Sixth Grade

The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

Sixth Grade

Advisory

The sixth grade advisory offers a wide variety of activities during the course of the school year. Because sixth grade is a transition point for our students, the beginning of the year is used to help the students get to know each other and to learn how to organize their time. We do a variety of activities such as: personal collages, �Me Bags,� �I Can�t Funerals,� and �Who am I� worksheets. Around Thanksgiving many advisors do an activity called �I am thankful for you because�� We take time to organize notebooks, binders and lockers. And we talk about the study skills that need to be practiced and learned during middle school.

Advisory is filled with a variety of fun activities. Each advisory decides how to recognize birthdays and other celebrations on an individual basis. One event that is done by every advisory at some point is to take a walk to the C-Shop or to 57th Street to buy a treat. Advisories will often team up to have a kickball game, play soccer or go sledding. Most advisories have an end of the year picnic or pizza party.

The sixth grade advisors want the students to experience the idea of community service. For several years, the sixth graders have made holiday cards for the local hospital. These cards are then distributed to patients. In addition, students also have opportunities to assist the community by participating in Lower School Connections (work with lower school homerooms), a children�s book drive, Santa Helpers (purchasing holiday gifts for needy children), and making cookies for Ronald McDonald House.

Advisory offers learning events that enhance the sixth grade curriculum. We do a drug and alcohol education unit each year. This program runs with the assistance of medical students from the University of Chicago Hospital. The medical students bring healthy and diseased organs to the classroom and discuss with students the effects of substance abuse on the body. We schedule library visits for storytelling, book selection and participation in the Rebecca Caudill and Zena Sutherland Book Award selection process. Working with their counselor, advisors and the Dean of Students, sixth graders are introduced to peer mediation as part of advisory program.

Another unique aspect of the sixth grade is the long-term activity period. Advisors offer special activities that allow students to immerse themselves in a topic for a series of weeks. Activities range from studying the films of Alfred Hitchcock, to rocket building, to playing the game Diplomacy. Students select and participate in this activity for a four to five week period and then a new choice can be made.

Humanities

The humanities program in the sixth through eighth grades consists of an integrated study of language arts with the disciplines of social studies, history, and literature. The class meets daily for 90 minutes.

Sixth grade humanities serves as a general introduction to the study of history and geography as well as a course in prehistory and ancient history. It starts with a unit on geography and maps, and proceeds from there to a study of �pre-historical� cultures, early river-valley civilizations, early and classical Greece, and the empire of Alexander the Great through the end of the Roman Republic with the rise of Julius Caesar.

A concurrent English program is taught using the process writing approach along with some formal grammar study. Process writing focuses on the development of student generated ideas and the drafting and editing of a selection of writing. The process acknowledges that writing is developed over a series of drafts and is a form of expression that can be improved upon with continued analysis and review. Students apply these skills to writing specifically related to the history component of the program, as well as to other subjects. Literature selections vary. Some of the short story and poetry selections covered in the course relate to the historical periods studied; others are independent of the history component. A major literary genre taught is myth - both Near Eastern and classical.

Geography, Maps

Students begin the year with a general study of geographical skills, including in particular map study. Specific skills and content taught consist of:

Scale -- including determining distances
Types of maps and globe projections
Latitude and longitude
Interpreting topographical maps with a simplified study of related world climates

From here, the class engages in an intensive study of the geography of rivers. Students learn about source, mouth, directional flow, delta, transportation uses, etc., but the greatest emphasis is on the characteristics of seasonal cycles of rivers and their impact on agriculture.

Students produce a detailed scale map of a particular river chosen from a worldwide list. The map includes all physical features with two removable overlays for, on the one hand, political features, and on the other hand, latitude and longitude. Students must use at least three separate sources, including one library source -- usually a large atlas or geographical dictionary.

This initial unit is useful not only as a general introduction to geography, but is specifically designed to nurture precision in sixth graders' work and provide a concrete basis for more abstract concepts which are addressed later in the year.

Prehistory

Students proceed into a prehistory unit starting with the oldest hominid hunter-gatherers and concluding with humans and the Neolithic Revolution. Students do a lot of expository writing in this unit, in contrast to the primarily narrative writing they have been doing in writing workshop. (See the description of the �Writing Program� at the end of this section for more detail on �writers� workshop.�) Students summarize single sources -- such as a portion of the text or an article on the Agricultural Revolution. Later in the prehistory unit, they write several three - five paragraph essays that include one to three sources supplied by the teacher. For example, at the end of this unit, students write a persuasive three paragraph essay supporting a farming or hunting and gathering culture based on the history text and teacher handouts.

