Grade 6

Grade Six Curriculum Overview (2021-2022 School Year)

“Right education should help the student, not only to develop his capacities, but to understand his own highest interest.” -J. Krishnamurti

While fifth grade was a period of harmony and balance, sixth grade ushers in a period marked with transition. The 11/12 year old will experience growth in the skeletal system and, as a result, may feel awkward and clumsy at times, socially as well as physically. This may lead to some self-consciousness with the child growing more introspective and fleeing the effects of gravity as he or she becomes heavier. We may say that the sixth grader is more “on the earth” and therefore more interested in the physical world.

The child at this age is likewise more desirous of being with peers rather than with adults or younger children, and may begin to question parent and teacher authority.

Adults must continue to hold healthy boundaries in a firm but loving way, while at the same time, allow the soon-to-be adolescent a voice in decision- making. It is important for adults to be mindful of how easily we might be drawn back into our own adolescent consciousness at time when he or se tests those boundaries with greater independence, and begins “pushing our buttons” A good sense of humor is invaluable for parents and teachers as it can diffuse challenging interactions and provide a much needed moment to breathe.

With regard to developing capacities for thinking, the sixth grader is now better able to form abstract concepts and begins to see cause-and-effect relationships in the world. Long established habits and attitudes from younger years are forgotten, and the child tends more and more to look outwardly into the world. The dreamy consciousness of childhood is left behind to make way for a more wakeful consciousness. The sixth grader is entering the world of middle school, leaving childhood behind, and like Julius Caesar once he crossed the Rubicon, there is simply no turning back.

Sixth Grade Block Rotation

Geography in a Historical Context

In the fifth-grade, we studied the ancient civilizations of India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece, and we gained a sense of a wider view of geography intimately connected with history.

In this sixth-grade year, within the context of teaching ancient Greek history, Roman history and the Middle Ages, the student will gain familiarity with all of Eurasia, beginning with the empire of Alexander as it moved eastward from Greece through Egypt, Persia, Mesopotamia, all the way to the Indus Valley in India; whereas the Roman Empire spread westward from Rome through what is now France and Spain, all the way to Great Britain. Then, in the later centuries of the Middle Ages, the Mongols, native to the steppes in a huge region north of China, advanced from the far East into the interior of Europe and southward into China, Southeast Asia, and India. When studying the Middle Ages, we will also survey the Islamic expansion throughout the Middle East, westward across northern Africa and then northward into Spain.

 In the sixth-grade, the study of history is also the study of geography. This study of history and geography will also include an extended block for North America and South America with emphasis on the development of cultures on both continents through folktales in relation to the land and its people.

Nature, Geometry, and Number

In fifth-grade, the students were introduced to the basic qualities of geometrical plane figures (such as “the sum of the interior angles of a triangle equal 180°”) through artistic activities.

In sixth-grade, they will review these concepts and continue to learn formal measurements of geometrical figures. They will also be introduced to number systems from the ancient world, binary numbers, estimation, reckoning averages, and they will gain facility with graphing and the interpretation of data.

Physics – Heat, Light, and Sound

For our sixth-grade physics studies, I will introduce the students to their first formal study of physics principles within the realm of acoustics, light, and warmth. Students will be presented with phenomenological demonstrations and asked to develop their own conclusions before being presented with the history and theories that are associated with these concepts.

Astronomy

In sixth-grade, students will become familiar with naked-eye observations of the principal constellations through the stories spelled out in the sky from Greek mythology.

In seventh-grade, they will continue these studies and learn more complex astronomical concepts such as the retrograde motion of the planets, the precession of the equinoxes, and Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion.

Mineralogy

The mineral backbone of the earth falls into a great polarity between igneous volcanic sources and sedimentary limestone sources. In this study, the students will learn how the geological terrain of the earth is formed through the study of volcanoes, the limestone cycle, metamorphic rock, and the formation of metals, coal, petroleum, and chalk. Charts, drawings, and descriptive narratives are among the many student activities.

English Grammar

This year in sixth-grade, the students will take a much-needed daily journey reviewing basic grammar concepts such as nouns, pronouns, verbs, verb-tenses, adjectives, adverbs, and punctuation. When we begin our formal English Grammar block, students will review the process for note-taking and organization and essay-formatting that was introduced in fifth grade through their book reports. They will also learn clauses, prepositions, how to diagram a sentence, and the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs. Grammar practice, just as with math practice, will occur nearly every day throughout the school year.

Business Math

In sixth-grade, students will review prior math concepts such as calculations with natural numbers, positive fractions, and decimals. They will be introduced to percentages and learn to apply percentages and decimals to business: interest, discount, exchange, profit and loss, and simple interest.

The Arts:

Form Drawing, Watercolor Painting, Sewing from a pattern, Woodworking, Clay Modeling

Winter Assembly:

The Winter Assembly for 2021 was a virtual experience. Each class provided songs and poems as well as images of work that they have been working on thus far this year. Here is what Grade Six shared.