Sixth Grade

Sixth Grade

English

A focus is placed on reading, writing, listening, and speaking for information and understanding, literary response and expression, critical analysis and evaluation, and social interaction. Using our literature textbook, Mirrors and Windows, and selected fictional and nonfictional texts, students will learn to analyze and explore a wide range of writing styles closely. Students utilize the writing process during formal writing assignments. By the end of the year, students will have written texts in three major modes: narrative, persuasive, and expository. They will also write a formal research report and a variety of poetry. A strong focus is placed on the organization and development of effective writing, grammar, mechanics, and vocabulary. 6th grade will read novels such as Tuck Everlasting, The Birchbark House, and Freak the Mighty.

Social Studies - World History

Sixth grade social studies examines key civilizations, belief systems, and patterns of human interconnectedness in global history. The time periods included in the course begin at the time of the Roman Empire and extend through the European Age of Exploration. Students will develop their critical thinking and literacy skills through various hands-on and independent research activities. Throughout the year, students will extend their historical skills by expressing their knowledge and creativity through inquiry-based projects as they develop study skills crucial to middle school. 

Textbook: Discovering Our Past: A History of the World (Early Ages)

Math

The 6th grade math curriculum is designed to be rigorous and challenging. Mathematical concepts are learned through various methods to meet the needs of diverse learning styles. Project-based learning takes a large portion of classroom time. Students are able to think creatively about concepts and see how they can be applied to solve problems in real-world scenarios.

Topics include:

• Ratios, units, and rates
• Order of operations
• Rational numbers
• Expressions and equations
• Coordinates and graphs
• Area, surface area, and volume problems
• Statistics and probability

Occasionally, special topics are introduced to familiarize students with the wide breadth of ideas that can be found in the field of math. Some of these topics can include the history of math, happy primes, and fractals.

Science

The goal of sixth-grade science is to encourage the use of scientific inquiry in order to further a student’s understanding of the world they live in. The major units covered in sixth-grade are Unit 1: Life Structure and Function, Unit 2: Energy and Motion, and Unit 3: Human Impact on the Environment. Students participate in a wide range of hands-on learning activities ranging from lab experiments to collaborative projects. Students are encouraged to use problem-solving strategies and time-management skills to help them navigate through the sixth-grade science curriculum.

Spanish

Sixth grade Spanish focuses on actively developing listening and reading comprehension, speaking and writing skills, and cultural knowledge. Using the Santillana textbook series, students build vocabulary and learn basic grammatical structures, creating a solid foundation of the Spanish language. The vocabulary topics covered include greetings, classroom objects, numbers, colors, the date, the weather, telling time, family, personalities, and physical characteristics. Grammatically, we focus on articles, pronouns, adjectives, present tense verb conjugations, and word gender and number agreement. Additionally, students partake in various hands-on, student-led projects with a cultural focus, culminating in a school-wide showcase at the end of the year.

Art

The 6th-grade visual art curriculum is based on gaining confidence within a wide range of mediums going hand in hand with art history and is interdisciplinary with their social studies classes. There is an emphasis on art history, skill building, and craftsmanship. Students will explore basic and advanced drawing techniques, pointillism, collage, mosaic, and more.