6th Grade Curriculum |
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The Bishop Seabury Academy sixth-grade curriculum offers a solid foundation to a college-preparatory education in a supportive and intellectually stimulating environment. Course work will be at times playful, exuberant, and engaging—meeting students at their existing levels of ability—while challenging them to attain greater maturity and success throughout the year. Teachers present material, develop projects, and assign a level of homework that is appropriate for the energetic curiosity of sixth-grade students.
This primary year will provide a strong grasp of fundamentals in core subjects and in the arts, with an emphasis on writing and reading skills and mathematics. Students will develop effective learning tools and habits and will enter seventh grade with an advanced skill set that will prepare them for the highest level of academic success. This is the beginning of a seven-year, methodically designed curriculum aimed at developing confident, mature, and independent students who are competitive with college-bound students from other prestigious secondary schools.
Students at the Academy enjoy small class size and individual attention from an exceptional faculty that nurtures and celebrates intelligence and excellence. Students also appreciate a positive, supportive rapport with students of different ages in a distinctive school culture.
The following overview of the sixth-grade curriculum and programs demonstrates the character and objectives of course work in the primary year.
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Language Arts will be taught over two periods each day and will involve a distinctly interdisciplinary focus. Students will learn to engage the written text more carefully and actively, attending to structure, theme, characterization, and context. Students will engage in creative and expository writing and will learn the significance of writing as a process.
Readings under consideration are Tales from Shakespeare (Charles and Mary Lamb), A Single Shard (Linda Sue Park), Three Cups of Tea (Greg Mortenson), The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth George Speare), and Minn of the Mississippi (Holling C. Holling). Students will engage in close readings of texts with consideration to multiculturalism, personal and community values, and interdisciplinary thematic connections to the 6th grade science, geography, and language classes.
Students will learn to write across the curriculum and will develop effective use of thesis statements, topic sentences, content development, and logical discussion. Students will also study vocabulary, spelling, word choice, punctuation, parts of speech, and sentence structure.
Students will produce a quarterly school newspaper. This project will give students hands-on exposure to InDesign applications, editing skills, proofing symbols, and a collaborative writing process that leads to solid paragraph structure, and clear, crisp writing.
At the end of the 6th grade year, students will have developed strong reading habits and critical reading skills, and they will be more confident and effective writers with an understanding of how to write in specific disciplines.
In the sixth-grade math curriculum, students will develop an appreciation for accurate computation, problem solving, and the larger applications of mathematics. As the school year progresses, individual students will have appropriate opportunities for additional challenges as well as additional practice for mastering concepts.
Algebra and geometry are the primary focus. Problem solving applications include skills involving long division, fractions, decimals, percents, statistics, probability, and geometry. Experiences in geometry will be enhanced by using MIRA’s to explore symmetry, Geoboards to explore analytical geometry, and a program called the Geometer’s Sketchpad, which allows dynamic geometry to be performed. Students will use graphing calculators for computation, graphing and data collection, and statistics. However, pencil and paper computations will also be expected.
The curriculum for sixth-grade mathematics continues developing and extending number sense, up to and including rational numbers and negative numbers. This number sense will include pencil and paper computations using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The students will explore patterns, measure objects, justify rules, analyze data, and begin to form an abstract understanding of the relationships between numbers and the real world. This understanding will include proportions, percentages, and elementary probabilities. The long-term objective is to get students ready for Prealgebra and ultimately Algebra I.
This course is a survey of the sciences and explores the development of scientific knowledge from the Ice Age to the Space Age. Hands-on explorations will focus on the great discoveries of science while emphasizing the process skills needed for success in advanced science courses.
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The following topics will be covered:
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| The History of Science |
Chemical Reactions |
| The Process of Science |
Food Chemistry |
| Newton’s Laws of Motion |
Agriculture |
| Energy and Momentum |
Biological Diversity |
| Gravity |
Ecosystems and the Environment |
| Heat |
Biomes |
| Electricity and Magnetism |
Oceans |
| The Atom |
A Brief History of the Earth |
| Nuclear Physics |
Rocket Science |
| Matter |
Satellites |
| The Periodic Table |
Space Exploration |
The sixth-grade Survey of the Sciences will have a significant lab component. Students leaving the course should be energized to continue their study of the sciences and comfortable with an array of lab skills and experiences. Other skills emphasized will be teamwork, observation, organization and time-management, study and test-preparation, reading in the sciences, safety in the field and lab, field and lab techniques, modeling, experimental design, lab writing, and math integration. At the end of this course, students should be able to distinguish between
the major scientific disciplines and describe the significance of the great scientific ideas and discoveries made throughout human history. They will be well prepared for success in higher-level coursework in the sciences.
This course will focus not only on the physical geography of the world but also on the cultural geography and current state of the changing world. This will be the first year of a two-part course, and the sixth-grade year will cover the Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Asia and Oceania.