Students also read two related short stories: To Build a Fire by Jack London and a selection from Leonard Wibberly's Attar of the Ice Valley as well as other non-related short stories using the Shared Inquiry model from the Junior Great Books program.

Some of the skills and content taught in this unit include:

Basic hominid physiology and technology from australopithecus to homo sapien types
Reading an excavation site grid
Understanding basic archaeological terms such as artifacts, fossils, and types of prehistoric dating
Learning the difference between primary and secondary sources
Taking notes from one to several sources to use as supporting detail for theses given to students or which they, themselves, develop
Understanding the concept of surplus and how this leads to trade and specialization of labor, and ultimately civilization
Reading the history text for important details, concepts, etc., and learning to take notes in class (a skill that is reinforced throughout the remainder of the course)
Ordering data chronologically

Students read a fictionalized account of an elephant hunt conducted by homo erectus in Torralba, Spain about 400,000 years ago. They then study the actual excavation site of the hunt. Students write a three-paragraph essay, drawing inferences as to what various artifacts and fossils at the site may mean about the nature of the hunt.

Next, students study a set of acrylic stone tool replicas from the Torralba site. In teams of three, students try to identify the tools and their uses based on handling the tools, a set of situation cards, and sketches of the tools. The students then write a five-paragraph essay in the form of a letter requesting additional funding for the study of this site, and why the site deserves the funding. Tools' names and uses are identified.

In contrast to the geography unit, the prehistory unit emphasizes in particular writing and text study. Gleaning details from the text and other media in support of a thesis is a skill elaborated on and reinforced for the remainder of the year. Students are given structured note-taking sheets as an aid, while the research process itself is minimized at this point.

Early River Valley Civilizations

Students engage in a general study of four early river-valley civilizations largely from a geographical determinist's standpoint. Our study focuses on why civilizations began along the Huang He, Indus, Tigris-Euphrates, and Nile Rivers.

As part of our study of literature, we define the term �myth�, and students read the story of Gilgamesh. The mix of fact and fiction is studied within the context of a myth, and the story is presented partly as a metaphor for the hunter-gatherer settling down to live a �civilized� (urban) life. Students also study the virtues of the hero, Gilgamesh, and the meanings of the flood and the �magic weed.� They explore the friendship between Gilgamesh and the character Enkidu. The story presents in mythic form, much of what has been covered in prehistory and early history.

Students choose from five literary projects relating to Gilgamesh ranging from an Uruk Times newspaper to a journey, map or game.

Early Greek Civilization

Students next proceed from an examination of the Near East in 3,000 - 2,000 BC to the Minoan civilization on Crete during this same time period. Students formally study Minoan and Mycenaean Greece in the text book. Study focuses on the question of how civilization rises and flourishes outside of a river valley cradle.

In the early Greek unit, students read two more myths -- a version of Theseus and the Minotaur and, in conjunction with a study of the Trojan War, a version of The Adventures of Ulysses. The teacher also reads other myths aloud which are discussed in class.

Some of the skills and content taught in this unit include:

Minoan and Mycenaean development in a geographical context (Greek civilization leap-frogging from Crete to the Peloponnesus)
A detailed map study of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, including the Phoenician and Babylonian Empires, reinforces geographic skills already taught
A study of the contrast between religion and culture of the Minoans and that of the Mycenaeans
In addition to essay writing, library research using in particular book sources, is introduced for project work
Students are introduced to epic poetry

Students research a particular Greek god or goddess in four parts, each requiring two to three sources. Specifically, students prepare a labeled and detailed poster, family tree, and resume of the god or goddess, and rewrite a myth about the god or goddess after reading two different versions of the same myth.

Students continue to receive structured note sheets from the teacher, but the library research makes the project considerably more challenging. The unit usually ends with a �Council of the Gods� on Mt. Olympus -- allowing each student to dress as his or her god or goddess. The class takes �family� pictures of the gods and goddesses, which include photos of brothers, sisters, mothers, sons, etc. Students also play an Olympian trivia game that they write.

Classical Greece

Students are arranged into five historical Greek city-states for various simulation exercises. The class studies separate units on drama, architecture, history, etc., while simultaneously competing for �Hellas� points. A mock debate is held in the Athenian Ekklesia, a symposium where students play the parts of Aristotle, Alexander the Great, and others. Additional simulated events are also held.

