In plain English: L.6.6 is the Common Core grade 6 ELA standard that asks students to learn and use accurately the general academic words and the subject-specific words of grade 6. When a word or phrase is important for understanding a text or for writing and speaking, students gather knowledge about it: its meaning in that subject, examples, related words and a reliable source.
Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy · Domain: Language Standards · Cluster: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use · Official standard
Students learn the two kinds of words that school reading and writing depend on. General academic words are words used in many subjects with much the same meaning, such as analyze, explain, pattern and significant. Domain-specific words belong to one subject, or domain, such as habitat in science, empire in social studies, integer in math and plot in English. The standard also covers phrases, such as as a result or primary source. Students acquire (learn) these words and use them accurately, which means using the word that fits the meaning and the subject.
The standard's last clause asks students to gather vocabulary knowledge when a word or phrase matters for comprehension (understanding what they read) or expression (saying or writing what they mean). Students learn to spot such words and to collect what they need: the meaning in that subject, examples, related words and a reliable source, in a word map or a vocabulary log. They practice with a science lesson from Thornton W. Burgess's The Burgess Animal Book for Children (1920), an original social studies passage about the Nile, an invented student lab report and an original science passage about fog.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Tell general academic words from domain-specific words and name the subject a domain-specific word belongs to
Learn the meanings of grade 6 academic and subject words and phrases from texts, glossaries and other reliable sources
Use academic and domain-specific words accurately in speaking and writing, replacing vague words with precise ones
Decide when a word or phrase is important to comprehension or expression and gather knowledge about it in a word map or vocabulary log
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Using grade 5 academic words, including words that signal contrast and addition, such as however and although L.5.6
Using context clues, word parts and reference materials to find meanings L.6.4
Reading science and social studies texts with headings, bold words and glossaries
"Here is a word you will hear in math, science, social studies and English class: table. Does it mean the same thing in every class? Now think of a word you have heard only in science class. What makes the two words different?"
Collect answers. Table can be furniture at home, but in math and science it is an organized chart of rows and columns, so the same word needs a school meaning. Students' science-only words (such as cell or gravity) belong to one subject. Introduce the two labels: words used across many subjects are general academic words, and words that belong to one subject are domain-specific words. Show Diagram 1.
Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
Part 1: Acquire the words. General academic words appear in directions, questions and explanations in every class, so learning them pays off everywhere. Domain-specific words carry the content of a subject; textbooks often print them in bold, define them in the sentence and list them in a glossary. Learn a domain word together with its subject, and connect it to words you know from the same topic.
Part 2: Use them accurately. Using a word accurately means choosing the word whose meaning fits exactly and using it the way people in that subject do. Replace vague words such as thing, stuff or got bigger with precise ones, and do not make a word say more than the facts allow.
Part 3: Gather vocabulary knowledge. Not every new word needs a full study. A word or phrase is important to comprehension if it names the topic, appears in a heading or in bold, is used several times, or if the main idea depends on it. It is important to expression if you need it to say exactly what you mean in your own writing or talk. For such a word, gather its meaning in this subject, examples and non-examples, related words and the source you checked, and write a sentence of your own (Diagram 2).
A general academic word across subjects
Analyze the data in the table. (science) Analyze the map of the trade routes. (social studies) Analyze how the author builds suspense. (English)
Result: In all three classes, analyze means to examine the parts of something closely to understand how they work together. Because the meaning stays the same, one lesson on the word helps in every class. A student who only describes the map, without explaining what its parts show, has not analyzed it.
A domain-specific meaning of a familiar word
The product of 6 and 4 is 24. Compare: The factory's newest product is a folding bike.
Result: In math, product is the result of multiplying, and 6 × 4 = 24. In everyday use and in social studies, a product is something made to be sold. The math meaning must be learned as part of the subject, because the everyday meaning gives no clue to it.
Using words accurately
A student writes: The stuff that plants use to make food comes from the sun, and it got bigger when we gave it more.
Result: Vague: stuff, it, got bigger. Accurate revision: Plants use energy from sunlight to make their own food, a process called photosynthesis. In our experiment, the plants that received more light grew more leaves. The revision names the process with its science term and says exactly what changed.
