Sixth Grade Curriculum

Course Description:

Grade Six Religion draws up a blueprint for a life of love. The law of God, particularly the Ten Commandments, draws us into that life of love. The heart of our life of love is Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, as He comes to us in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This year of study relates to the student a plan of action that begins with the understanding of the challenges that God's law places before us. It ends with the understanding that Our Heavenly Father will not leave us without the strengthening gift of His grace, enabling us to meet all challenges.

The material from Baltimore Catechism #2 will overlap in many places with that of the Faith and Life Series.  You may choose to follow the framework of the Baltimore Catechism rather than that of the Faith and Life Series, which is followed in this outline, but you should choose one and only use the other for supplementary material.  The sections listed from the St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism #2 are repeated in other years.  Repetition is essential for mastery, so it would be best to cover this material in all years.  If time constraints prevent doing so, however, this material can be set-aside for later years.

There are suggested topics for reports for each quarter that can be used if you choose.  There are many wonderful activities at www.catecheticalresources.com that can be used in conjunction with the lessons in this book.

Course Description:

Grade Six Reading brings the student to literature in a deeper, more rigorous fashion than previous reading courses. Classic poems and fragments of larger works are included in the National Catholic Reader. The course is comprised of two parts: the Catholic National Reader and outside reading.  Between these, the student will be introduced to the world as seen in literature and in the minds of others.

The Catholic National Reader (CNR), Book Six is the primary reader for this level.  The Catholic National Reader is quite challenging; it is not unusual for a student to be reading the book that is a year below his grade level.   Consequently, we have selected a limited number of passages to be covered. Encourage the student to read even the ones that are not assigned as evening reading for pleasure.

Course Description:

Grade Six Word Study continues to help the student grow more sophisticated in his use in the skills developed from the previous phonics courses.  Study of vowel digraphs, diphthongs, prefixes, roots, compound words, syllabication, and suffixes expand the student's ability to read, write and speak with expanded phonics skills.

MCP Word Study, Level F is quite self-explanatory and the child should be able to complete most of the work with very little help.  The course has been shown as a daily subject, but you may condense it into a two-day or even a one-day a week subject as long as the student is doing well and understanding the material.  The last three pages of the workbook contain Definitions, General Rules, and Syllabication Rules that can be very helpful in all areas of the language arts.  Much in the word study book reinforces what the student learns in English and Spelling.  Because children sometimes forget, this is a good thing.

Course Description:

Sixth Grade English is designed to teach students to speak and write correctly and effectively. It will also emphasize, secondarily, training in the social graces, which are necessary for effective communication.

This course plan concentrates on Part Two of the Voyages in English book, which is Grammar.   The teaching of English should be cumulative.  In Grade Six the student will review what he learned in previous grades and build on it.  Everything learned in English should be applied and reinforced in the student’s reading, composition, spelling, and vocabulary.  A dictionary is recommended for use in this course.  The student should diagram sentences in exercises as he proceeds through the work.  There are many exercises in the back of the book following the Index that can be used if time permits for reinforcement.  The daily work should include memorization of fundamental rules of grammar.

Note that Part One of Voyages in English, which is Composition, is not used in this course.  Composition is studied in Kolbe Academy’s Vocabulary and Composition course using Sadlier-Oxford Composition Workshop series.

Course Description:

Grade Six Vocabulary develops the student’s capacity to pronounce, spell, use, look up in the dictionary, understand, and remember the definitions of words, their diacritical marks, and syllabication.  It also develops the student’s ability to work with synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, homographs, prefixes, suffixes, roots, denotation, connotation, literal usage, figurative usage, and analogies.

Grade Six Composition will aid the student in developing composition skills, which are so necessary for further education.  These skills include developing thoughts in a logical manner, both for speaking and writing; writing narrative, informative, descriptive, and persuasive paragraphs and essays; and writing for different purposes, such as a newspaper, letters, a research report, and about literature.  Many of these skills can be applied in Kolbe Academy’s Literature program both in written assignments and book reports.  Overall, this course should dovetail with the literature course in assignment of written work.

Course Description:

Sixth Grade History begins with the issues leading to the Revolutionary War.  It then proceeds through the creation of the new government in America, and continues through the War of 1812 and the western expansion by the pioneers.  It also takes a look at America’s way of life, particularly in education, art and literature, and inventions. The student will become familiar with The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Amendments to the Constitution.

Course Description:

Grade Six History is drawn from the beginnings of history through to the foundations of the American drama.  This course introduces the course of history as it developed from three civilizations: The Hebrew, The Greek and The Roman. It is from these three cultures that Western Civilization, as we know it today, was built. The Hebrew gave us the Old Testament, which contained the promise of a salvific man/god. The Greek gave us the principles of logical thought and reasoning, and The Roman gave us a system of secular order that formed the modality for creating the great cities and governments in Europe.  It covers the Middle Ages, the Crusades, the discoveries made by Columbus and other explorers, and the Spanish Empire.  It concludes with the arrival of the English in the New World.

Course Description:

Sixth Grade Geography is the final course applying geography lessons to the world around the student.  Topics covered include map symbols, scale, and keys, reading a road map, latitude and longitude, time zones, map projections, using the index, graphys, tables, and charts in an atlas, and different types of maps, including population, transportation, climate, rainfall, vegetation, land use, weather, transit, historical, and language maps.  The Glossary at the back of the book contains definitions of terms found in the text.  The textbook should be supplemented with material from other sources, particularly local maps, a map of the United States, a globe, an atlas, and sources found on the Internet.  Geography does not need to be done every day and can be eliminated if the student is being challenged by the basics in other subjects.

Course Description:

Grade Six Mathematics moves the student from arithmetic to foundational treatments of "geometry, measurement, algebra, number, and scale and graph reading." Word problems are also included.  Topics include linear measure, perimeter, area, and volume, averages, factors, fractions and decimals, prime factorization, exponents, ratios, angles, and unit conversion.

Course Description:

Sixth Grade Science is the continuation of an intermediate introduction to the life, earth, and physical sciences.  The most important part of teaching science is helping the student see the wonders of God’s world, and making him unafraid of the subject when he pursues in-depth science in later years.  Children learn more from doing the experiments and investigations along with the reading of the textbook.

The Harcourt Science series has several online learning tools available to anyone who purchases the textbook.  The first is provided by the publisher.  There are several supplementary activities for the student and teacher on this website.  Another website is provided by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).  This website allows you to select the topic you are studying in the book, and will take you to a page of selected website links that can help you to enhance and further develop the topics that your child is studying.  The online resources are a wonderful addition to the activities provided within the text alone.

Topics in this course include Life Science: Types of plants and plant growth, invertebrates and vertebrates; Earth Science: The Earth’s crust, rock cycles, cycles in the Solar System, and an exploration of the universe; Physical Science: Forces and machines.

Course Description:

Sixth Grade Latin is a beginner's course using New Missal Latin, a book ideally suited for grade school age students. Latin is the language of the Church; as such it is an integral part of every Catholic's heritage. Students master a large amount of Latin vocabulary while becoming acquainted with Latin grammar and syntax, including forms of the fourth and fifth declension nouns, forms of third declension adjectives and adverbs, and prepositions.  This course also introduces the subjunctive and imperative mood of all four verb conjugations, common subjunctive uses and clauses, participles, and the verb sum, esse (to be).  The book set includes the Student Book, Teacher’s Manual, Student Test Book, Test Book Answer Key, and a Pronunciation Guide on CD.  The Student Books are also sold separately.