Grade 6 Curriculum

LANGUAGE ARTS
The purpose of the grade six language arts curriculum is to develop life-long readers through personal growth in the skills of independent readers who can communicate effectively in both written and oral language. The program explores high quality, high interest traditional and contemporary literary selections both in the literature text and in young adult literature.

MATH
In grade 6, the focus is on four critical areas: (1) connecting ratio and rate to whole number multiplication and division, and using concepts of ratio and rate to solve problems; (2) completing understanding of division of fractions and extending the notion of number to the system of rational numbers, which includes negative numbers; (3) writing, interpreting, and using expressions and equations; and (4) developing understanding of statistical thinking.

SOCIAL STUDIES
Sixth graders study the world outside of the United States and North America.  Students learn geography around the world continent by continent. They also learn about each continent in an order that reflects, first, the early development of the river valley civilizations and then the later development of maritime civilizations in the Mediterranean area and in Northern and Western Europe. Students learn physical and political geography and embed five major concepts: location, place, human interaction with the environment, movement, and regions.

SCIENCE
The goal of the middle school science program is to instill an enthusiasm for science.  As stewards of the world, students learn they play an integral part in the preservation and improvement of the earth’s resources and technology.  Subject matter is presented as a way of thinking and problem solving and not as a collection of facts.  The inquiry–based, hands-on format encourages students to develop the critical thinking skills needed to become the problem solvers of the future.  To foster these skills, the scientific method of observation, testing, analysis, drawing conclusions and discussion is utilized. 

Additional educational resources such as The Wildlife Sanctuary of MA, Project  Noah (which combines the resources of National Geographic and the National Park Service) The Ocean Research Project partnered with The Smithsonian and NASA, and NASA astronauts in space, are sources of field work and virtual study.  Teaching formats include lectures, discussions, demonstrations, experiments and cooperative activities and blogs.  STEM projects and technology are integrated within each of these formats.

Earth / Space / Technology-Engineering Sciences / STEM

Our Sustainable Planet
The Audubon :  Wildlife Sanctuary - monitoring the growth of common reeds in salt marshes
NASA- how satellites are used:  weather forecasting, geological research, tectonic movement, monitor the melting of the Greenland’s icecap.  Ocean research project
Project Noah -  the oceans; Myrmex and BioBlitz programs
Ocean Research Project:  mapping the ocean; blogs with the researchers
Mapping the Earth
Earth’s Structure
Heat Transfer in the Earth System
Earth’s History
The Earth in the Solar System – Introduction to Space Science

Students create a science journal throughout the year by reporting weekly on relevant news topic