Gathering knowledge for comprehension
A science section is titled "Erosion Shapes the Land." The word erosion is in bold and appears five times.
Result: The heading, the bold type and the repetition show that the section cannot be understood without the word, so it is worth a word map (Diagram 2). The student records the meaning from the glossary (the wearing away and carrying off of soil and rock by water, wind or ice), examples, non-examples, related words such as erode, and a sentence of their own.
Gathering knowledge for expression
A student writing to the city council about a skate park keeps writing "the city rule about skateboards."
Result: To say it precisely, the student needs the right term. A dictionary and the city's website give ordinance: a law passed by a city or town government. The student checks an example sentence and revises: The current ordinance bans skateboarding in the downtown park, so we ask the council to set aside one area for a skate park.
Guided Practice15 minutes
Read the excerpt aloud. Burgess wrote a book of animal "lessons" for children in which Old Mother Nature teaches the young animals of the Green Forest. Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare, Happy Jack and Chatterer the squirrels, and Johnny Chuck (a woodchuck) are characters; the excerpt begins just after Old Mother Nature asks the young animals which order they belong to. Model how to gather knowledge about the domain-specific words in the table: first what the text itself tells you, then what a current science source adds. Pairs complete the last rows; the teacher key is in the right column.
1Happy Jack looked at Chatterer, Chatterer looked at Peter Rabbit, and Peter looked at Jumper the Hare. On the face of each was such a funny, puzzled expression that Old Mother Nature almost laughed right out. Finally Peter Rabbit found his tongue. “If you please,” said he, “I guess we don't know what you mean by an order.”
2“I thought as much,” said Old Mother Nature. “I thought as much. In the first place, the animals of the Great World are divided into big groups or divisions, and then these groups are divided into smaller groups, and these in turn into still smaller groups. Happy Jack and Chatterer belong to a group called the Squirrel family, and Peter and Jumper to a group called the Hare family. Both of these families and several other families belong to a bigger group called an order, and this order is the order of Gnawers, or Rodents.”
3Peter Rabbit fairly jumped up in the air, he was so excited. “Then Jumper and I must be related to Happy Jack and Chatterer,” he cried.
4“In a way you are,” replied Old Mother Nature. “It isn't a very close relationship, still you are related. All of you are Rodents. So are all the members of the Rat and Mouse family, the Beaver family, the Porcupine family, the Pocket Gopher family, the Pika family, and the Sewellel family.”
5By this time Peter's eyes looked as if they would pop right out of his head. “This is the first time I've ever heard of some of those families,” said he. “My, what a lot we have to learn! Is it because all the members of all those families have teeth for gnawing that they are all sort of related?”
6Old Mother Nature looked pleased. “Peter,” said she, “I think you ought to go to the head of the class. That is just why. All the members of all the families I have named belong to the same order, the order of Rodents. All the members have big, cutting, front teeth. Animals without such teeth cannot gnaw. Now, as you and Jumper have learned about your family, it is the turn of Happy Jack and Chatterer to learn about their family. Theirs is rather a large family, and it is divided into three groups, the first of which consists of the true Squirrels, to which group both Happy Jack and Chatterer belong. The second group consists of the Marmots, and Johnny Chuck belongs to this. The third group Timmy the Flying Squirrel has all to himself.”
Thornton W. Burgess, The Burgess Animal Book for Children, Chapter IV, "Chatterer and Happy Jack Join" (the order of Rodents) (1920). Public domain (published 1920). Source text.
Gathering knowledge about science words in the Burgess excerpt (teacher key in the last two columns)
Word (paragraph)
What the text tells you
What a current science source adds (teacher key)
order (2)
A big group of animals that contains several families
In the classification of living things, an order is a rank above family and below class; scientists group animals into order, family, genus and species.
family (2)
A smaller group inside an order, such as the Squirrel family
A family is a rank below order that contains related genera; the squirrel family includes tree squirrels, chipmunks and marmots such as the woodchuck.
