6th Grade Overview

In the Created for Greatness leadership program students will:

• Begin leadership formation through virtues
• Study the 4 temperaments: sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic
• Mentor preschool students weekly, visit nursing homes regularly, and engage in pro-life spiritual adoption project
• Focus on humility (becoming great by bringing out others’ greatness)
• Practice self-knowledge and appreciation of others’ strengths/weaknesses
• Integrate virtues in everyday interactions, schoolwork, and subject areas

“We encourage our students to make good choices and be leaders.  When the best choice is not made, we redirect the student to reflect on what a better choice would have been and why.” -- Ms. Janet Duex, Math teacher

In ENGLISH the students will:

• Recognize and define the structure of a story
• Determine central ideas and themes in age-appropriate literature
• Recognize and practice conventions of standard English grammar and correct usage
• Introduce Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) process to develop and strengthen writing
• Write clearly while using IEW techniques
• Gather and cite sources used in fact finding writing activities
• Engage in book talks, classroom discussions, projects, and more

Novels: The Cay, Bridge to Terabithia, Hatchet, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

In RELIGION the students will:

• Follow the 12 stages of salvation history to grasp the Old and New Testament timeline
• Connect how  the messages and stories of the Old Testament reveal Christ as the Savior
• Study God’s covenants with mankind as part of His loving plan
• Encounter scriptures as the living word of God (Lectio Divina and allegorical, anagogical, and moral senses)
• Write and illustrate a children’s book/perform a skit on an Old Testament figure to teach primary students about Salvation History
• Begin the Created for Greatness leadership program (details above)
• Attend weekly school Mass and monthly Adoration and participate in Reconciliation

In SCIENCE the students will:

• Solve real-world STEM problems through Project Lead The Way (PLTW) engineering units
• Get hands-on exploration and experimentation with existing and new energy solutions for our country and world
• Design oil spill booms during their study of matter
• Examine physical science topics including:
• Measurement, matter, forces, work, power, and energy
• Practice scientific inquiry through weekly science labs
  
  

“ My favorite projects are the engineering design projects the classes do. It is amazing to see students take ownership of their projects as they design, build, and improve their products.” -- Ms. Valerie Morel, Science teacher

In MATH the students will:

Study Course 2 Math OR Pre- Algebra

• Course 2:
  Rational numbers, operations, and algebraic representations
  Equations, functions, geometry, square roots, and probabilities
• Pre-Algebra:
  Integers, equations, inequalities, rational numbers, and proportions
  Functions, geometry, measurement, data analysis, polynomials, and transformations

 

In HISTORY the students will:

• Explore topics from ancient civilizations up to the 1850s including:
• Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, India, China, Greece, Rome, The Middle Ages, Renaissance, Enlightenment, and more
• The founding of the United States and its government
• Evaluate the impact of ideas on human behavior and how it compares with what Catholics believe (Daoism, Confucianism, and Legalism, etc. )
• Expand critical thinking and historical thinking skills
  
  

“It’s wonderful to have the freedom to evaluate ideas and people of history using the lens of virtues and morality.” -- Mrs. Emmi Santos McCabe, History teacher

In COMMUNICATIONS the students will:

• Use IEW to improve writing style using dress-ups and sentence openers, craft paragraphs with topic and clincher sentences, and develop a variety of essay organizational strategies
• Conduct research on inspirational historical figures

• Outline, summarize, and analyze informational texts of varying lengths
• Gather, sort, and condense research in order to write informational essays for a variety of purposes and audiences
• Learn to use MLA format in research pieces
• Reflect on the “self-smarts, school-smarts, and people smarts” presented in the Top 20 Teens curriculum, and use skits to apply the concepts to their own lives and to teach them to younger students
• Identify the “Top 20” traits of former student Zach Sobiech using the biography Fly a Little Higher, documentary “My Last Days,” song “Clouds,” and visit with his mom, Laura Sobiech

 

In PHYSICAL EDUCATION/HEALTH the students will:

• Practice sportsmanship, skill development, individual and team sports, physical fitness, and conditioning
• Study nutrition and wellness, body systems, diseases, conflict management, and first aid
• Examine how nurturing our bodies and helping them grow prepares us for a lifetime of serving God and others through physical fitness

In TECHNOLOGY the students will:

• Get hands-on practice using Open Office and Google Docs
• Learn internet safety and media literacy through Netsmartz and Common Sense resources
• Create multimedia presentations using OpenOffice and Google Slides
• Develop typing skills through lessons and practice
• Create a real life scenario budget in Google Sheets to detail expected and actual costs
• Import a budget into Google slides for presentation
• Incorporate mapping skills learned through use of Google Maps
• Create programs using MIT Scratch programming software

In ART the students will:

• Explore elements and principles of art, including:
  • Line, shape, color, form, value, space, and texture
  • Pattern, rhythm, emphasis, balance, contrast, and unity

• Study artists as they relate to projects, and learn about their media, style, and techniques
• Project examples include: still life paintings, Picasso-inspired drawings, and a Minnesota-based project with a written story to accompany it