Unit Plan 6 (Grade 6 ELA): Nonfiction Text Features & Structures
Grade 6 informational reading unit: students analyze how text sections build ideas and use headings, graphics, and hyperlinks to find and integrate information from multiple sources. They cite evidence and explain how structure and visuals deepen understanding.
Focus: Headings, graphics, hyperlinks; overall text structure across sources
Grade Level: 6
Subject Area: English Language Arts (Reading Informational)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 45–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
This week turns students into strategic nonfiction readers. They’ll learn to navigate headings, subheads, captions, sidebars, graphics, and hyperlinks to find answers quickly and accurately. They’ll also analyze how sections and paragraphs fit into an article’s overall structure (e.g., cause/effect, problem/solution) and integrate information from multiple formats (text + charts/maps/interactive elements) into a coherent understanding.
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to…
- Explain how specific paragraphs/sections contribute to the overall structure and development of ideas in a text (RI.6.5).
- Integrate information from words, graphics (charts, diagrams, maps), and digital features (hyperlinks) to answer questions (RI.6.7).
- Cite textual/visual evidence to support explicit understanding and inferences (RI.6.1).
Standards Alignment — CCSS Grade 6
- Reading Informational 6.5 (RI.6.5): Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph, chapter, or section fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the ideas.
- Reading Informational 6.7 (RI.6.7): Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
- Reading Informational 6.1 (RI.6.1): Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Success Criteria — student language
- I can use headings, captions, and hyperlinks to locate information fast.
- I can read a graphic and explain what it shows and how it supports the text.
- I can name a text’s overall structure and explain how a section contributes.
- I can answer a question by combining info from at least two formats and citing where I found it.