Rodents, Gnawers (2, 4)
The order whose members all have big, cutting front teeth for gnawing
Rodents are mammals with one pair of ever-growing front teeth in each jaw. Today, rabbits, hares and pikas are placed in a separate order, the lagomorphs, so Peter and Jumper are no longer counted as rodents.
gnaw (5, 6)
To bite with the cutting front teeth
To bite or chew something again and again, wearing it away; rodents' front teeth keep growing, and gnawing keeps them from getting too long.
related (3, 4)
Belonging to the same group, as cousins do
In science, related animals share a common ancestor; the smaller the group they share, the closer the relationship.
Discuss: Why did the current source change what we learned about rabbits? (Scientific knowledge and classifications change, so a book from 1920 may be out of date; gathering vocabulary knowledge includes checking a current, reliable source.) Which of these words would you need to use accurately in your own science writing about animals?
Independent Practice10-15 minutes
Students read the social studies passage below. They (1) list the five words or phrases most important to understanding it, with a reason for each (topic word, repeated, defined in the text, or needed for the main idea); (2) sort their words into general academic and domain-specific; and (3) complete a vocabulary log for two of them: the sentence, the meaning in social studies, a related word, the source they checked (the passage, a glossary or a dictionary) and a sentence of their own.
1Ancient Egypt was a civilization that depended on a single river, the Nile. Almost no rain falls in most of Egypt, so the land on both sides of the river is desert. Every summer, however, heavy rains far to the south, in the highlands of Ethiopia, made the Nile rise. From about July to September, the river flooded the fields along its banks.
2When the water went down, it left behind a layer of silt, fine, dark soil carried by the flood. Silt is fertile, which means it is rich in the nutrients that plants need. Egyptian farmers planted wheat and barley in this soil. To water their crops during the dry months, they dug irrigation canals, channels that carried river water to the fields. Many farmers also used a shadoof, a long pole with a bucket on one end and a heavy weight on the other, to lift water out of a canal.
3Near the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile splits into several branches and forms a delta, a wide, fan-shaped area of land built up from silt. Because the flood came at nearly the same time each year, the Egyptians used it to organize their calendar into three seasons: flood, planting and harvest.
Written for this page (a model social studies passage), The Gift of the Nile. Original passage written for this page.
Teacher key. Strong choices: silt (defined in paragraph 2 and needed to explain why the soil was rich), fertile (defined right after it), irrigation canals (a phrase for how farmers watered crops in the dry months), shadoof (defined in the text; a tool to lift water), delta (defined in paragraph 3) and civilization (the topic of the passage: a society with cities, government and ways of recording and organizing life). These are domain-specific social studies or geography words; depended and organize are general academic words that also matter to the main idea. Words such as July or branches are not worth a full log.
Closure5 minutes
Exit ticket: (1) Write one general academic word and one domain-specific word you learned or used today, and use each in a sentence. (2) Name one word from another class this week that was important to understanding the lesson, and tell how you gathered its meaning.
Teacher note on the texts: The Burgess excerpt is quoted exactly. Burgess, a nature writer, wrote in 1920 for young readers and calls mammals "animals" in his preface. His classification of rabbits and hares as Rodents reflects an older grouping; today scientists place rabbits, hares and pikas in their own order, the lagomorphs. Treat this as a teaching point, not an error to hide: it shows why gathering vocabulary knowledge includes a current source. The lab report and its measurements are invented for this page.
For the quiz: Questions 1-4 use paragraphs 1, 5 and 6 of the Burgess excerpt in Guided Practice. Questions 5-9 use the draft lab report below, and Questions 10-14 use "How Fog Forms" after it.
1Question: Does the amount of light change how tall bean plants grow?
2What we did: We planted six bean plants in the same kind of cup with the same soil. Three plants went on a sunny windowsill, and three went in a dark closet. We gave every plant 50 milliliters of water every other day. The thing we changed was the light. After two weeks, we measured each plant with a ruler.
3What happened: The windowsill plants were 14, 16 and 15 centimeters tall. The closet plants were 21, 19 and 22 centimeters tall, but their stems were thin and pale yellow, and their leaves were tiny.