Content and skills taught include the following:

Rise of the city-states
Development of democracy, social classes, and human rights in Athens, including the legacy of Pericles
Persuasive writing and debating skills
Political, social, and cultural development in Sparta are contrasted
Origin and major campaigns of the Persian Wars
Origin and results of the Peloponnesian Wars
Trial of Socrates
Basic elements of classical architecture (types of columns, pediment, cornice, etc.) through the construction of a temple in city state groups
Selected portions of various Greek comedies are performed
Continued development of library skills using four sources but without structured note sheets
Preparing a map of Alexander's Empire, thus reinforcing map skills
Using standard bibliographical form

Students are given a broad range of approximately 40 different research projects to choose from in this unit. Students use resources both in the room and in the library. Students are not given structured note sheets this time, and four sources are required in bibliographical form. The projects are designed to require students to do their own creative thinking rather than summarize from sources. One such project requires a student to dress up as a Greek hoplite, or make a chart of a Greek hoplite�s clothes and equipment, and to explain such accessories. Another is to write and perform an example of a Socratic dialogue between student and teacher.

Roman Empire

This unit begins with a study of Alexander's Empire in the 300�s BC, and proceeds to a study of the Roman Republic through its demise with the ascendancy of Julius Caesar. The study of Homeric myths continues with a young adult version of Virgil's Aeneid, by Emily Frenkel, entitled Aeneas. Students also read samples of literature, such as Horatio and the Bridge, which highlight Roman virtues and various Roman proverbs.

Some of the skills and content covered in this unit consist of the following:

Students make a map of the Roman Empire, and contrast it to a modern map of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa
The symbols and vocabulary of the Roman Republic are examined and compared to those of the modern United States (e.g., "Senate", "Republic")
The virtues ascribed to patrician citizens and their relationship to modern American civic virtues are examined
Advances in classical building, such as the vault and concrete, are studied
The organization and importance of the Roman army are studied
The creation of roads and the development of urban life in Western Europe are examined
The Punic Wars and a comparison of Roman and modern Western attitudes toward the �just� war and war generally are studied
Library research independent of classroom resources is continued

Students again have a choice of 40 research projects to choose from. They may use both resources in the room and from the library. Five sources are required in standard bibliographical form. The projects are presented in both written and oral form during a "Roman Festival." In connection with the report, students present a visual aid, such as a diagram or diorama of a Roman road or the growth of an army camp into a town.

Writing Program

Students participate in an on-going writing program throughout the year using a process writing approach. Process writing focuses on the development of student generated ideas and the drafting and editing of a selection of writing. The process acknowledges that writing is developed over a series of drafts and is a form of expression that can be improved upon with continued analysis and review. Some of the writing directly relates to material covered in the history units, while other writing does not. Students have two or more 45-minute periods each week to engage in individual reading and for writers� workshop. Students revise workshop papers for content and form.

Personal reading follows a reading workshop model based upon bi-weekly book auctions, periodic written reports, and book talks in coordination with the Middle School librarian.

Specific skills studied by students include:

Spelling, vocabulary, and major parts of speech taught through self-generated vocabulary journals and class-wide bi-weekly quizzes
Confusing word pairs, e.g., their/there, to/too
Parts of speech in conjunction with vocabulary journals
Run-ons and sentence fragments
Coordinate and subordinate conjunctions for precise clause relationships and sentence variety
Use of quotation marks, capital letters, commas, and apostrophes
Individualized study of other usage and punctuation problems through revision of individual writing
In addition to the history writing described above, students write several narrative and persuasive papers
Students write periodic book reports on fiction, highlighting some element of the story such as plot, setting or theme

Pre-Algebra

Basic Curriculum:

All sixth grade students study the same basic curriculum. This curriculum includes a thorough study of the arithmetic of integers, fractions, and decimals, with an emphasis on applications; a substantial introduction to algebra, with an emphasis on properties of numbers and systematic procedures for solving equations; and a substantial introduction to geometry that includes symbolic notation, vocabulary, and properties of parallels, perpendiculars, angles, polygons, and circles. Many other topics are introduced, including probability.
Sixth grade students are expected to become independent learners. They have 20-40 minutes of math homework each night, which includes careful reading of explanations and solving a variety of problems. Time is always given in class for asking and answering questions.
Sixth graders will have a quiz or a test in math about once a week. They earn grades based on class participation and their performance on homework, quizzes, and tests.

Math Team:

All sixth graders may choose to join the Math Team, which meets once a week during lunch all year. Students work on a variety of problems to prepare for the American Mathematics Contest, the Illinois Math League Contest, and the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics Contests. All these contests are administered at school during the school day and are open to all students.

Math Activities:

All sixth graders may choose to participate in a wide variety of optional math activities offered during Activity Period. These activities are exploratory in nature and address topics outside the regular curriculum.

