Sixth Grade Curriculum
Language Arts
Reading
Develop vocabulary from fiction/non-fiction text to construct and convey meaning.
Read and analyze fiction using a variety of strategies.
Use a variety of reading strategies to seek information and construct meaning from nonfiction materials/sources.
Employ multiple strategies to recognize words as they construct meaning.
Read appropriate materials for a sustained silent period of 100 minutes per week.
Writing
Implement the writing process to include: pre-writing, drafting, conferencing, revising, editing, and publishing.
Employ grammar structure strategies in the writing process.
Compose a variety of texts to persuade, inform, entertain, and inspire utilizing the writing process.
Listening
Listen critically and express understanding.
Speaking
Develop oral communication skills to effectively inform, persuade, entertain, and inspire.
Design and deliver an oral presentation that persuades, informs, entertains or inspires after analysis of a prompt which includes purpose and audience.
Identify and practice elements of effective communication to enhance relationships. Elements include: confidence, appropriate volume, pace, vocabulary and poise.
Research/Study Skills
Identify and use appropriate materials, take notes and cite informational sources
Collect, evaluate and organize information for written and oral presentations
Display an awareness of individual learning styles by developing a variety of personal studying strategies.
Develop a sense of responsibility and ownership for learning.
Science
Astronomy
Compare the Earth to other planets in terms of supporting life.
Describe and compare the motion of the planets in the solar system.
Simple Machines
Construct charts and graphs to compare data from experiments with simple machines.
Describe how forces effect speed, pushes and pulls.
Magnets and Motors
Construct various apparatus to test electro-magnetic fields.
Conduct and analyze a controlled experiment with an electro-magnet.
Microworlds
Conduct observations to determine characteristics.
Use observation to determine observation vs. opinion.
Classify common organisms.
Health
The sixth grade health curriculum focuses on:
Health & risks.
Resolving conflicts & having friends.
Staying safe & preventing violence.
Resisting peer pressure & avoiding drugs
The impact heredity, the environment & lifestyle have on health.
The circulatory system.
Nutrition, exercise & stress.
Preventing HIV infection.
Social Studies
The sixth grade social studies curriculum focuses on the Western Hemisphere. Students are introduced to the regions of Canada and Latin America. They study the geographic significance of each of these regions, exploring the natural and cultural features that are unique to each. Students explore the history, government, economics and global interdependence of each region with special emphasis on economic ties to the United States. Mapping skills are further developed. Unit topics include Central America, West Indies, South America along with Inuit studies and Maya quest. Students study the five themes of geography: location, place, human-environmental interaction, movement and region.
Mathematics
Prime Time
Develop a strong understanding of number theory and number classification. Identify properties and important number relationships in order to solve problems involving common multiples, common factors, and number patterns.
Shapes and Designs
Students develop ability to recognize, display, analyze, measure, and reason about shape and visualize geometric pattern. Students will discover key properties of figures and their applications.
Physical Education
The elementary physical education department delivers curriculum addressing: physical fitness, cognitive understanding, motor skills, leisure skills and personal/social skill components. Physical education classes meet twice weekly for 30 minute periods.
Art
Art class meets once weekly for a forty-five minute period. Students explore ideas about themselves, their world and other cultures through work in various art processes such as painting, collage, drawing, sculpture and ceramics. Art history is a major component of the elementary art curriculum. References to art of the past and present teach how ideas have been explored by others.
Music
Elementary students receive thirty minutes of musical instruction twice each week. The seven strands of the TCAPS musical instruction are: singing, playing instruments, musical literacy, listening, movement, creativity, and music in relation to history, culture and other disciplines. The students begin to develop skills and understanding in all seven areas throughout American music, and the music of other cultures.
Library
The elementary library media centers are at the heart of education at TCAPS. With a minimum of 30 minutes each week at the library , our students are surrounded by wonderful resources for school research and individual reading enjoyment. Special reading promotions throughout the year encourage our students to develop a love of reading and a desire to "find out more" at the library.
Classroom Tools
Minimum of Three Desktop Computers
Access to Wide Area Network
Access to Internet and World Wide Web
Access to Software
Television
Video Cassette Recorder
Electronic and Voice Messaging System