4What it means: The closet plants got taller, so this proves that dark is better for plants.
Written for this page (an invented student draft with invented data), Draft Lab Report: Bean Plants and Light. Original passage written for this page.
1Fog is a cloud that forms at or near the ground. Like every cloud, it is made of billions of tiny water droplets floating in the air.
2Air always holds some water vapor, which is water in the form of an invisible gas. The amount of water vapor in the air is called humidity. When air cools, it can hold less water vapor. If the air cools to a temperature called its dew point, some of the vapor condenses: it changes from a gas into tiny drops of liquid water. When this process happens close to the ground, fog forms.
3One type of fog forms on clear, calm nights. The ground loses heat, the air just above it cools to its dew point, and by sunrise a valley may be filled with fog. Another type forms when warm, moist air moves over cold water. Along the coast of northern California, summer fog often forms this way over the chilly ocean. In both cases, the key factor is the same: moist air cools until its vapor condenses.
Written for this page (a model science passage), How Fog Forms. Original passage written for this page.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a two-column chart labeled "Every class" and "One class" with four words already placed as models
Provide a word map with sentence starters: "In science, this word means ...", "An example is ...", "It is not ..."
Limit the vocabulary log to one word per passage, chosen with a partner
For Advanced Students
Have students compare how two sources (a textbook glossary and an online science dictionary) define rodent and report any difference
Ask students to collect five general academic words from test directions in several classes and write a class guide to what each asks them to do
Have students rewrite the Nile passage for a younger reader, keeping every domain-specific word but adding a definition or example for each
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Check that students can say why a word is general academic or domain-specific, not just sort it. In writing, look for precise words used the way the subject uses them, and for claims that match the facts. For gathering, look for a good reason a word matters (heading, bold, repetition, main idea or a need in their own writing) and for a word map or log that records the meaning in that subject, an example, a related word and a source, ending with a correct sentence of the student's own.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Every Class or One Class? Word Card Sort
15 minPairs
Each pair gets 12 word cards. Partners sort them into general academic words and domain-specific words, name the subject for each domain-specific word, and write one sentence for two general academic words, each in a different subject.
Partner A reads a card and asks, "Would I hear this word in more than one class with the same meaning?" Partner B places it and explains
For each domain-specific card, partners write the subject and a short meaning, checking a textbook glossary when unsure
Teacher key: general academic, evidence, summarize, contrast, method, identify, relevant; domain-specific, photosynthesis (science), latitude (social studies, geography), numerator (math), stanza (English), democracy (social studies), perimeter (math). Six cards in each pile.
Discussion Questions
Which general academic word do you see most in test directions, and what does it ask you to do?
Why is it useful to know the subject a domain-specific word belongs to?
2
Is This Word Worth Gathering?
15 minGroups of 3
Each group gets 3 paragraph cards from three subjects. For each card, the group highlights the words and phrases most important to comprehension, gives a reason for each, and builds a word map like Diagram 2 for one of them.
Paragraph Cards
Card A (science): Deep underground, rock can melt into magma. When magma rises and pours out of a volcano, it is called lava. Lava cools and hardens into igneous rock. Over many eruptions, layers of igneous rock can build a mountain.
Card B (social studies): The Silk Road was a network of trade routes linking China with Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Merchants traded silk, spices and paper along these routes. Ideas traveled too: religions, inventions and languages spread from one region to another through trade.
Card C (math): A ratio compares two quantities. If a club has 12 girls and 15 boys, the ratio of girls to boys is 12 to 15, which can also be written 12:15. Equivalent ratios, such as 4:5, describe the same comparison.
Procedure
One student reads the card aloud; each student marks the words he or she thinks are important, and the group compares
For every word they keep, the group writes the reason: topic word, bold, repeated, defined in the text or needed for the main idea
Teacher key: Card A, magma, lava and igneous rock (bold, repeated, and the paragraph explains how each becomes the next); Card B, Silk Road and trade routes (the topic), merchants, and region (a general academic word needed to explain how ideas spread); Card C, ratio (the topic, used three times), quantities, and equivalent ratios (the last sentence depends on it: 12:15 and 4:5 are equivalent because 12 ÷ 3 = 4 and 15 ÷ 3 = 5)
Discussion Questions
Which bold words could you understand from the card alone, and which needed a glossary?
