ACADEMICS

Religion

Students will explore the Biblical roots of Christianity, and more specifically, the Catholic faith. Students will use role-playing and puppetry to understand some of the stories in the Bible and to recognize pertinence of the messages of these stories to their daily lives. Students will also learn to be responsible stewards of God’s faith and creation.

English

Students will strive to become effective writers by first studying and understanding the basics of writing (sentence structure and parts of speech) and then by using those basics to craft narrative, persuasive, descriptive, and expository paragraphs. Students will also study the writing process developing ideas into published pieces of writing, both fictional and factual.

Reading

Students will strive to become life-long learners by becoming better readers. Students will expand their vocabulary by acquiring the ability to break words into their component parts. The primary source of vocabulary is the “Wordly Wise" series and stories. Students will boost their reading comprehension by using picture details, identifying main idea and supporting details, and recognizing word references in stories. The students will construct meaning from the stories by comparing and contrasting information, drawing conclusions, predicting outcomes, and relating cause and effect. Students will also look at the author’s role in a story by studying his/her craft of characterization, manipulation of story elements, and the use of figurative language.

Mathematics

Students will be taught the theory and logic behind mathematical principles with the focus on understanding rather than memorization. Concepts covered at the sixth grade level include place value; multiplication and division of whole numbers and decimals; addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions; ratios, percents, geometry, statistics and probability, measurement and integers.

Social Studies

Students will travel back in time to discover great ancient civilizations beginning in Mesopotamia. Subsequent civilizations, including those in Egypt, India, China, Greece and Rome, and how they left their unique imprints upon human history. Students will focus on how many of the ideas (religious beliefs, political structure, inventions) that shape their life today began thousands of years ago.

Science

The students will strive to develop and apply thinking process skills throughout the curriculum. Areas of study in Earth Science include the foundations of science, rocks and minerals, the changing surface of Earth, Earth’s air and water, and the Earth’s internal processes.

Spanish

Introductory Spanish begins in sixth grade. During this year students will explore the language, countries, cities and culture of the Spanish-speaking world. Special attention will be given to the 19 Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America. We will also learn about the culture of Spain. Students will not be fluent by the year's end; but will have a vast vocabulary and an enthusiasm for the next two years of Spanish at St. Mary of the Hills.