Grade Six

In grade six, students focus on analyzing texts and on how authors make their point and support arguments with evidence. They examine the structure and content of complex texts and learn how to use language to inform, influence, and express ideas. Students study world geography and look at how geography and resources influenced the migration and habits of primitive cultures. Structure and function are the themes in the science classroom and students observe how structure and function exist in the world around them. They use models and provide evidence to make claims and explanations about structure-function relationships in different science and technology/engineering domains. In mathematics, the focus is on mastery of operations on fractions and integers, and applying these skills to proportional reasoning to quantitative and spatial settings. Performance Tasks include: Cartographers a la Carte; Pizza for Champions; Engineering Design Project; Community Hero.

English Language Arts
In grade 6, students read proficiently grade-appropriate complex literature and informational while further developing the ability to cite textual evidence to support analyses. Students focus on examining how authors use reasons to make their points and support arguments with evidence, separating unsupported assertions from those backed by evidence. Students analyze both the structure and content of complex, grade-appropriate texts, determining how sentences and paragraphs within texts influence and contribute to the unfolding of a plot and the development and elaboration of events or ideas. Students also share their findings in class discussions, practicing how logically to sequence ideas and highlight the themes and key details they find most persuasive. Students’ vocabularies expand as they become more attuned to using context, knowledge of Greek and Latin roots and affixes, and word analysis to determine the meaning of academic words. Students in grade 6 are increasingly challenged to sharpen their ability to write and speak with more clarity and coherence, providing clear reasons and relevant evidence. In grade 6, students learn how writers try to influence readers while discovering how they can do the same in their own prose. They discover how to answer questions through writing and can use rewriting opportunities to refine their understanding of a text or topic. They also take a critical stance toward sources and apply criteria for identifying reliable information as opposed to mere conjecture.

Social Studies
Sixth graders study the world outside of the United States and North America. Students systematically learn geography around the world continent-by-continent, similar to the way in which atlases are organized. They also learn about each continent in an order that reflects, first, the early development of the river valley civilizations and then the later development of maritime civilizations in the Mediterranean area and in Northern and Western Europe. In so doing, students are better prepared for the study of early civilizations around the Mediterranean area in grade seven.

Mathematics
In grade 6, the focus for student learning is on four critical areas: (1) connecting ratio and rate to whole number multiplication and division, and using concepts of ratio and rate to solve problems; (2) completing understanding of division of fractions and extending the notion of number to the system of rational numbers, which includes negative numbers; (3) writing, interpreting, and using expressions and equations; and (4) developing understanding of statistical thinking. The focus is the mastery of operations on fractions and integers and applying these skills to proportional reasoning to quantitative and spatial settings.

Science and Technology/Engineering
Structure and Function In Grade 6 students inquire about the structure and function of the world around them. The integration of earth, life, and physical sciences with technology/engineering gives students relevant and engaging opportunities with natural phenomena and design problems that provide the foundation for more abstract and complex topics through grade 7 and 8. Grade 6 students start with a framework that relates structure and function of the macro and microscopic world and introduces scale and time in all science and technology/engineering domains. Students use models and provide evidence to make claims and explanations about structure-function relationships in different science and technology/engineering domains.

The Unified Arts
One of the primary goals of the unified arts instruction is to develop and expand children's natural abilities of perception, movement, interpretation, and appreciation of the forms, sounds, and language of creativity. The curriculum is designed to encourage a positive attitude and, perhaps, a lifelong interest in all of the unified arts disciplines. By participating in active experiences, working collaboratively with classmates and teachers, and presenting their work to the larger community, our students gain the technical and aesthetic foundation to be culturally literate citizens of the world.

World Language
Students will take Spanish and Latin in each of their three years at Monomoy Middle School. Students will expand on the Spanish language skills acquired at the elementary level. Spanish, as the nation's second language, gives every proficient speaker a valuable skill and a connection to world conversations. A foundational understanding of Latin opens the door to all Romance Languages and strengthens understanding of the roots of language and appropriate usage. Latin will extend skills addressed in the English Language Arts classes.

Visual Arts
Using a variety of ways to explore, learn, and communicate, students develop their capacity for imaginative and reflective thinking. The visual arts includes drawing, painting, photography,
printmaking, and sculpture; the design fields include industrial, ceramic, textile, furniture, and graphic design. Visual arts is a continuously evolving field that also explores technologies such as film, video, and other electronic forms of image-making.

Music
Through music education students become fluent in the language of music as artistic, intellectual, and cultural expression. Performing, creating, and responding to music provide means for development and growth. Fluency in music brings understanding of contemporary and historical cultures, as well as self-knowledge. Music includes forms such as folk, popular, band and orchestral music, gospel music, oratorio, jazz, opera, and musical theatre.

Wellness
Our physical education program is designed to support students’ self-image, build sportsmanship, and provide a basis for a healthy lifelong attitude toward fitness. Our curriculum is carefully sequenced to match the stages of physical, social, and emotional development from year to year. In addition to athletic skills, our program encourages creative expression, builds social concepts such as sportsmanship, cooperation, and fair play, offers opportunities for leadership, encourages children to take risks, and fosters a sense of well-being in a non-competitive setting.

STEM
Students in grades five through seven engage in progressively more sophisticated engineering design challenges from the construction of simple name plates to bridges to air powered cars. Essential questions include: How do material characteristics affect tool choice and use? How do properties and characteristics of materials affect design and production in the building of prototypes? How can ideas be communicated through various media? How can you apply the Universal Systems model to transportation?