Which card had a general academic word that mattered as much as its domain words?
Modification for Distance Learning
Groups highlight the cards on a shared document and build their word map on a shared slide.
3
Precise Word Swap
15-20 minGroups of 4
Each group gets 6 sentence cards that use everyday wording and a word bank of 8 academic and domain-specific words, two of which do not fit any card. Groups replace the wording with the precise word, rewrite the sentence accurately and explain why the two extra words do not fit.
Sentence Cards and Word Bank
1. In science class, we made a guess about what would happen before we did the experiment.
2. The map shows the imaginary lines that circle the globe from east to west.
3. In the fraction 3/8, the top number is 3.
4. The writer gave reasons and facts to back up her claim.
5. The person telling the story is the main character, who uses the word "I."
6. The country was ruled by a king or queen whose power passed to their children.
Word bank: denominator, evidence, hypothesis, latitude, longitude, monarchy, narrator, numerator
Procedure
Each student takes a card, chooses a word from the bank and reads the new sentence aloud; the group checks that it is accurate
The group writes the precise word's meaning and the subject it belongs to
Teacher key: 1, hypothesis (a testable prediction, science); 2, latitude (the lines of latitude run east to west, social studies); 3, numerator (math); 4, evidence (general academic); 5, narrator, here a first-person narrator (English); 6, monarchy (social studies). The extra words: denominator is the bottom number of a fraction, 8 in 3/8, and longitude lines run from pole to pole.
Discussion Questions
How did the two extra words test whether your group used the bank accurately?
Which card was a general academic word rather than a subject word, and how could you tell?
Challenge Variation
Groups write two sentence cards of their own from a current science or social studies unit, with an extra word that does not fit, and trade with another group.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: General Academic and Domain-Specific Words
General academic words, on the left, keep much the same meaning in every class. Domain-specific words, on the right, carry the content of one subject and are best learned with it. Both kinds come as single words and as phrases.
Diagram 2: A Word Map for a Key Word
When a word is important to comprehension or expression, a word map gathers what a reader needs: the meaning in this subject, examples, non-examples, related words, the source checked and a sentence of one's own. The example is erosion from Worked Example 4; the non-examples show land being built up or material being dropped, which is deposition.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
L.6.6 Homework: Learning, Using and Gathering School Words
Directions: Complete all six problems. You may use a textbook glossary and a print or online dictionary. Use Diagram 2 as a model for Problem 5.
Part 1: Acquire (Problems 1-2)
Sort these words into general academic and domain-specific. For each domain-specific word, name its subject and write its meaning: interpret, fossil, sequence, legislature, cite, quotient, conclude, metaphor.
Keep a vocabulary log for three domain-specific words from your science or social studies reading this week. For each word, record the sentence where you found it, why it is important, its meaning in that subject, the source you checked and a sentence of your own.
Part 2: Use Accurately (Problems 3-4)
Each sentence uses a word inaccurately. Rewrite it with the accurate word and explain the difference in meaning: (a) The area of the fence around our square garden is 40 feet. (b) Our summary of the story is that friendship matters more than winning. (c) A peninsula is a piece of land completely surrounded by water. (d) An ecosystem is a single animal and its young.
Write a paragraph of 5-7 sentences explaining a process from one of your classes, such as how a bill becomes a law, how to find the mean of a data set or how a seed sprouts. Use at least four domain-specific words and three general academic words. Underline each word and label it GA or DS.
Part 3: Gather Vocabulary Knowledge (Problems 5-6)
Read the paragraph: Glaciers are huge, slow-moving masses of ice. As a glacier moves, it scrapes the ground beneath it and carries rocks and soil along. When the glacier melts, it drops this material in long ridges called moraines. Choose the two words most important to understanding it, explain why, and make a word map for one of them with its meaning, an example, a non-example, a related word and your source.
