Common Core Standard For English Language Arts (Page 34 of 43) in pdf

Common Core State StandardS for engliSh language artS & literaCy in hiStory/SoCial StudieS, SCienCe, and teChniCal SubjeCtS

Our planet made up of many

layers

of rock. The top

layers

solid

rock are called the crust. Deep

beneath the

crust

is the mantle, where it is so hot that some rock melts. The melted, or

molten,

rock is called magma.

Volcanoes

formed

magma

pushes its way up through the crack in Earth’s crust. This is

are

when

called a

volcanic

eruption. When

magma

pours forth

on the surface, it is called lava.

Simon, Seymour. Volcanoes. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. (2006)

Of the Tier Two words, among the most important to the overall meaning of the excerpt is layers. An understanding

of the word

layers

is necessary both to visualize the structure of the crust (“the top

layers

solid

rock are called the

crust”) and to grasp the notion of the planet being composed of layers, of which the

crust

and the

mantle

are upper-

most. Perhaps equally important are the word

spouted

and the phrase

pours

forth; an understanding of each of these

is needed to visualize the action of a volcano. The same could be said of the word surface. Both

layers

and

surface

are likely to reappear in middle and high school academic texts in both literal and figurative contexts (“this would

seem plausible on the surface”; “this story has layers of meaning”), which would justify more intensive instruction in

them in grades 4–5.

Tier Three words often repeat; in this excerpt, all of the Tier Three words except

mantle

and

lava

appear at least twice.

Volcano(es)

appears four times—five if

volcanic

is counted. As is also typical with Tier Three words, the text provides

the reader with generous support in determining meaning, including explicit definitions (e.g., “the melted, or molten,

rock is called magma”) and repetition and overlapping sentences (e.g., . . . called the crust. Deep beneath the

crust

. . .).

Example 2: Freedom Walkers (Grades 6–8 Text Complexity Band)

Excerpt

From the Introduction: “Why They Walked”

determined

Not so long ago in Montgomery, Alabama, the color of your skin

where you could sit on

a public bus. If you happened to be an African American, you had to sit in the back of the bus, even

if there were empty seats up front.

Back then,

racial segregation

was the rule throughout the American South. Strict laws—called

“Jim

crow”

laws—enforced a system of

white supremacy

that

discriminated

against blacks and kept

them in their place as

second-class

citizens.

People were separated by race from the moment they were born in

segregated

hospitals until the

day they were buried in

segregated

cemeteries. Blacks and whites did not attend the same schools,

worship

in the same churches, eat in the same restaurants, sleep in the same hotels, drink from the

same water fountains, or sit together in the same movie theaters.

In Montgomery, it was against the law for a white person and a Negro to play checkers on public

property or ride together in a taxi.

obstacle

poll

tax, a

Most southern blacks were denied their right to vote. The biggest

was the

special tax that was required of all voters but was too costly for many blacks and for poor whites as

well. Voters also had to pass a

literacy

test to prove that they could read, write, and understand the

U.S. Constitution. These tests were often

rigged

disqualify

even highly educated blacks. Those

who overcame the

obstacles

and insisted on

registering

as voters faced threats,

harassment

and

even physical violence. As a result, African Americans in the South could not express their

griev-

ances

in the voting booth, which for the most part, was closed to them. But there were other ways

to protest, and one day a half century ago, the black citizens in Montgomery rose up in protest and

united to demand their rights—by walking peacefully.

It all started on a bus.

Freedman, Russell. Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

New York: Holiday House, 2006. (2006)

The first Tier Two word encountered in the excerpt, determined, is essential to understanding the overall meaning of

the text. The power of

determined

here lies in the notion that skin color in Montgomery, Alabama, at that time was

the causal agent for all that follows. The centrality of

determined

to the topic merits the word intensive attention. Its

study is further merited by the fact that it has multiple meanings, is likely to appear in future literary and informational

texts, and is part of a family of related words (determine, determination, determined, terminate, terminal).

Common Core Standard For English Language Arts Page 34

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