St. Michael School 6th Grade

 

The move to 6th grade at St. Michael School represents a major transition for our students. They leave the elementary wing of the building and move to the other end of the building to become "middle school" students. The daily schedule takes them to a different teacher each period which is a distinct change from the self-contained classrooms they've left.

The Curriculum:

Religion: The Faith First curriculum is divided into three parts: Doctrine, Scripture and the Liturgical Seasons. The three important elements of Catholic belief, God's word, and liturgical celebration are interwoven throughout the year of study. Service projects, activities, art lessons, liturgical events, prayer, and even time with our 3rd grade buddies all provide opportunity to expand learnings from the text into family, school, and community life.

Math: Silver Burdett Ginn's Mathematics is the text used to guide sixth graders through their year of math study. It is a general math text that includes pre-algebra concepts, geometry, fractions, and graphs and statistics among with other concepts.

Social Studies: The text World Religions (Harcourt) gives students an overview of the regions of the world. This overview includes geography, natural resources, civics, cultures and societies (including ancient civilizations), and governments and economies. The students participate in in-depth simulations and write reports, do projects and presentations, and complete a research paper in conjunction with their English class.

Literature: Though organized thematically, the series Elements of Literature (Holt, Rinehart, Winston) is based upon the elements of literature thought to represent quality in writing and literature. Authors chosen for their contribution to the body of literature and known for connecting with young adults are represented. Study is organized around short stories and poetry.

In addition to their reading series, the Accelerated Reader (Reading Renaissance) program is utilized. It is built around computer based testing to check students' comprehension of story lines and vocabulary. It is used to assess both students' ability to read longer works and to assess their vocabulary growth. The books students read are "leveled" by the authors of this program and the levels are generally reflective of the length of book, the complexity of the vocabulary, and the length of sentences.

English: Writer's Choice (Glencoe/McGraw Hill) combines the fundamentals of English grammar with various modes of writing. The writing process is taught as are descriptive, narrative, and persuasive writing. The test is supplemented with selected lessons utilizing the Six Traits of Writing.

Daily Oral Language (McDougall Littell): This program is called "Convention Center" in the classroom. Students take turns copying and correcting sentences on the board and explaining the grammatical reason for their corrections.

Science: Our science program is a two-year rotation of Life Science (Glencoe) and Science: An Introduction to Life, Earth and Physical Science (Glencoe) for sixth and seventh graders. In the introduction we use Foss Science kits "Diversity of Life", "Force and Motion", "Weather and Water" along with the text. The Foss program has the students spending 80% of their time doing lab activities. In addition, the sixth graders spend four days at Camp Hamilton for Outdoor Education.

Physical Education: The Middle School curriculum emphasizes the concepts of physical fitness: strength, flexibility, and endurance. Sports skills are practiced and developed along with the concepts of teamwork and sportsmanship. Middle School girls may participate in the school team sports of volleyball, basketball and track, while team options for boys are flag football, basketball, and track.

Physical education is an integral part of the total education program. Through the enhancement of individual skills, as well as learning to be part of a team, students are given opportunities to increase self-esteem and to view exercise as an important component of a healthy lifestyle.

Electives: Sixth graders can choose between two yearlong electives, advanced band or journalism. There are also three options for trimester-long electives: music history, computers, and PLAN, a study skills class.