Grade 6

Click here to see an overview of the curriculum of this grade.
Click here to view the School Handbook (general policies for grades K through 8)
Click here to see photos from 6th Grade
Click here to see the Classroom News for this year.

Info for Parents

Opening Day Letter from Mrs. Curley

Welcome to a new school year! I am delighted to be back at St. Mary School, and look forward to working with your students in Sixth Grade. Sixth Grade teachers this year will include Mrs. Sullivan (Religion), Mr. Moakley (Science), Mrs. MacDonough and Ms. Lordan(Math), Mr. Ferdella (P.E.), Mrs. Corazzini (Spanish), Mr. Gannon (Music), Mrs. Wiseman (Art), and myself (English, Literature, and Social Studies). We also give a special “Welcome” to our new classmates, Christina, Benjamin, and Kayla.

The school day for students in grades 5-8 begins at 8:00 a.m., with the prayer bell at 8:10. Students not in the classroom at 8:05 are considered Tardy. There will be a 10-minute homeroom period to start each day. During this time, we will take attendance, get organized for the day, and hold brief class meetings and discussions.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call me here at school at (508) 842-1601, or send a note or email, and I will reply as soon as possible.

I wish you all a wonderful school year!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Curley

Curriculum Night Handout

Homeroom time: Our school day begins at 8:00am. Students arriving after 8:05 are marked tardy. The time from 8:00 to 8:10 is used for class meetings, community building, planning, and getting organized for the morning classes.

Prayer time: Every day we start and end our day with prayer and say Grace (in Latin!) before lunch. Students are expected to stop whatever they are doing and participate.

Homework book and student planner: All students are given a planner at the beginning of the school year and are expected to have it with them for every class. Students are to record their homework assignments in their planner. A homework book is maintained in the classroom where assignments are recorded. At the end of the day students are allowed to check the homework book to verify that they have written all assignments in their planner.

Homework: Sixth Grade students can expect between 60-90 minutes of homework per night. There is weekend homework in Sixth Grade.

Books and possessions: Each student has a cubby for storing books, notebooks, folders, etc. Students are expected to keep their cubby neat.

Snacks and water bottles: Snack time for the upper grades is at 9:45am. This is a working snack. Students are asked to put their snack in their desk in the morning to avoid interruptions to their class. Students are encouraged to have a water bottle.

Bathroom breaks: One boy and one girl are allowed out of the classroom at a time. Students must sign-out in a log book where they record the time they left the room and the time they returned. Students are encouraged to use the bathroom before class and at lunch time to avoid leaving the room during class time.

Jobs: Classroom jobs are assigned on a rotating basis. Jobs will change at the beginning of each month. Students are expected to do their assigned jobs.

Service projects: Students in Sixth Grade are the recycling coordinators for the school. On alternating Tuesdays, members of the class gather the recycling buckets from throughout the main school building, the pastoral center, and the preschool. Between Thanksgiving and Easter, the Sixth Graders also assist the preschoolers in crossing the parking lot at noontime, allowing parents to remain in their cars with younger siblings during the harsher weather.

Some hints on how to help your child succeed in science

Science is perhaps the most dynamic subject that a middle school student will study. It is forever changing as new information and understanding displaces the outdated and unknown.

With this in mind, St. Mary School replaced all of the science texts last year with the most up to date middle school books that Prentice Hall offered. These texts are a system that will take the student from grade five to grade eight using a similar format. The texts not only provide current scientific information, but they also contain information on how to learn science.

Every chapter begins with a title page that includes the publishers web site (www.phschool.com) that has activities related to the material in the text, and a list of other activities that the students can do. Some of these I incorporate into the classes, others can be done at home. The Discover activities that begin each section are nice into to the subject being studied and can often be done out side of the class. Some of the “Try This” activities are specifically designed to be done at home and involve the family. These activities can be a great tool for understanding the important ideas of the section.

Each section begins with Guide for Reading which is two to three questions, that when answered, are the essence of the section. There are also checkpoint questions mixed into the text that the students should be able to answer before they move on.

Each chapter includes a study guide at the end of the chapter, as well as a practice test that has questions similar to the type that will be found on their quizzes and tests. I encourage the students to take these practices and correct them because it is better they discover what they don’t know before the quiz, then I discover what they don’t know during the quiz.