Science

The objective of the sixth grade science program is to teach skills and processes utilized in the study of science as well as substantive scientific concepts. Laboratory work is carried out with a partner. Other work is generally done on an individual basis.

The following skills and processes are covered during the year: model building (as to the structure of matter and cells, and to explain the laws of motion); formulating a hypothesis; identifying variables; interpreting and graphing data; mapping concepts; and utilizing the metric system in measurements.

Units of study consist of:

Astronomy - This includes such topics as the constellations, phases of the moon, seasonal changes, latitude and sun position, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, variations in daylight over time, and some ideas ancient cultures had related to seasonal astronomy.
Motion - This includes designing and constructing car made of balsa wood. The car is also motorized and electrified with headlights. Using the cars in a series of experiments, students will learn Newton's three laws of motion.
Genetics - This includes such topics as; an introduction to microscope work and cell components. Students will be involved in constructing a nine foot cell complete with organelles. Students will also be introduced to mitosis versus meiosis, genes, genetic codes, proteins, genome project, dominant and recessive traits, Mendelian genetics, mutations, recombinant DNA technology, and ethical issues on the topic of genetically engineered foods.
The Chemistry of Gases - This includes such topics as matter versus energy, states of matter, atoms and molecules, elements, compounds, mixtures, physical versus chemical changes, and public policy as it relates to green house warming and ozone layer destruction.

Foreign Language

The Middle School offers three foreign languages: French, German, and Spanish. Students begin their study of foreign language in third grade and proceed through the lower and middle school program in heterogeneous groups.

German

Goals:

Review and reinforce concepts and vocabulary from previous levels, while continuing to integrate the teaching of culture within the general curriculum
Teach study and organizational skills to aid in the transition from fifth grade
Expand students listening ability with the use of authentic recordings
Increase students speaking ability
Expand students reading ability by including increasingly longer cultural reading selections
Expand students writing ability

Skills and Concepts:

Vocabulary: continue and broaden previously-learned words in the topics of animals, school items and activities, family members, leisure pursuits, parties, food
Grammar: possessive pronouns, dative and accusative cases, the imperative, irregular present tense conjugations, separable verbs, modal verbs, definite and indefinite determiners
Cultural concepts: geography of Europe and certain areas in the German-speaking countries, writing addresses, reading schedules, famous characters from German legends and fables, German school curriculum

Activities, Materials and Projects:

Family trees, various songs and poems
Authentic taped audio and visual materials, textbook, appropriate German readers

French

Goals:

Teach organization and study skills to aid in the transition from fifth grade
Familiarize students with the textbook and how to use it
Introduce graded, structured compositions
Include age-appropriate reading comprehension materials
Foster cooperative learning through activities such as work in pairs and small groups, and dialogues
Continue integrating cultural components into the curriculum to heighten the students' interest in French and enable them to function with ease in a foreign setting

Skills and Concepts:

Vocabulary: cafè, nationalities, professions, school objects, household objects, modes of transportation, musical instruments, family, expressions using the verb faire, expressions using the verb avoir, public places and buildings, giving directions, expressions of time, expressions relating to organizing an activity
Grammar: review of grammar covered in fifth grade, adverbs, verbs aller and faire, the infinitive, interrogatives, use of the expressions il y a and voil�, possessive adjectives, prepositions, the imperative
Continued development of listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills
Cultural concepts: French cafè culture, geography of France and study of various French cities and regions, brief introduction to Surrealism through the study and making of a "rayographe"

Activities, Materials, and Projects:

Studying French television, using video recordings from French television, followed by a class project where students write skits simulating a day of French television programming
Using systematically the language laboratory to reinforce speaking and listening skills
Writing a tourist brochure of a town, following the geography unit
Publishing imaginary personal ads
Singing various French songs and reading various French poems
The movie Au Revoir Les Enfants is shown to complement a study of the French Occupation. The poem Courage by Paul Eluard a French poet is memorized.