Students will develop a solid geographic and cultural sense of the world while developing basic essay writing skills, study habits, and critical thinking skills. Students will be expected to participate in History Day as an interdisciplinary Geography and English project. Students will be able to work alone or in groups to create papers, exhibits, dramatic presentations, or websites centered on the History Day theme for that year.
At the end of the year, students will be able to locate the major countries located within the regions studied. They will also have a sense of the culture, land, and climate of all the regions studied, be able to relate current news events to cultural geography, and have participated in various class projects while working alone or in assigned cooperative learning groups. In addition to developing a foundational geographic and broad historical sense of the world and learning how to study texts and write in the discipline of social studies, students will become more responsible, respectful members of a global society.
Adventures in Language is an introduction to language learning, taught in two parts: History & Etymology and Ancient Mythology.
Language History & Etymology will provide an interesting and age-appropriate introduction to topics ranging from history of human language to foreign words used in English vocabulary. Students will enhance their vocabulary and English language skills by examining language as it crosses over into the disciplines of Science, Geography, History, Social Sciences, and Language Arts. Class projects will involve language family trees, hieroglyphics, different alphabet systems, the sounds of different world languages, native guest speakers, and spelling bees using root words. By the end of the course, students will know where language comes from, how it is generated by humans, and how it differs around the world. Students will gain an appreciation for world languages, enhance their English skills, and hopefully develop a continuing interest in language study.
In Ancient Mythology, students will study mythology from the ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Meso-America. Students will learn stories about these ancient heroes and deities and will examine the origins and history of the mythic tradition. Specific topics will include creation mythology, heroic adventure, Olympian gods, Homer and the Epic, mythology in the modern world, and the origin and richness of the mythic tradition. The class will provide a foundation for the culture that students will examine in seventh- and eighth-grade Latin.
Sixth-grade Arts will introduce students to fundamental art terminology involving the elements and principles of art, a general art history timeline, broad classifications of art movements, exemplars, and drawing exploration.
This course is designed to instill enthusiasm, spark interest, and boost confidence in the students’ future artistic experiences. The course prepares students for seventh- and eighth-grade arts classes.
Sixth-grade Drama is a light and engaging introduction to play, performance, and improvisation. Students will take part in games that require physical activity, coordination, focus, attention to detail, and imagination. In addition to providing students with some physically and mentally engaging play during the school day, the course helps students learn to collaborate and communicate with others. This course is the first in three required Speech & Drama courses in the Lower School grades.
The Choral Music program at Bishop Seabury Academy is integral to the school's liberal arts mission and all students participate. Students will study and perform a wide range of music, from classical chamber music to modern jazz, Broadway musical to traditional opera. Students will use listening, performance, written, creative, and analytical exercises to develop their aural, sight-singing, written, compositional, and performance skills.
School-related performances include the Fall Concert, Bishop Seabury Academy Convocation, Lessons & Carols, the Festival of Music at Worlds of Fun, KSHSAA Regional and State Competitions, Spring Concert, Baccalaureate and Graduation.
The course will provide a foundational understanding of standard rhythmic and metric notation, diatonic scales, melodies, and harmonies, vocal technique and physiology, sight-singing and personal performance strength, music history and composers, audience etiquette and response, and ensemble and solo performance skills.
The Health curriculum will provide students with the necessary information to make healthy choices in their lives. Through lecture, group discussion, and classroom activities, students will develop a better understanding of adolescent growth patterns, mental and emotional health, positive relationships, nutrition, and first aid. This information will be the foundation for seventh- and eighth-grade Health.
Students who lack basic keyboarding and word-processing skills will have dedicated time to work on these skills as a component of the sixth-grade writing program. Students will also receive instruction on effective and safe use of technology and online websites.
In addition to participation in the Academy’s sports program, students will participate in structured physical activity during the day.
The Bishop Seabury Academy athletics program is founded on a clear commitment to excellence, variety, and inclusion. Our program provides opportunities for students to develop a strong sense of sportsmanship, teamwork, and cooperation as they strive for a common goal—valuable lessons that student athletes can apply throughout their lives. The Academy does not cut students from its teams but encourages all students to participate in its competitive program. All students are required to participate in at least one sport during the year.
Sixth-grade students will have the opportunity to be involved in football, girls tennis, girls volleyball, or co-ed cross country in the fall, girls or boys basketball in the winter, and boys tennis, girls soccer, or golf in the fall. The Academy additionally offers a cheer squad.
The Bishop Seabury Academy theatre program produces five or six shows each year and offers multiple opportunities for sixth-grade students to be involved throughout the year, including the winter touring show that travels to various elementary schools in Lawrence. The Academy is committed to including arts education as a central theme of its curriculum, and all sixth graders are required to participate in at least one production during the year. Our theatre program strives to uphold a tradition of excellence in a supportive and encouraging environment.
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