Every text has a skills handbook near the end. These are the science skills that the students will be developing as they study science. They are not a separate block of instruction in the curriculum; these skills are part of all the activities related to science. As such, they will be continually part of the curriculum. As their teacher I am continually assessing the students on their strengths in these skills and adjusting the curriculum when a greater emphasis is needed on a given topic. The individual students should be referring to these sections as needed.

Lastly, I strongly encourage all students to have an appropriate dictionary available in their study area at home. Although the text provides a glossary for the key vocabulary included in the book, there will be times when they will be presented with an unfamiliar term.

I will continually encourage students to understand the importance of critical thinking and understanding in science so they will be better positioned to deal with the new information as it arrives.

Thank you,
Michael T. Moakley

Classroom News - Spring 2010

Math with Mrs. MacDonough

At the beginning of the third quarter, Ms. Lordan and I switched our Math groups for the remainder of the year. I am thrilled to now have the other half of the sixth grade and they have made a smooth transition into the class. We picked up right where they left off with Ms. Lordan and were able to quickly finish up the chapters on multiplying and dividing decimals and fractions. We are in the process of finishing up a unit on measurement, where we focused on converting customary units. We also investigated the area and perimeter of rectangles. Out next endeavor has us collecting and analyzing data. This will include taking and analyzing surveys, doing random sampling and identifying bias. We will be using the measures of central tendency to analyze the data collected and graphs to represent the data. They will construct frequency tables, histograms, stem and leaf plots, and box and whisker plots. We will also take time to recognize misleading data displays. From there we will move on to working with plane figures and calculating area, perimeter, circumference and volume. They should be very pleased with the progress they have made in their curriculum this term!

Classroom News - Winter (from last year)

Math with Ms. Lordan

At the beginning of term the SIXTH GRADERS actively investigated the divisibility rules in order to name the factors of any given number. Our study of number theory found us using the Sieve of Eratosthenes as a method of finding prime and composite numbers. Two methods of naming the GCF and LCM of a pair of numbers were explored. Students discovered that prime factorization was more efficient than the tedious task of listing all factors or multiples. The unit ended, as all do, with an addition to our problem-solving repertoire. Students were required to support work by explaining their solutions. All enjoy combining reading, writing, and arithmetic!

Despite the weather outside becoming frightful during the month of December, this group of students continued to be delightful to teach. Fraction and decimal concepts challenged us to write equivalent fractions using multiplication and division. We discovered relationships among fractions, mixed numbers, and decimals as we ordered and compared them by converting to both fraction and decimal form. In solving related problems, we used interpretation of remainders as a technique. As the term ends we are performing the four operations with fractions and solving multi-step problems.

Classroom News - Fall 2009

Literature

Grade 6 is in the midst of our first unit of study in the new Literature anthology, “Elements of Literature.” We are studying the short story. The students are using this literary genre to study the basic elements of fictional writing, specifically character, setting, conflict, plot, sequence of events, turning point, resolution of conflict, and theme.

Soon, we will begin a drama unit that will take us into December. Students will be reading selections from several different plays, while learning about several different types of drama. The students will become familiar with stage directions, lighting, costuming, and special effects in addition to learning about the literature of drama. Students will then become immersed in the world of the theater, as they prepare to perform a brief play for an audience

English

In English, we have been working on subjects and predicates, nouns and pronouns, punctuation, sentence structure, F.C.A’s, and “Must-Do’s.” All of these skills are helping with our writing!

In spelling, we have been studying high frequency words and frequently misspelled words. Students are finding many of these words quite challenging! In addition, spelling grade-level words correctly in everyday use continues to be an important part of our spelling curriculum.

Social Studies

In social studies, we have just completed the first unit, “Learning About Our World.” The theme of the unit was “Patterns in Diversity,” and the students learned that in our quest to understand our diverse world, we study geography and culture, seeking to find patterns, and make connections, to try and help us understand the history of the world.

