Academic Classes at North Country School 6th Grade
Mathematics
Social Studies
Language Arts and Literature
Science
Edible Schoolyard
Mode of Study
Connected Mathematics by Pearson
Current events, social justice teachings
Reading and Writing Workshop Model using select texts
Scientific journals, videos, documentaries and nonfiction texts
Students make use of campus features such as the children’s garden, the forest garden, the sugarbush, the greenhouse, and the farm.
Special Units
• Campus exploration • Map making • Regional studies • Classroom scale models
• Insect independent research project • Microbe study • Newtonian physics and outer space • Bicycle recycle
Objectives and Skills
-Understand relationships among factors, multiples, divisors, and products -Understand why two expressions are equivalent -Understand fractions and decimals as numbers that can be located on the number line, compared, counted, partitioned, and decomposed -Understand ratios as comparisons of two numbers -Understand equivalence of fractions and ratios, and use equivalence to solve problems -Understand that estimation is a tool used in a variety of situations including checking answers and making decisions, and develop strategies for estimating results of arithmetic operations -Develop meanings for the four arithmetic operations and skill at using algorithms for each -Use variables to represent unknown values and equations to represent relationships -Understand estimation as a tool for a variety of situations, including checking answers and making decisions -Revisit and develop meanings for the four arithmetic operations on whole numbers and decimals, and skill at using algorithms for each decimal operation -Use variables to represent unknown values and equations to represent relationships. -Develop understanding of variables and how they are related -Understand and use the process of statistical investigation: pose questions, collect and analyze data, and make interpretations to answer questions
-Acquire strategies needed for applying decision-making and problem-solving techniques to controversial world issues -Gain perspectives on their own life experiences so they see themselves as part of the world -Identify relationships between places using maps and scale models -Explain the impact of a physical environment on the human experience -Acquire strategies for reading, new articles and social studies materials and for targeting new vocabulary -Acquire strategies to draw from a variety of sources and use appropriate research skills to gather information, synthesize, and report their findings
Reading Objectives -Use prior knowledge to help understand new materials to anticipate and comprehend the deeper meaning of text -Make meaningful connections between texts to create understanding -Ask questions about the texts they read to create a purpose for reading -Use inferencing as a strategy to decode text -Summarize text using key elements of text for a variety of purposes -Communicate and evaluate text based to defend their understanding by applying criteria such as importance, accuracy, credibility, usefulness, and appropriateness. -Synthesize text to create original insights, perspectives and understandings related to the text Writing Objectives -Create written pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information -Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience -Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing
-Use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design, as appropriate, to pose questions, seek answers, and develop solutions -Scientific inquiry will be used to develop explanations of natural phenomena in a continuing, creative process -Formulate questions independently with the aid of references appropriate for guiding the search for explanations of everyday observations -Seek to clarify, to assess critically, and to reconcile with their own thinking the ideas presented by others, including peers, teachers, authors, and scientists -Develop, present, and defend formal research proposals for testing their own explanations of common phenomena, including ways of obtaining needed observations and ways of conducting simple controlled experiments
-Learn healthy food practices and how to make sustainable choices when selecting food items -Learn how to plant, harvest, and identify healthy foods -Develop an understanding of how to care for and support the growth of young animals
• Game development • Data collection and graphing • Fractions, decimal and percentages • Converting whole numbers and fractions • Seed germination study • Scale model construction of a playscape • Budgeting for a field trip
• Poetry unit • Vermont pen pals • Writer’s handbook • Novel study
• Thanksgiving dinner • Local vs. regional products • Bread making • Gardening • Animal husbandry