NL Grade 6 Reading cheat sheet

Main idea = what the whole passage is mostly about; supporting details answer who, what, when, where, why, how about that idea.

Theme is a message about life or people that the whole story supports; it is stated as a general sentence, not as a plot event.

Summary test: a good summary covers the whole text, leaves out minor details, and contains no personal opinion.

Inference = conclusion drawn from clues in the text plus background knowledge; it is not stated directly, so it must be supported by evidence.

Sequence questions use time-order words: first, then, after, later, finally, meanwhile, before, during.

Cause is why something happened; effect is what happened. One event can be both an effect of one cause and the cause of another.

Compare and contrast: look for signal words such as both, alike, similarly, however, unlike, whereas, in contrast, on the other hand.

Fact can be checked or proven; opinion shows a feeling, belief, or judgment and often uses words like best, worst, should, beautiful, unfair.

Context clues: definition clues restate the word, example clues give instances, contrast clues use but/unlike, and inference clues require combining surrounding details.

Prefix meanings: un-/non-/dis-/in- = not; re- = again or back; pre- = before; mis- = wrongly; sub- = under; inter- = between; trans- = across.

Suffixes that change meaning or part of speech: -less = without; -ful = full of; -able/-ible = can be done; -tion/-ment/-ness = noun; -ly = adverb; -ous/-ive = adjective.

Greek and Latin roots: bio = life, graph = write, tele = far, phon = sound, aud = hear, spec = look, port = carry, struct = build, terr = land, aqua = water.

Homophones sound alike but differ in spelling and meaning (their/there/they're, to/too/two, its/it's, your/you're); homographs share spelling but differ in meaning or pronunciation.

Synonyms have similar meanings; antonyms have opposite meanings. Shades of meaning matter: scrawny, thin, and slender are close but not identical in tone.

Figurative language: simile uses like or as; metaphor states one thing is another; personification gives human traits to nonhuman things; idiom's meaning cannot be read literally.

Reference tools: a dictionary gives pronunciation, part of speech, and meanings; a thesaurus lists synonyms and antonyms; a glossary defines terms used in a text.

Preview strategy: read the title, headings, bold words, captions, and graphics before reading to predict content and activate prior knowledge.

Text structures and their signal words: description (for example), sequence (first, next), compare-contrast (both, however), cause-effect (because, as a result), problem-solution (the problem is, one answer is).

Informational text features: table of contents, index, glossary, headings, bold or italic print, bulleted lists, labels, captions, diagrams, timelines, and maps.

Graphic aids carry information: a caption explains a picture, a diagram labels parts, a timeline orders events, and a table organizes data into rows and columns.

Monitoring strategy: when a sentence does not make sense, reread it, read ahead, use context, or break a long word into its parts.

Questioning levels: right-there questions are answered in one place in the text; think-and-search questions require joining several parts; author-and-me questions require inference.

Point of view: first person uses I or we and gives one character's inside view; third person uses he, she, or they and can be limited or omniscient.

Author's purpose is usually to inform, persuade, entertain, or explain how to do something; the purpose shapes word choice and which features appear.