You are writing a letter to your principal asking for a school garden. List three precise words or phrases you would need (for example, from science or from how a school makes decisions), gather the meaning of each from a reliable source, and use all three accurately in the letter's first paragraph.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Acquiring Words
All eight words sorted with subjects and meanings; three complete log entries
Most words sorted, or log entries incomplete
Sorting or log missing
Accurate Use
All four sentences fixed with a clear explanation; paragraph uses seven labeled words correctly
Two or three sentences fixed, or some words misused
Words misused throughout
Gathering Knowledge
Strong reasons for the two key words; word map complete with a source
Word map missing a part or reasons thin
No word map
Expression
Three precise words gathered and used accurately in the letter
Words gathered but one misused
Words not gathered
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 1-4 use the Burgess excerpt in Guided Practice, Questions 5-9 use the draft lab report in Closure, and Questions 10-14 use "How Fog Forms" right after it; paragraph numbers are shown beside each passage. The other questions use new sentences. Your score updates as you answer, and Reset quiz clears everything so you or your students can try again.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 1 of the Burgess excerpt, Peter says, "I guess we don't know what you mean by an order." What does Peter do when he meets a word important to understanding the lesson?
Answer: B
The young animals are puzzled because Old Mother Nature's question depends on the word order, so Peter asks her what she means by it, which is one way to gather vocabulary knowledge from an expert. A is wrong because he stops to ask right away. C is a meaning he never suggests; it is the everyday meaning, not the science one. D is a good strategy, but there is no dictionary in the scene.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 6, Old Mother Nature says the Squirrel family is "divided into three groups, the first of which consists of the true Squirrels." What does consists of mean?
Answer: C
Consists of is a general academic phrase meaning "is made up of": the first group is made up of the true Squirrels, to which Happy Jack and Chatterer belong. A reverses the idea, since the squirrels are in the group, not apart from it. B compares sizes, which the sentence does not do. D confuses membership with naming.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 4, Old Mother Nature lists the Pika family and the Sewellel family, and in paragraph 5 Peter says some of the families are new to him. A reader wants to know what a Sewellel is. What is the best way to gather that knowledge?
Answer: D
The passage says only that the Sewellel family belongs to the Rodents; it gives no definition, so a reliable reference is needed. It shows that a sewellel is the mountain beaver, a rodent of the Pacific Northwest. A assumes a closer relationship than the text gives: the Sewellel family is named as a separate family. B is a guess with nothing to support it. C will not work, because paragraph 4 never defines the word.
Question 4 of 20 · Short Answer
Old Mother Nature explains that animals are "divided into big groups or divisions, and then these groups are divided into smaller groups." Using paragraphs 2 and 6, list the groups that Chatterer belongs to, from the biggest to the smallest, and explain how knowing the science word order helps you understand the list.
Model answer: Chatterer belongs to the order of Rodents (paragraph 2), then to the Squirrel family, and then to the first group of that family, the true Squirrels (paragraph 6). Knowing that an order is a big group that contains several families tells me that the order is the top of the list and that the Squirrel family is one family inside it. Rubric: 2 points for the three groups in the right order with the meaning of order; 1 point for the groups without the explanation.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 2 of the draft lab report, the student writes, "The thing we changed was the light." Which science term should replace "The thing we changed"?
Answer: A
The independent variable is the one factor an experimenter changes on purpose, here the amount of light. B, the hypothesis, is the prediction made before the test. C, the dependent variable, is what the experimenter measures to see the effect, here the plants' height. D, the procedure, is the whole list of steps, not the one factor that changed.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 2, every plant had "the same kind of cup with the same soil" and "50 milliliters of water every other day." What are these conditions called?
Answer: B
Controlled variables are the conditions kept the same for every plant, so that only the light could cause a difference. A names the measurements in paragraph 3. C is the one condition that was changed, the light. D is the question in paragraph 1.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which science heading should replace "What happened" at the start of paragraph 3?
