6th Grade Report Overview

The grade 6 CommonLit 360 materials meet the expectations for alignment. The materials include anchor texts that are well-crafted, content-rich, and rich in language and academic vocabulary, and texts reflect the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards. There are consistent opportunities for students to respond to text-dependent questions and tasks that require evidence collection.

Throughout the program, students have varied opportunities to demonstrate knowledge about what they are reading and learning through various speaking and listening protocols. Students also have many opportunities to practice their writing both in on-demand and process writing tasks. However, students do not engage in learning informative or expository, argumentative, and narrative writing at the distribution required by the standards.

While the materials include grammar and usage activities, there is limited explicit grammar instruction and few opportunities for students to demonstrate the application of grade-level grammar and usage skills. The materials include a year-long plan for students to interact and build vocabulary, including vocabulary activities, vocabulary quizzes, and a word wall.

The materials are grouped around topics/themes across six units to grow students’ knowledge over the course of the school year. Throughout the course of the year, most sets of questions and tasks support students’ analysis of knowledge and ideas. Learning builds throughout the unit toward the culminating tasks, so most questions build on student knowledge to prepare them for the culminating task. The materials also provide opportunities for students to complete research activities tied to topics and core unit texts.

The pacing for the six units in the program is generally reasonable, and the suggested implementation schedule can be reasonably completed in one school year. Optional tasks do not distract from student learning and generally enhance it.