Mission, Vision, Competencies, Standards, and Benchmarks

Benchmarks
By close of grade 6, Lower School students will work to build the following skills:
Reading
‣ Establish and adjust purposes for reading such as to gain knowledge, to understand,
to interpret, to enjoy and to solve problems that relate to world and
human experience.
‣ Predict story events and outcomes.
‣ Decode words using phonetic and structural analysis.
‣ Apply word analysis skills by interpreting words and phrases as they are used in a
text to extend vocabulary.
‣ Reason the relationship of word pairs in analogies.
‣ Determine the meaning of unknown words using context
clues, glossaries, dictionaries, technology, textual features.
‣ Use criteria to choose independent reading materials (e.g. personal interest,
knowledge of authors and genres, or recommendations from others.
‣ Define the meaning of unknown words by using context clues to determine the
meaning of synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and homographs.
‣ Explain how a character's thoughts, words, and actions reveal his or her motivations.
‣ Identify and explain the use of figurative language including simile and
metaphor (personification, and hyperbole).
‣ Sequence a story after reading or hearing it.
‣ Construct meaning from text using contextual and syntactic cues.
‣ Apply self-monitoring strategies to clarify confusion about text and to
monitor comprehension.
‣ Read orally with fluency and expression.
‣ Apply effective reading comprehension strategies including making connections,
summarizing, comparing and contrasting, using inference, creating a mental image
and noting point of view.
‣ Identify the main idea or theme of a text with key supporting details.
‣ Select, create and use graphic organizers to synthesize and interpret
textual information.
‣ Identify and analyze elements of literature, including setting, character, and plot.
‣ Distinguish between reality and fantasy, fact and fiction.
‣ Read and interpret a variety of thematic literature from different genres and multimedia
sources.
‣ Interpret and analyze critically literary, informational, and functional
‣ Apply biblical principles to text at an appropriate developmental level.
‣ Identify and utilize text features such as titles, visual aids and book parts to build text
knowledge and locate information.
Writing
‣ Express personal experiences through narratives and creative writing.
‣ Write opinion pieces supported by facts and details.
‣ Connect opinions and reasons using linking words and phrases.
‣ Conduct short research projects where evidence is drawn from literary and
informational texts.
‣ Generate ideas and determine a topic suitable for writing.
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