Answer: C
Paragraph 3 reports the measurements and observations, which a lab report lists under Results. A, Materials, lists the supplies. B, Hypothesis, is a prediction made before the experiment. D, Variables, names the factors, not what was observed.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which revision of paragraph 4 uses academic and science words accurately?
Answer: D
D reports only what the measurements and observations in paragraph 3 show: the closet plants were taller (21, 19 and 22 cm against 14, 16 and 15 cm) but thin and pale. A treats taller as "best" and ignores the pale stems. B misuses hypothesis, which is a prediction, not evidence, and proves. C uses prove and always, which one small test with six plants cannot support.
Question 9 of 20 · Short Answer
Your teacher tells you that the closet plants in the lab report were etiolated. Explain why this word is important to your report and how you would gather knowledge about it. Then use it accurately in a sentence about the closet plants.
Model answer: The word is important to expression, because it names exactly what happened to the closet plants, and to comprehension of any plant science I read next. I would look it up in a science dictionary or glossary: etiolated describes a plant that grew without enough light, so it is pale, with long, thin stems and small leaves. Sentence: The closet plants were etiolated: they grew tall and thin, with pale yellow stems and tiny leaves. Rubric: 2 points for a reason, a reliable source, the correct meaning and an accurate sentence; 1 point if one of these is missing.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which word from "How Fog Forms" is a general academic word rather than a science word?
Answer: B
Process, a series of steps or changes that produces a result, is used with the same meaning in many subjects: the writing process, the process of electing a mayor. A, C and D are science terms that belong to the study of weather.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to paragraph 2 of "How Fog Forms," what is the dew point?
Answer: D
Paragraph 2 says that if the air cools to a temperature called its dew point, some of the vapor condenses. A is the definition of humidity from the same paragraph. B describes the example in paragraph 3. C confuses a temperature with a place.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A student can study only one word before a quiz on "How Fog Forms." Which word is most important to comprehension of the whole passage?
Answer: A
Condenses names the change that makes fog: it is defined in paragraph 2, used again in the final sentence and needed for the main idea. B, C and D are setting details from the examples in paragraph 3; a reader can miss them and still understand how fog forms.
Question 13 of 20 · Short Answer
On a hot, humid day, drops of water form on the outside of a glass of ice water. Use at least two domain-specific words from "How Fog Forms" accurately to explain why.
Model answer: The air around the glass holds water vapor, an invisible gas. The cold glass cools the air touching it to its dew point, so some of the water vapor condenses into drops of liquid water on the outside of the glass. The water did not leak through the glass. Rubric: 2 points for a correct explanation using two of water vapor, dew point, condenses or humidity accurately; 1 point for a correct explanation with one term or with one term misused.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 3, the writer says, "the key factor is the same." What does factor mean in this sentence?
Answer: B
Here factor is a general academic word: one of the causes that produce a result, in this case moist air cooling. A is the math meaning (in 3 × 5 = 15, 3 and 5 are factors), which does not fit a passage about weather. C is a business meaning of the word (an agent who trades for others) that has nothing to do with fog. D mistakes the word for a type of fog.
Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which sentence uses the word infer accurately?
Answer: A
To infer is to reach a conclusion from evidence and reasoning, and the wet umbrella is evidence of rain. B uses infer as if it meant "lend," C as if it meant "wrote," and D as if it meant "write" or "fill in."
Question 16 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In math class, a student reads: The mean of 4, 7 and 10 is 7. What does mean refer to here?
Answer: A
In math, the mean is the average: (4 + 7 + 10) ÷ 3 = 21 ÷ 3 = 7. B is the range, 10 - 4 = 6. C is the mode, and no number repeats here. D is the everyday meaning of mean, which does not fit a math sentence.
Question 17 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In social studies, which of these is a primary source about the Civil War?
Answer: C
A primary source is a document or object made by someone who was there at the time, like a soldier's letter from 1863. A, B and D are secondary sources: they were made later by people who studied the war.
Question 18 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Read this paragraph from a social studies textbook: Rome's cities needed more water than nearby wells and springs could supply. Roman engineers solved the problem with aqueducts, stone channels that sloped gently downhill for miles so that gravity could carry water from distant springs into the city. Where an aqueduct had to cross a valley, it often ran along the top of tall stone arches. Which word should a reader gather knowledge about first, and why?