Spanish

Goals:

Present learning activities that continue to incorporate a multi-sensory approach to language acquisition utilizing the four language modalities: listening, speaking, reading and writing
Integrate culture and geography into lesson planning
Reinforce material from the fifth grade level, in addition to focusing on age-appropriate study and organizational skills
Introduce and encourage the use of a Spanish-English dictionary

Skills and Concepts:

Vocabulary: use of appropriate greetings and leave-takings, adjectives that describe people and places, names of classes and places in school, family members, foods, sports, weekend activities
Grammar: regular and irregular verbs (e.g., hay, llamar, estar, ser, tener, vivir, ir, hacer), telling time, expressing likes and dislikes (the verb gustar), possessive adjectives, talking about schedules, describing where you are going and what you have to do, expressing location of people and things
Cultural concepts: learning about and holidays such as the Day of the Dead (el Día de los Muertos), studying the geography and creating maps of Mexico and Latin America, explaining the differences between writing names and addresses in Spanish and English, comparing and contrasting American and Hispanic school systems, studying the Mayan culture, comparing and contrasting American and Hispanic family structures

Activities, Projects and Materials:

Videos such as Ponte en Forma and Solo en Casa, and videos which accompany the text
Various projects, which vary from year to year including interviewing native speakers of Spanish, and creating an end-of-the-year video, project in talk-show format

Arts

Visual Art

The sixth grade visual arts curriculum quickly reviews knowledge, communication and technical skills and successful learning behaviors explored during the year-long fifth grade fine arts program and then assertively moves to extend student visual arts understanding by exploring the expressive "Power of the Artist". The curriculum is constructed to encourage students to investigate ways in which seemingly "non-visual" phenomena become the subject matter of visual expression and are given artistic form. This is accomplished by exploring the formal ways in which artists create meaning in their work. Success is evaluated by the artist's ability to clearly communicate their meaning/s to an audience.

Honing Observational Skill:
Following-up on our fifth grade program, students extend their ability to observe their world closely and accurately. Students are encouraged to continuously check the validity of their observations.
Skill and Subtlety in Recording Observations:
Students review and extend their skills and increase their craftsmanship while manipulating various media with increasing accuracy, sensitivity and expressiveness.
Expressing the Non-Visible; the Real Subject of the Work of Art:
Students are directed to create compositions which express particular emotions, ideas, non-visual sensory perceptions (olfactory, textural, aural, taste and/or temperature), personalities and character by controlling the ways in which observable phenomena can be variously drawn (or painted or sculptured) to evoke disparate meanings. Creating the "character" of an imaginary creature is one way that students have addressed this inquiry. Students move beyond the literal to express ideas in symbolic form.
Connecting the Imagined to the Student's Experience of their World:
Investigating the emotions of mythological characters and connecting these with one's own experiences, especially in regard to the physical manifestation and appearance of various emotional states.
The Attitude and Atmosphere of Space--Background as Context:
Knowingly choosing the elements of the composition to refine and extend meaning. Manipulating each (and every) element of a composition in order to heighten meaning. Awareness and use of proportion and scale, texture and pattern, light and shadow, clarity and obscurity, direction, shape, tonal emphasis and color, to increase expressive accuracy and depth.
Clarity of Communication: The Role of the Audience in the Artistic Experience:
Using the visual arts to create substance for imaginary phenomena. Creating a sense of believability for the absurd. Allowing others to share in the power of the artist's ideas and imaginings. Knowing when a work is finished and expression is complete.
The Illusion of Depth on a 2-Dimensional Surface:
Becoming cognizant of and creating shallow and deep space and an object's volume/mass on a 2-dimensional surface. Identifying the light source and its "effect" on all elements of a composition.
Connections to Other Art Forms:
How the artistic potential and lessons of drama, literature, dance and music shed light on visual expression.
Student Investment/Behavior:
Promoting respectful and productive interactions among students. Using the room, its tools and materials, appropriately. Setting-up for the period's work and cleaning- up after oneself. Using class time effectively and efficiently. Approaching work with increasing self-motivation and independence. Meeting deadlines. Active participation during critiques and discussions. Making a personal investment in the outcome of one's artwork, going beyond the minimum requirements of a project: Creating personal meaning in the activity of art making. Taking the time to fully express an idea, exceeding pre-conceived limitations.

Oral Interpretation

The goals of oral interpretation are to stimulate and increase students� confidence in various forms of verbal communication and expression. Students learn that good communication goes far beyond words; it includes body language, voice inflection and concentration. Through direct instruction and practice, students learn skills that help them overcome natural inhibitions.

By participating in theater games, students learn the value of risk-taking and spontaneity within a controlled environment. Through a method similar to musical notation (punch, pause and color), students learn the value of emphasizing key words and using other effects to convey meaning and expression.

Activities and projects include group poetry dramatizations, simulated newscasts, and story telling.

Computer Science

The course of study focuses on the further development of skills in the same areas covered in fifth grade with the exception of geography and map usage and digital photography, and the addition of geometry and bit-mapped drawing. The subject of ethics and the use of computers address copyright issues and plagiarism as well as the computer policies of the Schools. In addition, other subject areas such as science, Spanish and writers� workshop also use specialized software in conjunction with their studies.