Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: Listening Actively Interpreting Messages And Responding (TEKS.ELA.6.1.A)
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Texas 6th Grade ELA › Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: Listening Actively Interpreting Messages And Responding (TEKS.ELA.6.1.A)
Today we're tracking a water droplet through the water cycle. Solar energy gives surface molecules enough energy to escape as vapor—evaporation. As rising air cools, vapor condenses on tiny particles, building clouds. I'll say the air can hold only so much vapor; when it's saturated at the dew point, extra vapor condenses. Local winds steer clouds, and when droplets grow heavy, gravity brings them down as precipitation. Some water soaks into soil, some runs off, and some returns quickly to the air from warm leaves and lakes. Remember, we're really following energy transfers: the Sun powers the phase changes, and cooling removes energy, packing molecules closer together during condensation.
Which question best clarifies the speaker's meaning?
Can you say that again more slowly?
How many kinds of clouds are there?
When you say the air 'holds' water vapor, do you mean it's dissolved in the air or inside droplets?
Is evaporation the same as boiling?
Explanation
C directly clarifies the speaker's figurative phrase that air 'holds' vapor by asking what that physically means. Extension: Write one original clarifying question you could ask the speaker. Scaffold: Start with, 'Could you explain more about…?' Enrichment: Compare two clarifying questions and decide which would deepen understanding most, explaining why.
Think of Earth's lithospheric plates riding on a softer, slowly moving mantle. Heat from the core drives convection currents that drag plates a few centimeters per year. Where plates pull apart, magma rises and solidifies, creating new oceanic crust at ridges. Where they collide, denser oceanic plate dives beneath a lighter plate at a subduction zone. I'll say the crust there is recycled: rock sinks, heats, and changes, feeding volcanoes. At transform boundaries, plates grind past, storing and releasing energy as earthquakes. Over millions of years, these motions build mountains, widen oceans, and reshape continents. GPS lets us measure this motion today, though we don't feel it moment to moment.
Which question best clarifies the speaker's meaning?
When you say crust is 'recycled' at subduction zones, what exactly happens to the rock—does it melt, and where?
How old are mountains?
Can we see plates moving with our eyes today?
Do earthquakes only happen at night?
Explanation
A targets the unclear term 'recycled' by asking for the specific process and location, showing engaged listening. Extension: Write one original clarifying question you could ask the speaker. Scaffold: Start with, 'Could you explain more about…?' Enrichment: Compare two clarifying questions and judge which better deepens understanding, with reasons.
Plants capture sunlight with chlorophyll, using that energy to build glucose from carbon dioxide and water—photosynthesis. I like to call that storing energy in a chemical bank. Later, in cells—plant and animal—respiration withdraws energy from that glucose, releasing it in manageable amounts. Oxygen helps break the molecule apart, and the cell packages the energy as ATP, which powers jobs like movement and growth. Notice the cycle: plants release oxygen that animals need; animals release carbon dioxide that plants need. When I say energy flows, I mean it changes form, not that atoms disappear. The matter cycles; the energy ultimately comes from the Sun and leaves as heat.
Which question best clarifies the speaker's meaning?
Are plants green because of the sun?
Can animals do photosynthesis if trained?
Is oxygen important?
When you call ATP the cell's 'energy currency,' can you explain how it's made during respiration and how it's used?
Explanation
D clarifies the metaphor 'energy currency' by requesting details about ATP production and use, deepening content understanding. Extension: Write one original clarifying question you could ask the speaker. Scaffold: Start with, 'Could you explain more about…?' Enrichment: Compare two clarifying questions and decide which probes the concept more deeply, explaining why.
Let's compare a metal spoon in hot soup and the air above it. Temperature reflects average kinetic energy of particles. In the soup, faster-moving particles collide with the cooler spoon, transferring energy; we call that heat flowing from hot to cold. As the spoon warms, heat also moves to the air by convection—warmer air rises, cooler air sinks. I'll say the system moves toward thermal equilibrium, meaning the temperature differences shrink. Phase changes illustrate this too: when liquid water evaporates, it absorbs energy; when vapor condenses on the spoon, it releases energy. Insulators slow transfer by reducing collisions, while conductors speed it up. Everyday comfort is just energy in motion.
Which question best clarifies the speaker's meaning?
Is ice cold?
When you say heat flows until thermal equilibrium, do you mean particle collisions transfer energy until both have the same average kinetic energy?
Can I open a window?
How long does it take for water to boil?
Explanation
B directly clarifies 'thermal equilibrium' by connecting it to particle collisions and equal average kinetic energy, showing precise engagement. Extension: Write one original clarifying question you could ask the speaker. Scaffold: Start with, 'Could you explain more about…?' Enrichment: Compare two clarifying questions and justify which deepens understanding most and why.