Sixth Grade

As a transitional year, the sixth grade program is focused on increasing independent critical thinking. Balancing traditional direct instruction with rigorous open-ended projects, students practice a range of 21st century skills. Cross-curricular highlights are spread throughout the year and include numerous exhibitions. Students moving on from the sixth grade will feel confident and prepared for Junior High.

Reading 

Reading is taught through a variety of techniques, including the Reading Workshop, class novels, and literature circles, with a particular focus on character development. Students learn to read with a purpose and to pull evidence from the text to support their opinions and ideas. Students are encouraged to make connections while reading, which they apply to the rest of the curriculum. Students demonstrate their understanding of reading strategies through discussions, Socratic Seminars, written reflections, and essays.

Writing and Grammar

Writing follows the Writer’s Workshop model, where students are exposed to new content through mini-lessons and guided practice. Students confer with the teacher regularly as a way to hone their writing skills. Written pieces are produced as students apply their skills and follow the steps of the writing process, which include prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. In sixth grade, students write narrative, informational, and literary analysis pieces. Rubrics guide students in the Writer’s Workshop model. Grammar is taught concurrently with writing skills and focuses on conventions, parts of speech, and sentence structure.

Mathematics

Students are encouraged to both learn and to showcase their understanding of mathematical concepts through a variety of means, including visuals, diagrams, manipulatives, and calculations. Spiral practice balances mental math, attaining concepts, and achieving accurate calculations. Sixth grade mathematicians focus on order of operations with positive and negative integers, algebraic properties, expressions and equations, functions, surface area and volume, as well as ratios, proportions, and percents.

Science

Through FOSS Science and iScience, students study the Scientific Method and Astronomy, Earth’s structure, minerals and rocks, earthquakes and volcanoes, and the human body through systems and at the cellular level. There is a particular focus on the formation and composition of Earth, and its place in our universe. Direct instruction, whole group, small group, hands-on activities, experiments, and STEAM lessons are used throughout the year. Students clarify their knowledge of facts, inference, prediction, activities, and experiments on an ongoing basis.

Social Studies

In social studies, students take a critical perspective on history and the story being told. Students explore Ancient Civilizations, beginning with early humans, Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient India, Ancient China, and Ancient Greece. Students explore the geography, religion, achievements, politics, economics, and social structure of each civilization through direct instruction, hands-on activities, and culminating unit projects. Students make connections with ancient cultures by comparing civilizations of the past to the modern day and participating in activities that help them feel as if they’ve traveled back in time.