Core Subjects

6th Grade

English

Advanced English 6 (ENG1010)

The English 6 course uses the StudySync Grade 6 Curriculum. Each of the six units (Testing our Limits, You and Me, In the Dark, Personal Best, Making Your Mark, and True to Yourself) include lesson sequences and materials structured to provide flexibility for a range of learners. Formative assessments in each unit are designed to measure student progress towards mastering focus indicators for the processes and content of English. StudySync is a comprehensive English Language Arts curriculum that is designed for all 21st century learners. StudySync combines print books with a digital platform for reading and writing. Students will have their own online digital binder where they will receive their assignments, store their writing, and receive teacher and peer reviews.

Global Advanced English 6 (ENG1010-01)

Cohort students will go beyond this core as they learn additional content, explore deeper connections to today, engage in investigative inquiry to strengthen their writing and enhance their learning through relevant literature connections. Students will be enrolled in this course based on teacher recommendation and/or assessment data.

Students assigned to the Global Advanced English 6 course will be assigned to a special section of the course. The student's schedule will show enrollment in Advanced English 6.

English Language Development (ELD)

English 6 for English Learners I Double Period (ESL1014)
English 6 for English Learners II Double Period (ESL1017)
English 6 for English Learners III (ESL1020)
Advanced English 6 for English Learners IV (ENG1010) - co-taught class with ELD teacher and English teacher

English/Language Arts courses build upon students’ prior knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, word usage, and the mechanics of writing and usually include the four aspects of language use: reading, writing, speaking, and listening through the StudySync English 6 curriculum. Typically, these courses introduce and define various genres of literature, with writing exercises often linked to reading selections. These courses also provide an explanation of the English language, enabling students to progress from a beginning level of understanding of English vocabulary and grammatical structures to a more comprehensive grasp of various formal and informal styles of using academic English in the context of English/language Arts. Students are awarded 10 SSL hours at the completion of English 6 for their full participation in SSL activities.

Physical Education & Health

Physical Education 6 (HPE 1003)

Physical Education Grade 6

Each grade 6 student takes Physical Education for three marking periods during the year. By the end of Grade 6, students should know and be able to do the following:

HEALTH-RELATED FITNESS
- Define and compare the health-related fitness components, including aerobic capacity/cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility.
- Define the exercise principles of overload, specificity, and progression.
- Develop a personal fitness plan using the Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type (FITT) formula.
- Define and calculate target heart rate.
MOVEMENT SKILLS AND CONCEPTS
- Perform fundamental movement skills essential to physical activity and sport.
- Demonstrate creative skill combinations, such as tumbling sequences and dances.
- Create a personal movement (practice) plan.
PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
- Perform tasks effectively with others in physical activity settings.
- Acquire and maintain relationships that develop a sense of community in physical activity settings.
- Establish and modify personal goals.

Students will need to wear appropriate footwear for participation in PE. Students are assigned a locker with a lock for a change of clothes or shoes.

Comprehensive Health Education Grade 6 (HPE 1000)

Comprehensive health education is taught for a term of 9-weeks during Grade 6. Knowledge, concepts, skills, and strategies essential to making healthful decisions are presented promoting lifelong health and well-being. Certified Health Education teachers implement a variety of learning activities to promote and practice wellness skills and health literacy. The development of lifelong positive health-related attitudes and behaviors are emphasized to promote self-reliance and self-regulation. Skills include accessing information, decision-making, goal setting, communication skills, analyzing influences, and advocacy.

Key Concepts

Mental and emotional health - personal well-being; analyzing influences; accessing information; interpersonal communication; decision making; goal setting; managing emotions; stress-management; advocacy.
Alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs - benefits of a drug-free lifestyle.
Personal and consumer health - personal hygiene; health care products.
Safety and injury prevention - media, technology, and harassment; cyber-bullying and bullying; personal safety; first aid and emergency response.

