Sixth Grade

List of 11 items.

• Reading & Literature

  • Read and discuss novels, short stories, myths, and tales
  • Develop critical thinking skills through literary analysis of character, setting, theme, and tone
  • Analyze literature and improve comprehension: whole class discussion, literature groups, and group projects
  • Connect literature to social studies: cultural universals and ancient civilizations in literature
  • Read and extract main ideas from non-fiction sources

• Writing & Language Arts

  • Write effective paragraphs, stories, and essays
  • Recognize sentence structure and parts of speech with daily grammar practice
  • Develop critical thinking skills through analysis and editing of one’s own and others’ written work
  • Increase breadth of vocabulary

• Social Studies

  • Understanding cultural universals and their interconnections
  • Dig 2: an introduction to archaeological methodology and ethics
  • Ancient Civilizations: Egypt and Greece
  • Study of farmworkers’ rights
  • Public speaking skills: practice through simulations and presentations
  • Research skills: finding and assessing quality of paper and electronic sources, taking organized notes

• Mathematics

  • Solidifying basic operations using integers, fractions, and decimals
  • Data collection, organization, and analysis
  • Using ratios, rates, proportions, averages, and graphs to draw conclusions and solve for unknowns
  • 2D geometry
  • Dealing with imprecision: estimating and rounding reasonably
  • Using words and equations to explain why and how in math and science

• Science

  • Water quality: learn how society influences the natural world
  • Chemistry of preservation and decay: natural recycling
  • Consumer education: product testing and comparison and analytical writing
  • Physics of motion: apply the abstract to the concrete

• Spanish

  • Use Total Physical Response storytelling model: Canechi y Chipote
  • Use Realidades B textbook, workbook, and interactive website
  • Communicate using four modalities: reading, listening, speaking, and writing
  • Paired communication activities and Mini Speaking Assessments
  • One-on-one and small group conversation
  • Present, preterite, and future tenses
  • Use University of Texas at Austin Oral Proficiency site

• STEAM

  • Digital citizenship: digital footprint, netiquette
  • Google Applications: Forms, Drawing, etc.
  • Coding with Scratch 2.0 and Code.org
  • Digital presentations: Adobe Voice and Slate
  • Design challenges using Design Thinking
  • Catapult design and construction with focus on propulsion and tension
  • Build Rube Goldberg machines with focus on energy transference

• Fine Arts

  • Drawing: one-point perspective
  • Clay: animation
  • Ancient civilizations: Prehistoric, Egyptian, and Greek
  • Background – middle ground – foreground perspective collage

• Music

  • Sixth grade choir with guest choir master
  • Three-part a cappella singing
  • Intermediate conga drum technique
  • Develop drum ensemble concepts
  • Dividing the beat, pattern development, and rhythm cycles
  • Performance band for instrumentalists

• Physical Education

  • Identifying proper warm-up and cool-down techniques
  • Taking responsibility for independent practice
  • Distinguishing between courageous and reckless acts

• Service Learning

  • Study the ecology of Lake Merritt and clean the lake
  • Map Your World: improving the community through civic engagement