Unit Plan 25 (Grade 6 ELA): Reading Biographies & Timelines
Grade 6 biography unit: students trace a person’s life through key events, timelines, and multimedia sources to see how choices create impact. They connect cause and effect, integrate visuals for context, and write concise, objective summaries highlighting turning points and contributions.
Focus: Chronology; key events; integrating visuals and multimedia
Grade Level: 6
Subject Area: English Language Arts (Reading Informational)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 45–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Biographies aren’t just lists of dates—they’re cause-and-effect stories about people shaping (and being shaped by) their times. This week students will trace chronology, identify key events that drive change, and integrate visual/media sources (timelines, photos, short clips, maps) to build a coherent understanding. They’ll finish with an objective summary that highlights a person’s central contribution and the turning points that made it possible.
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to…
- Track chronology and explain how key individuals, events, and ideas develop over the course of a biography (RI.6.3).
- Determine a text’s central idea and write a concise objective summary distinct from opinions (RI.6.2).
- Integrate information from visual and multimedia sources (timelines, photos, maps, video) with the written text to deepen understanding (RI.6.7).
Standards Alignment — CCSS Grade 6
- Reading Informational 6.3 (RI.6.3): Analyze how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text.
- Reading Informational 6.2 (RI.6.2): Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
- 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.
Success Criteria — student language
- I can map the timeline of a life and explain how one event leads to another.
- I can state the central idea of a biography and support it with key details.
- I can read a timeline/photo/map/video and connect it to the written text.
- I can write an objective summary that captures turning points without my opinions.