Science

Investigations in Earth Science 6 (SCI1002)

The NGSS aligned Investigations in Earth Science course provides opportunities for students to engage in science and engineering practices and apply crosscutting concepts to deepen their understanding of core ideas across science disciplines. The curriculum is phenomena-based; instruction is woven around a relevant problem/project that drives student learning. Students apply their understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to propose solutions to problems. Instruction provides opportunities for hands-on explorations, productive discourse, and purposeful reading and writing. The course starts with a foundational approach to science instruction to develop student skills in the metric system, scientific method, and science and engineering practices, taught through the lens of stream ecology. Additional units include weather and climate, earth’s materials and processes, natural resources, and geologic history. Students are awarded 10 SSL hours for participating in activities built into the course.

Social Studies

Historical Inquiry in World Studies 6 (SOC 1001)

This course provides enriched opportunities for learning about ancient world history. Building on the current four units of Grade 6 world studies, students will deepen their understanding of the rich cultures and history from the earliest human settlements to great civilizations of the year 1000 CE. Students are challenged to analyze archaeological evidence, ask questions to further their knowledge, and understand history as an ongoing investigation. These historical thinking, reading, and writing skills support success in future Advanced Placement and honors social studies courses. Teachers will implement the curriculum in Grade 6 as follows:

UNIT 1: Patterns of Settlement in the Ancient and Modern Worlds
UNIT 2: Citizenship and Governance in Classical and Modern Times
UNIT 3: The Impact of Economics in Ancient and Modern China
UNIT 4: Cultural Systems: The First Millennium and Today

Historical Inquiry into Global Humanities 6 (SOC1009)

This course is built around the core Grade 6 social studies curriculum, Historical Inquiry in World Studies 6, that includes historical content from early civilizations, the empires of Greece and Rome, the dynasties of China, and civilizations of the first millennium.

Cohort students will go beyond this core as they learn additional content, explore deeper connections to today, engage in investigative inquiry to strengthen their writing through Document Based Questions, and enhance their learning through relevant literature connections. They will also participate in a culminating Model UN simulation at the end of the year. Students will be enrolled in this course based on teacher recommendation and/or assessment data.

Mathematics

Math 6 (MAT 1005)

The Grade 6 Math Course begins with a unit on reasoning about area and understanding and applying concepts of surface area. These materials incorporate opportunities to practice elementary arithmetic concepts and skills. From geometry, students move to studying ratios, unit rates, and percentages using various diagrams. The first semester ends with dividing fractions using diagrams and the standard algorithm. From there, students continue the study of standard algorithms to compute with decimals. Students will then evaluate expressions, solve equations, and study rational numbers before concluding the year with an introduction to statistics.

AMP 6+ - Accelerated Math 6 Plus (MAT 1015)

The Illustrative Mathematics AMP Courses compact 3 on-grade level courses, Math 6 – 8, into two coursework-years completed in Grade 6 and Grade 7. AMP6+ is offered to 6th graders and is a pre-requisite for AMP7+ as a 7th grader. AMP6+ provides cyclical & connected instruction on Math 6 - 8 standard threads. Rather than completing an entire grade level course at an accelerated pace and then moving into the subsequent grade level course and cycling through the standards again, the AMP6+ course aligns math standards from each grade level to be instructed together.

This advanced course begins with a study of area and surface area concepts. This work sets the tone for later units that use area models for arithmetic using rational numbers. Next, students begin study of ratios, rates, and percentages with an introduction using representations such as number line diagrams, tape diagrams, and tables. Student understanding of these concepts expands by exploring fraction and decimal representations of rational numbers. They explore sums, differences, products, and quotients using intuitive methods and efficient algorithms. Next, students are introduced to equations and expressions including finding solutions for linear equations in one variable and basic equations involving exponents. Student understanding of ratios and rates combined with a basic understanding of equations leads students to study proportional relationships with special emphasis on circumference and area of a circle as an example and non-example of proportional relationships. This is followed by looking at percentage concepts and applications such as sales tax, tipping, and markup. They learn about rational numbers less than zero expanding their understanding of arithmetic to negative numbers. A brief study of data and statistics concludes the new concepts in the course. The last unit offers students an optional opportunity to synthesize their learning from the year using a number of different applications.