6th Grade Curriculum

Listed below are the skill sets and knowledge expected of all sixth grade students by the end of the year. Please be aware of these expectations and work in cooperation with your child's teacher to assist your child in acquiring these skills. If you have any questions about the expectations, please contact your building principal. The expectations are separated into the four core curriculum areas.

Language Arts/Reading

• Determine the meaning of words in context
• Use graphic organizers/outlining to enhance comprehension
• Select and read books independently
• Recognize main ideas and supporting details
• Apply reading strategies for fiction/nonfiction
• Make inferences
• Develop multi-paragraph compositions; include introduction, support, and conclusion
• Write a narrative, expository, and persuasive piece
• Prepare and deliver a presentation to fit within a given time limit
• Write a grade level appropriate research paper

Mathematics

• Add/subtract, multiply/divide fractions
• Add/subtract, multiply/divide decimals
• Solve problems using ratios, proportions, percents
• Determine probability
• Interpret and display data
• Convert customary and metric measurements
• Perform transformations
• Extend and analyze sequences
• Recognize and use problem solving strategies
• Demonstrate knowledge and use of numbers
• Determine volume of prisms and cylinders
• Introduce integers

Science

• Understand the carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle, water cycle, and nitrogen cycle
• Identify biotic and abiotic resources
• Distinguish between members of the food web
• Identify examples of inertia, calculate work, force, and power
• Recognize applications of simple machines
• Understand the relationship between distance, speed, and time
• Distinguish between mass and weight
• Explain the rock cycle and categories
• Explain the theory of plate tectonics
• Understand the atmosphere's composition and identify how atmospheric movement influences weather

Social Studies

• Describe how historians organize historical interpretation
• Make inferences about historical maps/sources
• Identify differences between historical fact and interpretation
• Explain and apply map skills
• Explain how environment influences civilization
• Compare political characteristics of ancient river civilizations
• Identify cause/effects of the decline of the Roman Empire and European feudalism
• Describe economic trends, 1000-1500 AD
• Describe the impact of technology
• Explain how resources are used in the world
• Analyze settlement patterns
• Explain how language, literature, architecture, and traditions contribute to the development of culture
• Explain how geographic factors have shaped present condition