Sixth Grade

Homeroom – Charlie Seyffer

Sixth graders learn to juggle assignments from their various teachers as their study skills, organizational skills, and discipline are put to the test. They travel up and down the hall for science and math, carrying their books and folders like true upper schoolers. They take on a more visible role in the school as they organize school-wide assemblies on such topics as Hurricane Katrina, Mardi Gras, the Chinese New Year, Gandhi, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

English – Charlie Seyffer

An appreciation of the written word lies at the heart of the sixth grade language arts curriculum. More than just reading and writing, this course focuses on the integration of composition and literature to give each student opportunities to express, review, and reflect on good writing. This inquiry-based approach allows for rich expression for both individual and group work. Students explore a variety of genres including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays and biography. Literary elements are highlighted in class discussions and personal expression is cultivated through responses in weekly journal entries. In writing workshop students work in a supportive environment to compose and revise narratives, poems, essays.

Language Arts – Jesse Mercer

Students continue to expand their vocabularies using the Wordly Wise curriculum as fuel for their written works. Students' spelling is assessed at the beginning of the year, and they are placed in groups according to their developmental level for Word Study.  Sixth graders use their own writing as they study grammar with a review of the sentence, subjects and predicates, and the parts of speech. As they edit their original pieces, they learn correct grammar and usage. These are tools they will use throughout their lives.

Mathematics 6 – Jesse Mercer

The sixth grade mathematics curriculum serves as a transition between the more discrete, operations-based mathematics of the lower school and the more conceptual, abstract topics dealt with in upper-school math. Students are expected to master such mechanics as adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals and fractions. They are exposed to, and given directed practice in, working with percents and ratios. The concept of negative integers is introduced, and students are given initial exposure to work with negative numbers. In addition, Algebraic notions are inserted into the curriculum wherever possible. Students are introduced to the notion of variables, are required to use them in simple contexts and are even exposed to such higher-level concepts as graphing linear functions. Through activities such as school-wide surveys, class projects, and group work, students in this class master the fundamental arithmetic operations and are prepared for their transition towards Algebra. Additionally, the problem-solving process is taught in various activities throughout the year, including group problem-solving discussions and projects.

Pre-Algebra 6 – Laurie Roche

The Pre-Algebra curriculum is intended to provide a transition from more concrete, mechanics-based mathematics to the abstraction of Algebra. While it does build upon the concepts in the Math 6 and Math 7 curricula, it not only increases the difficulty of the topics covered, but also demonstrates how they fall into the wider scope of Algebra. For instance, students review how to add and subtract fractions, but now they are adding and subtracting like terms with fractional coefficients, thus preparing them to use this skill in solving algebraic equations. The Pre-Algebra curriculum provides a broad overview of fundamental concepts, such as ratio, proportion, and percent, working with negative numbers, solving simple equations, graphing linear functions, and doing simple probability. There is also a large component of the course dedicated to learn the fundamentals of both 2- and 3-dimensional geometry. One can find Pre-Algebra students surveying their classmates for information to make a graph or participating in a “Real-life Project” where they balance their own checkbooks and make family budgeting decisions. Emphasis is placed on applying the problem-solving process wherever possible in the curriculum, both through homework and group activities as well as in projects and discussions.

History – LeeAnne Houston

The sixth grade history curriculum begins with the Renaissance in Italy and throughout Europe. Each student is required to keep a comprehensive notebook using journal entries, pictures, worksheets, and maps to learn about the culture or time period they are studying. They learn the all important skills of note-taking and test-taking. At the end of the year, they write and present a research paper on an African country. The art room becomes an extension of the classroom as many projects are correlated to the history curriculum bringing history into full color.

During the first marking period students learn about the Age of Exploration, The Reformation, and the French and Industrial Revolutions. They write and present a report on a famous explorer. In art class, the students create art based on sculptures and paintings of the masters of the time. Some recent projects include ceiling panels for the art room based on the Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and a life-size replica of Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus,” which hangs in our gymnasium.

For the remainder of the school year the students learn about the continents and countries of Russia, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, Africa, and India. The focus is on religions, geography, and important events that molded the history of each. Students create artwork based on Russian architecture, African weaving, and Chinese watercolors. They celebrate the conclusion of the Asian unit with a feast that includes a variety of food, handmade decorations and costumes. Field trips include visits to Wat Lao Buddhavong, a Buddhist temple in Catlett, Virginia, the National Gallery of Art, the African Museum of Art, and the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Museum.

Science – Anna Burkett

Sixth graders discover the mystery of weather and water by launching a solar balloon, making anemometers, and building a convection chamber. Students are required to maintain a journal as they learn the physics and chemistry which drive weather, study atoms, molecules, changes of state and heat transfer as they study the water cycle, air masses, fronts, winds, climate, the seasons and the Sun. In the Diversity of Life course, they learn that all organisms are composed of cells by using live examples illustrating the basic unit of life. We personalize the learning experience by creating a brine shrimp culture setting them under the microscope, and studying their growth patterns. In addition students study bacteria, protists, fungi, plants and animals and learn about cells, and plant reproduction and kingdoms. In the spring, students literally get their feet wet as they conduct an investigation of a neighboring creek learning about water quality, pollution, conservation, and life in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.