We have now begun our second unit, “The Rise of Civilizations.” The students are eager to begin studying about ancient civilizations, particularly Ancient Egypt! Over the course of the next few months, we will explore several ancient civilizations, and learn about how the writing, cities, governments, and inventions that arose from them anchor today’s world. Students will work on several projects, including a time line of the civilizations we study, as well as several projects on specific cultures. Most of the work for this project will be done during social studies class, and during our library/computer class time. The students are already looking forward to the projects!

Math with Mrs. MacDonough

As the first quarter draws to a close, the sixth grade can look back with pride at their progress and accomplishments so far this year. They have worked successfully with place value, rounding decimals, order of operations, and the properties of addition and multiplication. We are currently working with prime factorization, greatest common factors and least common multiples. The students have enjoyed integrating variables into their problem solving and utilizing the different strategies for arriving at a solution in word problems such as working backwards and looking for patterns. We look forward to moving on to fraction and decimal operations, measurement and graphing data in the months ahead! Additional resources related to our text can be found at www.eduplace.com.

Math with Ms. Lordan

Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students enter the math room each day eager to begin our time together by writing the date and objectives of the day in their notebooks. Next they contemplate the RAP question(s) of the day. This activity is designed to involve everyone in the study of mathematics immediately upon entering our classroom. RAP is an acronym for Review and Preview. The questions posed often assess students understanding of the objectives from previous lessons or preview their knowledge of the next topic.

SIXTH GRADE students have expanded their knowledge of place value to include numbers from billions to millionths and can write real numbers in expanded form three ways, one of which involves powers of 10. They have reviewed the four operations with whole numbers and decimal numerals while reviewing the skills of ordering, comparing, and rounding. We have explored two ways to estimate answers and excelled in using the properties of addition and multiplication to evaluate expressions. PEMDAS is assisting us with the order of operations. The problem solving techniques that we have employed are finding a pattern, determining if an exact answer or an estimate is required, working backwards, and making a decision about the reasonableness of an answer. This lively group of individuals brightens each day with their enthusiasm and desire to learn.

Music with Mr. Gannon

The sixth grade just completed a multi-week lesson on the six periods of western classical music. We discussed and listened to music dating as far back as the 5th century. The class learned about classical composers from Hildegard von Bingen to John Williams, and about a multitude of instruments from the lute to the piano. The sixth graders also completed a joint music and technology project by producing a word document featuring information about each student’s assigned composer.

The sixth graders are also given a music “word of the week” each class, and they will be quizzed on the words after ten weeks. We are moving into rhythms now, and will begin production of our class “Stomp” piece shortly.

Classroom News - Summer 2009

Math with Mrs. MacDonough

As we move towards the end of the fourth quarter, my sixth grade students continue to work hard to master all the math concepts put before them. After finishing our unit on analyzing data, we jumped ahead for an introduction to geometry. Focusing on lines and angles, they learned about transversals, vertical angles, alternate interior angles, and alternate exterior angles. We have studied different types of parallelograms, triangles, and circles and their characteristics. We have begun a unit on Geometry and Measurement, where the students will be looking at finding the area and perimeter of different polygons and the circumference and area of circles. The have really worked hard this quarter to make great progress in their curriculum. I am looking forward to having them next fall as seventh graders!

Literature with Mrs. Curley

Grade 6 is wrapping up their poetry unit. Students have been learning about rhyme and rhythm, metaphor, simile, and personification, verses, and stanzas among other things. The students have created their own “found poems.” We have explored different genres of poetry, and have shared favorite and classic poetry.

English with Mrs. Curley

In English, we have begun to review all the grammar lessons and rules that we have been working on this year. The students will be assembling a “Grammar Guide,” which is a condensed version of all these rules and skills, and will be a great help in studying for the English final examination. Students continue to do a great deal of in-class writing, in English as well as in other classes.

In spelling, we continue to expand our vocabularies while learning to spell new words. Spelling in day-to-day work continues to be very important.

Social Studies with Mrs. Curley

Recently in Social Studies, we learned about ancient Greece, Macedonia, and Rome. The students learned about both political and cultural empires, and the influences that these empires have had right up to the modern era. We have learned that ideas about politics, religion, and other aspects of Greek and Roman culture were adopted by, or forced upon people in other lands, causing growth and change.

We have begun our study of Islam, and are interspersing these lessons with a review of what we have been studying all year, in preparation for the Social Studies final exam.