Sixth Grade At a Glance Below are a few of the exciting experiences that await your sixth-grader in Langley’s Middle School:
The Langley School’s Arc of Development recognizes that the steepest part of a child’s development comes early, and that while every child’s path is unique, there are predictable cognitive, emotional, and social milestones. With this model, our students receive age-appropriate, inquiry-based instruction.
• Inquiry-based learning in all subjects that allows students to practice critical and analytical thinking, executive functioning, and self-advocacy skills • Mixed grade-level advisory groups with the same advisor throughout Middle School that provide academic check-ins and promote bonding • Cultural competence and emotional awareness classes based on our REACH program that promote academic success and self-awareness • Opportunity to participate in band, chorus, or strings ensembles, dramatic productions, and organized team sports in the Capital Athletic Conference • Access to leadership positions such as the Student Ambassador program, Student Council, and advisors to the head of school
Learning in Action “After learning about playwriting, acting, and design, sixth-grade drama students adapt a children’s book into a play for our Primary Schoolers. They work together to write the script, cast the parts, choose costumes and props, and rehearse. After the performance, they have the opportunity to mentor our younger students by participating in a short Q&A.” -Drama Teacher “During our Road Trip Project in math, sixth-graders have the chance to apply what they’ve learned about rates, ratios, and proportional reasoning to real-life situations in a collaborative environment. Students use a map to draw and plan out a road trip, and record their calculations for mileage, gas, and food costs along the way.” -Math Teacher “A favorite tradition is Bardfest, a celebration of Shakespeare and the culmination of our unit on England’s most famous playwright. Students learn a speech from one of Shakespeare’s plays or sonnets, then deliver their speeches in front of classmates and parents. They gain confidence, build public-speaking skills, and develop a deeper understanding of Shakespearean characters.” -Language Arts Teacher
Units of Study: These units of study are examples of how we build age-appropriate, interdisciplinary lessons. The goal is to challenge, expand thinking, and inspire students to act on their curiosity, ask good questions, and solve problems. Social Studies: Silk Road Essential Question: How do people spatially organize around the environments and geography of Earth’s surface? Skill/Activity: Explore the geography of the Silk Road using satellite technology tools, then use Google Tour Builder to highlight the terrain’s dangers and challenges Science: Geology on Mars Essential Question: How can we find evidence that other planets were once habitable? Skill/Activity: Support a claim by collecting, organizing, analyzing, and interpreting data to prepare for a debate about which geologic processes influence landforms on Mars Math: Rational Numbers Essential Question: What does it mean to be “proportionate?” Skill/Activity: Use the power of deduction and mathematical knowledge to work as a detective solving real-world problems involving rational numbers, units of measurement, proportion, and percent Language Arts: Dystopian Novel Essential Question: At what point does a utopian society become dystopian? Skill/Activity: Study the themes in a novel and compare them to issues present in today’s society
Sample Schedule 8:00-8:25 a.m…...................................Advisory 8:25-9:25 a.m…….......................................Math 9:25-10:25 a.m…...........................…......REACH 10:25-10:45 a.m…….....................Snack/Recess 10:45-11:30 a.m……...............................Elective 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m……............Language Arts 12:30-1:10 p.m………...................Recess/Lunch 1:10-2:10 p.m…………..................……….Spanish 2:10-3:10 p.m………….....…………Social Studies 3:15 p.m…….………..............................Dismissal
What Elective Choices Will My Child Have? Middle Schoolers choose from a wide range of electives in which they participate four times per week, such as: The 20time Project: Modeled after Google’s 20% time – which allows engineers to invest 20 percent of their work time to solve real problems – this elective empowers students to identify problems, pitch project proposals, develop solutions, present ideas, and iterate their solutions. TED-Ed Club Talks: Students build collaboration and presentation skills as they research and develop their own TED Talk. Newspaper: Students hone their writing, editing, and design skills as they create a Middle School newspaper which includes articles of interest, interviews, student work, editorials, and illustrations.
Since we believe educational programs should continually evolve to meet the needs of our students, all curricular lessons and schedules referenced here are examples and may change.