What Your Sixth Grader Needs To Learn

by Valerie Nelson | More from this Blogger

23 Aug 2006 01:35 PM

Sixth grade in many schools is considered middle school, which can be very different from elementary school. For the first time students may change classrooms and have different teachers for each subject. Children will need higher-level organizational skills to keep up with the more hurried pace and extra curricular activities this year. Boys especially, at this age tend to utilize a lot of "bathroom" humor, but are at the same time becoming more sensitive to the needs of others. Sixth grade girls and boys tend to have a lot of energy and tend to exhibit general silliness whenever possible.

The following is a short listing of core subjects that your sixth grader should learn by the end of the school year. For a more in depth look check out What Your Sixth Grader Needs To Know from your local library, or purchase it through the Core Knowledge Foundation.

Language Arts this year will focus strongly on expanding writing skills and continued reading in different genres including mythology, Shakespeare and other Classics. Writing will include reports, essays, letters, stories and poems. Some students will be required to keep a journal in order to enhance or strengthen their writing skills.

Through History and Geography, children will continue to explore ancient cultures with an emphasis on their lasting contributions. For example, students will study the similarities in the Roman and United States Government systems. Students will begin to understand different economies in relation to geographic locations of different people groups. Current events through reading newspapers and visiting online news sources as well as watching select television news programs will broaden your sixth graders view of the world. In American History, students will closely investigate immigration, industrialization, and urbanization.

In Music and Art, students may begin or continue to play an instrument. They will also study classical music periods from Baroque to Romantic, which may include composers such as Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann. Sixth Grade students will study periods of art history, which may include Classical, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, Romantic, and Realism.

Math students will continue with pre-algebra and begin to utilize statistical probabilities to analyze data. This is the year that many parents feel the need for a refresher math course in order to help their child with homework. During this year, teachers are focused more on teaching children when to use different types of math than rote memorization of math facts. Students must be adept at understanding both the how and why of more complex story problems. For example, students must be able to determine when to use multiplication rather than division to solve a problem.

Through Science, students will study the aspects of astronomy, the oceans and energy. Students may have more time in the lab to conduct physical and chemical experiments. Children may also visit their local weather station or science museum. Students will begin to ask more how than why questions to understand how science affects the world around them.

Learn more about Valerie Nelson

Valerie is a Families.com blogger, freelance writer and small business owner. Valerie helps non-profit organizations with fundraising through grant development for their programs and projects.

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