Grade Six

Mathematics Content Standards.    

By the end of grade six, students have mastered the four arithmetic operations with whole numbers, positive fractions, positive decimals, and positive and negative integers; they accurately compute and solve problems. They apply their knowledge to statistics and probability. Students understand the concepts of mean, median, and mode of data sets and how to calculate the range. They analyze data and sampling processes for possible bias and misleading conclusions; they use addition and multiplication of fractions routinely to calculate the probabilities for compound events. Students conceptually understand and work with ratios and proportions; they compute percentages (e.g., tax, tips, interest). Students know about pi and the formulas for the circumference and area of a circle. They use letters for numbers in formulas involving geometric shapes and in ratios to represent an unknown part of an expression. They solve one-step linear equations.

History-Social Science Content Standards.    

World History and Geography: Ancient Civilizations

Students in grade six expand their understanding of history by studying the people and events that ushered in the dawn of the major Western and non-Western ancient civilizations. Geography is of special significance in the development of the human story. Continued emphasis is placed on the everyday lives, problems, and accomplishments of people, their role in developing social, economic, and political structures, as well as in establishing and spreading ideas that helped transform the world forever. Students develop higher levels of critical thinking by considering why civilizations developed where and when they did, why they became dominant, and why they declined. Students analyze the interactions among the various cultures, emphasizing their enduring contributions and the link, despite time, between the contemporary and ancient worlds.

Science Content Standards.

 

 

Focus on Earth Science

Plate Tectonics and Earth's Structure
  1. Plate tectonics accounts for important features of Earth's surface and major geologic events. As a basis for understanding this concept:
    1. Students know evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents; the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and midocean ridges; and the distribution of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones.
    2. Students know Earth is composed of several layers: a cold, brittle lithosphere; a hot, convecting mantle; and a dense, metallic core.
    3. Students know lithospheric plates the size of continents and oceans move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle.
    4. Students know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface.
    5. Students know major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from plate motions.
    6. Students know how to explain major features of California geology (including mountains, faults, volcanoes) in terms of plate tectonics.
    7. Students know how to determine the epicenter of an earthquake and know that the effects of an earthquake on any region vary, depending on the size of the earthquake, the distance of the region from the epicenter, the local geology, and the type of construction in the region.
Shaping Earth's Surface
  1. Topography is reshaped by the weathering of rock and soil and by the transportation and deposition of sediment. As a basis for understanding this concept:
    1. Students know water running downhill is the dominant process in shaping the landscape, including California's landscape.
    2. Students know rivers and streams are dynamic systems that erode, transport sediment, change course, and flood their banks in natural and recurring patterns.
    3. Students know beaches are dynamic systems in which the sand is supplied by rivers and moved along the coast by the action of waves.
    4. Students know earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods change human and wildlife habitats.
Heat (Thermal Energy) (Physical Sciences)
  1. Heat moves in a predictable flow from warmer objects to cooler objects until all the objects are at the same temperature. As a basis for understanding this concept:
    1. Students know energy can be carried from one place to another by heat flow or by waves, including water, light and sound waves, or by moving objects.
    2. Students know that when fuel is consumed, most of the energy released becomes heat energy.
    3. Students know heat flows in solids by conduction (which involves no flow of matter) and in fluids by conduction and by convection (which involves flow of matter).
    4. Students know heat energy is also transferred between objects by radiation (radiation can travel through space).
Energy in the Earth System
  1. Many phenomena on Earth's surface are affected by the transfer of energy through radiation and convection currents. As a basis for understanding this concept:
    1. Students know the sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on Earth's surface; it powers winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle.
    2. Students know solar energy reaches Earth through radiation, mostly in the form of visible light.
    3. Students know heat from Earth's interior reaches the surface primarily through convection.
    4. Students know convection currents distribute heat in the atmosphere and oceans.
    5. Students know differences in pressure, heat, air movement, and humidity result in changes of weather.
Ecology (Life Sciences)
  1. Organisms in ecosystems exchange energy and nutrients among themselves and with the environment. As a basis for understanding this concept:
    1. Students know energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis and then from organism to organism through food webs.
    2. Students know matter is transferred over time from one organism to others in the food web and between organisms and the physical environment.
    3. Students know populations of organisms can be categorized by the functions they serve in an ecosystem.
    4. Students know different kinds of organisms may play similar ecological roles in similar biomes.
    5. Students know the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and on abiotic factors, such as quantities of light and water, a range of temperatures, and soil composition.
Resources
  1. Sources of energy and materials differ in amounts, distribution, usefulness, and the time required for their formation. As a basis for understanding this concept:
    1. Students know the utility of energy sources is determined by factors that are involved in converting these sources to useful forms and the consequences of the conversion process.
    2. Students know different natural energy and material resources, including air, soil, rocks, minerals, petroleum, fresh water, wildlife, and forests, and know how to classify them as renewable or nonrenewable.
    3. Students know the natural origin of the materials used to make common objects.

 

Investigation and Experimentation

  1. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:
    1. Develop a hypothesis.
    2. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and display data.
    3. Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop qualitative statements about the relationships between variables.
    4. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and oral presentations.
    5. Recognize whether evidence is consistent with a proposed explanation.
    6. Read a topographic map and a geologic map for evidence provided on the maps and construct and interpret a simple scale map.
    7. Interpret events by sequence and time from natural phenomena (e.g., the relative ages of rocks and intrusions).
    8. Identify changes in natural phenomena over time without manipulating the phenomena (e.g., a tree limb, a grove of trees, a stream, a hillslope).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       WELCOME TO 6TH GRADE – ROOM 308

MRS. ROOT

MATH

SCIENCE

SOCIAL STUDIES

 

This year in Room 308 we will be studying math, science, and social studies.  Information on the state standards in these areas is attached.

 

Student Responsibilities and Expectations:

 

Citizenship grade will be based on students being responsible and meeting both school and classroom expectations.

 

Along with the school wide expectations of PARRÉPrepared, Accountable, Respectful, and Responsible.  Students in room 308 are expected to:

á      be ready when the bell rings.

á      bring all needed materials to class each day.

á      be in their seats unless they have permission to do otherwise.

á      be courteous and respectful to others.

 

      *****ConsequencesÉIf students choose to not follow the above expectation any of

             The follow may result:

 

 

ACADEMIC GRADES

 

Academic grades will be based on the following:

 

Absences:

It is your responsibility to complete make-up work including tests and quizzes within 3 days of your return to school. 

Late Work:

Late work will not receive full credit.  Full credit will not be given for work missed due to unexcused absences.

 

Extra Credit:

Extra credit will be available occasionally.  It will be available to the entire class and will not be given on an individual basis.   Students are encouraged to take advantage of any extra credit opportunities.

 

 

MATERIALS NEEDED

 

 

 

EXTRA HELP

 

I am available to help students and/or meet with parents outside of class time.  I am available both before and after school.  Please contact me for an appointment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PLEASE COMPLETE, SIGN, AND RETURN:

 

 

StudentŐs Name:  ________________________

 

FatherŐs Name:  _________________________

 

         Phone number:  _____________________

 

MotherŐs Name:  _________________________

 

         Phone number:  ___________________

 

Student lives with:  ___________ both parents

 

                               ___________mother

 

                               ___________father

 

 

I have read and understand the attached information.

 

Parent name:  __________________________________

 

Parent signature:  _______________________________

 

Date:  _________________________________________