time from one organism to others in the food web and between organisms and the physical environment.
Students know populations of organisms can be categorized by the functions they serve in an ecosystem.
Students know different kinds of organisms may play similar ecological roles in similar biomes.
Students know the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and on abiotic factors, such as quantities of light and water, a range of temperatures, and soil composition.
Sources of energy and materials differ in amounts, distribution, usefulness, and the time required for their formation. As a basis for understanding this concept:
Students know the utility of energy sources is determined by factors that are involved in converting these sources to useful forms and the consequences of the conversion process.
Students know different natural energy and material resources, including air, soil, rocks, minerals, petroleum, fresh water, wildlife, and forests, and know how to classify them as renewable or nonrenewable.
Students know the natural origin of the materials used to make common objects.
Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:
Develop a hypothesis.
Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and display data.
Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop qualitative statements about the relationships between variables.
Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and oral presentations.
Recognize whether evidence is consistent with a proposed explanation.
Read a topographic map and a geologic map for evidence provided on the maps and construct and interpret a simple scale map.
Interpret events by sequence and time from natural phenomena (e.g., the relative ages of rocks and intrusions).
Identify changes in natural phenomena over time without manipulating the phenomena (e.g., a tree limb, a grove of trees, a stream, a hillslope).
6.1 Students describe what is known through archaeological studies of the early physical and cultural development of humankind from the Paleolithic era to the agricultural revolution.
Describe the hunter-gatherer societies, including the development of tools and the use of fire. Identify the locations of human communities that populated the major regions of the world and describe how humans adapted to a variety of environments. Discuss the climatic changes and human modifications of the physical environment that gave rise to the domestication of plants and animals and new sources of clothing and shelter.
Locate and describe the major river systems and discuss the physical settings that supported permanent settlement and early civilizations. Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power. Understand the relationship between religion and the social and political order in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Know the significance of Hammurabi's Code. Discuss the main features of Egyptian art and architecture. Describe the role of Egyptian trade in the eastern Mediterranean and Nile valley. Understand the significance of Queen Hatshepsut and Ramses the Great. Identify the location of the Kush civilization and describe its political, commercial, and cultural relations with Egypt. Trace the evolution of language and its written forms.
Describe the origins and significance of Judaism as the first monotheistic religion based on the concept of one God who sets down moral laws for humanity. Identify the sources of the ethical teachings and central beliefs of Judaism (the Hebrew Bible, the Commentaries): belief in God, observance of law, practice of the concepts of righteousness and justice, and importance of study; and describe how the ideas of the Hebrew traditions are reflected in the moral and ethical traditions of Western civilization. Explain the significance of Abraham, Moses, Naomi, Ruth, David, and Yohanan ben Zaccai in the development of the Jewish religion. Discuss the locations of the settlements and movements of Hebrew peoples, including the Exodus and their movement to and from Egypt, and outline the significance of the Exodus to the Jewish and other people. Discuss how Judaism survived and developed despite the continuing dispersion of much of the Jewish population from Jerusalem and the rest of Israel after the destruction of the second Temple in A.D. 70.
Discuss the connections between geography and the development of city-states in the region of the Aegean Sea, including patterns of trade and commerce among Greek city-states and within the wider Mediterranean region. Trace the transition from tyranny and oligarchy to early democratic forms of government and back to dictatorship in ancient Greece, including the significance of the invention of the idea of citizenship (e.g., from Pericles' Funeral Oration). State the key differences between Athenian, or direct, democracy and representative democracy. Explain the significance of Greek mythology to the everyday life of people in the region and how Greek literature continues to permeate our literature and language today, drawing from Greek mythology and epics, such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and from Aesop's Fables. Outline the founding, expansion, and political organization of the Persian Empire. Compare and contrast life in Athens and Sparta, with emphasis on their roles in the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars. Trace the rise of Alexander the Great and the spread of Greek culture eastward and into Egypt. Describe the enduring contributions of important Greek figures in the arts and sciences (e.g., Hypatia, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Thucydides).
Locate and describe the major river system and discuss the physical setting that sup-ported the rise of this civilization. Discuss the significance of the Aryan invasions. Explain the major beliefs and practices of Brahmanism in India and how they evolved into early Hinduism. Outline the social structure of the caste system. Know the life and moral teachings of Buddha and how Buddhism spread in India, Ceylon, and Central Asia. Describe the growth of the Maurya empire and the political and moral achievements of the emperor Asoka. Discuss important aesthetic and intellectual traditions (e.g., Sanskrit literature, including the Bhagavad Gita; medicine; metallurgy; and mathematics, including Hindu-Arabic numerals and the zero).
Locate and describe the origins of Chinese civilization in the Huang-He Valley during the Shang Dynasty. Explain the geographic features of China that made governance and the spread of ideas and goods difficult and served to isolate the country from the rest of the world. Know about the life of Confucius and the fundamental teachings of Confucianism and Taoism. Identify the political and cultural problems prevalent in the time of Confucius and how he sought to solve them. List the policies and achievements of the emperor Shi Huangdi in unifying northern China under the Qin Dynasty. Detail the political contributions of the Han Dynasty to the development of the imperial bureaucratic state and the expansion of the empire. Cite the significance of the trans-Eurasian "silk roads" in the period of the Han Dynasty and Roman Empire and their locations. Describe the diffusion of Buddhism northward to China during the Han Dynasty.
Identify the location and describe the rise of the Roman Republic, including the importance of such mythical and historical figures as Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, Cincinnatus, Julius Caesar, and Cicero. Describe the government of the Roman Republic and its significance (e.g., written constitution and tripartite government, checks and balances, civic duty). Identify the location of and the political and geographic reasons for the growth of Roman territories and expansion of the empire, including how the empire fostered economic growth through the use of currency and trade routes. Discuss the influence of Julius Caesar and Augustus in Rome's transition from republic to empire. Trace the migration of Jews around the Mediterranean region and the effects of their conflict with the Romans, including the Romans' restrictions on their right to live in Jerusalem. Note the origins of Christianity in the Jewish Messianic prophecies, the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament, and the contribution of St. Paul the Apostle to the definition and spread of Christian beliefs (e.g., belief in the Trinity, resurrection, salvation). Describe the circumstances that led to the spread of Christianity in Europe and other Roman territories. Discuss the legacies of Roman art and architecture, technology and science, literature, language, and law.