Academics

6th Grade English

Sixth graders start the year in English studying the smaller units of the English language: words. They begin a yearlong study of vocabulary, as well as a final look at commonly misspelled words and helpful spelling rules. A study of dictionary skills helps them understand origins of words, how words relate to each other, and how to pronounce newly learned words. All of this builds into a study of sentences: how different types of sentences can be used, how parts of sentences are properly constructed, and, most importantly, how using a variety of sentence structures can lead to an improvement in writing skills. By the second trimester the students are ready for a serious introduction to the writing of expository essays, a genre that will become increasingly important for them to master in their upcoming years. In addition to the organization of the different paragraphs, the students will learn how to write a thesis and how to support it in a clear, precise, and persuasive way. They also do a study of Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which they read the entire play, react to it, and perform scenes from it. The final term is spent on a major research report on the topic of each student's choice. Students learn how to find information, take notes, organize information into outline form, and write the final paper and reference list. In many ways this paper is truly a culminating activity for the English course. The students display the writing, spelling, vocabulary, and grammar skills they have learned, as well as their skills in organization and persuasion.

6th Grade History: Developing Societies

The 6th grade History course travels to many places, time periods, and peoples. We begin the year with mini-units on areas of social science: world geography, cartography, material culture and archaeology. The culmination of the fall term is the "Create a Country" project, where students demonstrate their understanding of global location, topography, climate, economic and cultural concepts by developing a society of their own. In the winter term, the study of the Vikings involves learning about the geography of the regions they inhabited, raided, or explored. Following the Vikings and their wide-ranging travels, we segue into a study of emergent medieval society in Europe. Tracing the development of European society from the Dark Ages to the High Middle Ages, we discover how architecture and literature provide windows onto the lives of people and their places in a structured society. Our final unit of the year brings us to a very different place but a parallel time period: the West African kingdoms of Mali, Songhai, and Ghana. After reviewing the effect of geography on these societies, students explore the development of each culture and their progression and end the year with a look at the West African slave trade of the 17th-19th centuries and its impact on West Africa.

In addition to our work with the Developing Societies curriculum, class time is used once a week throughout the year to explore students' understanding of Quaker history and Friends' beliefs and practices. Students develop their understanding of Meeting for Worship and why, as a Friends school, we hold to certain emphases and practices. Many of these lessons also provide an opportunity to explore and celebrate the diversity of religious and spiritual practices among our student community.

6th Grade Regular Math

The sixth grade regular math section starts the year with a review of place value, the value of digits and numbers, and how numbers can be compared and ordered. We continue with the study of the order of operations, powers and square roots, using the four operations with both whole numbers and decimals, algebraic expressions, and problem solving strategies including using tables, finding patterns, guess-and-check, multistep problems, and working backward. In the second term we work on graphing, statistics and probability, number theory, and a wide range of skills with fractions, including estimating and finding sums, differences, products, and quotients with fractions. We also explore the relationships between fractions and decimals. Our work on problem solving strategies is ongoing, and we continue to work with patterns and multistep problems, as well as graphs and diagrams. By the third term we work on metric and customary measurement, ratios, proportions and percents, and geometry, including perimeter, area and volume. In problem solving, in addition to the continuation of skills already introduced, we work on scale drawings, circle graphs, and formulas. We finish the year with an introduction to integers, and a review of simple algebra.

6th Grade Science

6th grade science is a general introduction to scientific inquiry and begins with a study of endangered species. Students work in groups to research a specific endangered animal and identify factors that cause species to become endangered. Students participate in the Adopt-an-Animal program and visit the Philadelphia Zoo to find out how zoos are working to save animals worldwide. During the second unit on trees and forests, each student participates in a month long observation of a deciduous tree. Because observation is at the heart of scientific inquiry students are asked to record detailed observations through written notes and drawings each week. These observations are summarized in a formal report. The unit includes the study of the structure of trees, their importance and a comparison of our deciduous forest with rainforests.

The chemistry unit explores the nature of matter through lab investigations about the chemical and physical properties of mixtures and compounds. Important scientific skills include observing, drawing conclusions and writing an organized and coherent lab report. In addition, students learn to participate in a safe and responsible manner in the lab setting. The chemistry unit lays the foundation for the study of geology, in which students will explore the interior of the earth and the study of rocks and minerals. The geology unit concludes with the study of plate tectonics. Students explore such topics as causes and prediction of earthquakes and volcanoes.

The final unit of the year is the study of freshwater wetlands. In this unit students study the ecology as well as the importance of these areas. This unit culminates in an overnight field trip to the Pinelands in New Jersey where students will do field study through hiking and canoeing.

6th Grade Health

In 6th grade Health, the focus is on making wise decisions. There are three major units: Relationships, Nutrition, and Smoking. In the Relationships unit, we concentrate on self-esteem, friendships, and family relationships - realizing that while the dynamics may be different, there are some skills that can apply to all relationships - such as our conflict resolution model. We take a field trip to the ropes course to use this model to solve a "problem" on one of the ropes course elements. There are some reading and role playing activities and some group work - both small and large groups - to use these interpersonal skills in class. The goal of the nutrition unit is to teach the students what the major groups of nutrients do for their bodies and how to make wise food choices to suit their needs for any particular situation. We use the food guide pyramid, as well as many sample food labels to put together menus for hypothetical situations - ie: you have a championship soccer game tomorrow, you think you are coming down with a cold, you have been feeling sluggish lately, etc... The students keep a food diary for a day and we make an overall class food pyramid using math to find an average of the number of servings of a particular food group. We also take a trip to the school garden and discuss the nutrients found in what we are harvesting or planting. The smoking unit is based on advertising and peer pressure and we discuss making wise choices in keeping with one’s personal and/or family values.