Sixth Grade Curriculum Guide
The Catholic School is a unique faith-centered community, which integrates thinking and believing in ways that encourage intellectual growth, nurture faith, and inspire action.
The commitment to academic excellence, which fosters the intellectual development of all students, is an integral part of the mission of our school.
RELIGION
Sixth grade religion uses the RCL Faith First series. The text is in accordance with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and uses many Scriptural references from both the Old and New Testaments. The topics covered during the course of the year are: We Believe (Creed), We Worship (Liturgy and Sacraments), We Live (Christian Morality), and We Pray (Christian Prayer). Attention is also given to liturgical seasons and special feast days of the Church. Emphasis is placed on Gospel values.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Your child will:
- Explore the civilizations of the past (Early man, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, India, Israel, through projects, self-research, literature, games, art, lecture, and hands-on activities
- Discover what we have gained from these civilizations and how they impact our lives
- Understand how all people have the same basic needs and desires, that our cultures and beliefs are what make us unique
- Begin to comprehend how a civilizations’ beliefs and culture leads to its actions and decisions
MATH
Your child will:
- Use multiplication and division in a variety of applications
- Add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole numbers, decimals, fractions, and mixed numbers; see how they are related
- Solve single variable equations
- Engage in a variety of beginning Geometry activities
- Create and interpret graphs using graphing terminology
- Describe and list prime and composite numbers, factors, and multiples
SCIENCE
Your child will learn about:
- Scientific Method and skills
- Matter and energy
- Forces and machines
- Magnetism and motors
- Atoms and Elements
- Buoyancy, Water Displacement, Density
- Underground water sources & contaminations
- What plants require to be healthy
LANGUAGE ARTS
Your child will:
- Recognize the major parts of speech with an emphasis on correct sentence structure
- Apply the writing process:pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing and publishing
- Write using the correct form of paragraphs: topic sentences, supporting details, and concluding sentences
- Write narrative essays as well as a variety of expository paragraphs
- Apply correct writing conventions: spelling, capitalization, and punctuation
LITERATURE:
Your child will:
- Practice strategies for reading a variety of literary forms: short stories, novels, non-fiction, and poetry
- Develop sills for effective comprehension: main idea, inference, drawing conclusions, and context
- Develop word knowledge and word recognition skills to read fluently
- Build vocabulary through reading, context clues, word origins, and structural analysis
- Read for enrichment and enjoyment
SPELLING:
Your child will:
- Spell new words using phonetic groupings
- Spell words frequently used in writing
ACTIVITIES
- KOSTKA Club
- Band & Strings
- Peace partner activities
- Math & Science Night
- Attend Theatrical or musical performance as available
- Jog-A-Thon
COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY
- Classroom and Lab computers are available for report research and work processing
- Instruction in applications of PowerPoint, Word, etc, during one quarter
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES
ART
Each student will have one quarter of Art in which they will be exposed to many different mediums and will produce items for public display. Sixth grade art curriculum will focus on increasing your child’s confidence in drawing and painting skills. Your child will do projects which include:
- Contour line and volume drawing
- Shading techniques
- Color analysis and theory
- Printmaking
- Shading and layering with chalk
- Mural painting
- Scratchboard
- Collage
P.E.
Each student will have 2 quarters of P.E. class with their homeroom class. Students will be required to change into P.E. clothes (health and hygiene purposes). Students will be expected to participate at their current skill level, show growth in their skills, and show appropriate sportsmanship behavior during class.
DRAMA
Students receive one quarter of Drama instruction. They will focus on beginning theater. The basics of theatre—onstage and backstage will be presented. Students will be expected to participate in a performance at the end of the quarter, either onstage or assisting behind the scenes.
MESSAGE TO PARENTS:
Sixth grade is an important transition year from self-contained classrooms to the Middle School model. The students have two teachers for their core subjects, but have at least three other teachers to be responsible to as well. It is an important time to practice appropriately allocating enough time for each subject, work with a variety of teaching styles, and become more independent in their learning environment.
September 2007