Answer: D
The paragraph is about how Rome got its water, and the answer is the aqueducts: the word is defined right after it appears (stone channels that sloped gently downhill), it is used again in the last sentence, and the main idea depends on it. A names the builders, but the paragraph is about what they built, not about the engineers. B is a familiar word that explains one detail of how aqueducts worked; coming from another subject does not make a word the key to a paragraph. C picks a word by its position, which says nothing about its importance; the arches are one detail about crossing valleys.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Rewrite this sentence using at least two more precise academic or domain-specific words: The scientist looked at the rocks to find out how old they were. Explain what each new word adds.
Model answer:The geologist examined the rock samples to determine their age.Geologist names the kind of scientist who studies rocks; examined means looked at closely and carefully; samples shows that these are pieces collected for study; determine means find out exactly. Rubric: 2 points for two or more accurate, precise words with explanations; 1 point for one precise word or words without explanations.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Choose one general academic word from this list: compare, predict, describe. Use it accurately in two sentences, one about science and one about social studies, and explain why its meaning stays the same in both.
Model answer: Science: Before we mix the solutions, predict what color the liquid will turn. Social studies: Based on the map, predict which city grew fastest along the river. In both, predict means to say what will happen or what is true before checking, based on what you know, so it is a general academic word. Rubric: 2 points for two accurate sentences in two subjects and an explanation; 1 point for one accurate sentence.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does L.6.6 mean?
L.6.6 means that sixth graders learn and correctly use the words of school, both words used in every class and words that belong to one subject.
It also asks them to notice when a word matters for understanding or for their own writing, and to gather what they need to know about it.
What are general academic words?
General academic words are words used in many subjects with much the same meaning.
Examples include analyze, explain, pattern and significant. They show up in directions and questions, so knowing them helps in every class.
What are domain-specific words?
Domain-specific words belong to one subject, such as habitat in science or empire in social studies.
They carry the content of the subject, and textbooks often print them in bold and define them in a glossary.
What does "gather vocabulary knowledge" mean in L.6.6?
It means collecting what you need to know about an important word, beyond a quick definition.
That can include the meaning in the subject, examples and non-examples, related words, the source you checked and a sentence of your own, kept in a word map or vocabulary log.
How do students know which words are worth studying?
A word is worth gathering when understanding or writing depends on it.
Clues include a place in a heading, bold type, repetition, a definition in the text, or the student's own need for a precise word while writing.
What does "use accurately" look like in writing?
It means choosing the word whose meaning fits exactly and using it the way the subject uses it.
A student replaces vague words like stuff with the precise term and avoids stretching a word past the facts, such as calling a single measurement a pattern.
Is L.6.6 only an English standard?
No: the standard sits in the English standards, but it applies to every subject.
Science, social studies and math teachers teach their domain-specific words, and all teachers use general academic words in directions and discussion.
How is L.6.6 tested?
L.6.6 is usually tested indirectly, through reading and writing tasks.
Reading questions may ask what an academic or subject word means in a passage, and writing is often scored in part on precise, accurate word choice.
What comes after L.6.6?
L.7.6 and L.8.6 repeat the same wording with grade 7 and grade 8 words.
The expectation grows with the texts: students meet more subject terms and more demanding academic words, and they are expected to use them accurately on their own. In high school, L.9-10.6 and L.11-12.6 continue the same work.
How can parents help with academic vocabulary at home?
Ask your child to teach you one word from each class.
Have them explain what it means in that subject, give an example and use it in a sentence. Hearing and using the word again is how it sticks.
07
Related Standards
6 standards
These standards connect to L.6.6: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
L.5.6Prerequisite
Use grade 5 academic and domain words, including contrast and addition words
Lesson coming soon
L.4.6Prerequisite
Use grade 4 academic and domain words, including words for precise actions
Lesson coming soon
Alongside
L.6.4Parallel
Determine meanings of unknown words using context, word parts and references
