Appendix 2: Implementing New Mexico State and District 6 th Grade Standards
Social Studies Standards
Strand: History
Content Standard 1: Students are able to identify important people and events in order to analyze significant patterns, relationships, themes, ideas, beliefs, and turning points in New Mexico, United States, and world history in order to understand the human experience.
Benchmark 1-C - World: Compare and contrast major historical eras, events, and figures from ancient civilizations to the Age of Exploration.
1-C-5: Compare and contrast the geographical, political, economic, and social characteristics of the Ancient Greeks, Ancient Roman, Ottoman, Indian, Arabic, African, and Middle Eastern civilizations and their enduring impacts on later civilizations to include:
b) development of concepts of government and citizenship
d) contributions and roles of key figures
Benchmark 1-D - Skills: Research historical events and people from a variety of perspectives
Strand: Civics and Government
Content Standard 3: Students understand the ideals, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship and understand the content and history of the founding documents of the U.S. with particular emphasis on the U.S. and New Mexico constitutions and how governments function at local, state, tribal, and national levels.
Benchmark 3-A: Understand the structure, functions, and powers of government
3-A-2: Describe the concept of republic as developed by the Romans and compare to other republican governments.
Benchmark 3-B:Explain the significance of symbols, icons, songs, traditions, and leaders of New Mexico and the U.S. that exemplify ideals and provide continuity and a sense of unity.
3-B-1: Describe the significance of leadership in democratic societies and provide examples of local, national, and international leadership to include:
a) qualities of leadership
Benchmark 3-C: Compare political philosophies and concepts of government that became the foundation for the American Revolution and the U.S. government.
3-C-1: Explain how Greek and Roman societies expanded and advanced the role of citizen
Language Arts Standards
Strand: Reading and Listening for Comprehension
Content Standard 1: Students will apply strategies and skills to comprehend information that is read, heard, and viewed.
Benchmark 1-A: Listen to, read, react to, and retell information
Benchmark 1-B: Gather and use information for research and other purposes.
Benchmark 1-C: Apply critical thinking skills to analyze information.
Benchmark 1-D: Demonstrate competence in the skills and strategies of the reading process.
Strand: Writing and Speaking for Expression
Content Standard 2: Students will communicate effectively through speaking and writing.
Benchmark 2-A: Use speaking as an interpersonal communication tool
Benchmark 2-B: Apply grammatical and language conventions to communicate
Benchmark 2-C: Demonstrate competence in the skills and strategies of the writing process
Strand: Literature and Media
Content Standard: Students will use literature and media to develop an understanding of people, societies, and the self.
Benchmark 3-A: Use language, literature, and media to understand various social and cultural perspectives
Benchmark 3-B: Identify ideas and make connections among literary works
Appendix 3: Overview of 6+1 Traits of Writing
Many teachers are familiar with the 6+1 Traits of Writing framework. This powerful model sets up expectations for the components of writing in a clear and comprehensive system. There are seven areas that are included: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions, and Presentation. The last was added recently in response to teacher feedback. This model not only guides instruction, but also serves as an assessment tool. A scoring rubric for teachers, running from 0 - 5, gives guidelines for evaluating student writing; a student-friendly version of the rubric clarifies the essential skill levels for the children. I distribute and review this rubric in our first class so that they understand and are aware of my expectations from the beginning.
Additional information about 6+1 Traits of Writing can be found at http://www.thetraits.org/index.php. Downloadable posters and lesson plans for teaching this model are also available.
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