The Sixth Grade class has a schedule that includes Social Studies, Science, and Vocabulary. The Sixth Grade class has various projects throughout the year.  In Social Studies, the students begin the year learning about the basic motions of our solar system. This project culminates with a celestial activity where groups of students simulate the various motions of the planets and the sun by becoming the celestial objects.  Later in the year, the Sixth Graders put on the Ancient Egyptian Interviews.  In these interviews, the students learn about, and research assigned topics dealing with the ancient Egyptians. They make posters, illustrations, models, costumes, and whatever else they can imagine.  After all of their hard work, an “interviewer” invites them to a talk show where the various Egyptians are interviewed on camera!  The “show” is the presentation of all of their hard work and an exhibition of their knowledge about the ancient Egyptians. This is done in front of a “studio audience.”  The show is then edited and put on a DVD for each of the students to take home. The students also make an ancient Egypt grid drawing.  This project takes about three weeks to complete. The art teacher and I work together during the different phases of this project. Many social studies activities incorporate art skills and techniques. Other projects in Social Studies are:  story reading, student-made Chinese Jeopardy.  This project makes for a fun and exciting week (maybe four days) of students presenting and playing jeopardy games about the history of ancient China.  Along with these projects, the Six Graders also write various essays, read and present short plays (with sound effects), and other smaller projects. 

In Science, the Sixth Graders begin with a research/essay project.  The students learn about the top super predators of the Serengeti in Africa.  They research, take notes, and discuss these various super predators and how they use their God-given characteristics in order to survive.  After more than a week of gathering information through videos, class lessons, and independent research, the students, with very close scrutiny and guidance from me, prepare and finally write a five-paragraph essay on the topic at hand.  In another chapter, the students take a closer look at how organisms get their food.  This is done in a week project where the students spend multiple hours in the school library sketching, coloring, researching, and putting together a small booklet of their findings.  Students later study the structure of leaves and why some leaves lose their pigment during the Fall months.  The students gather samples of leaves, then sketch them, then measure them using the standard and metric systems.  The students then put their findings into a science booklet. Students also learn how Plate Tectonics accounts for important features of Earth’s surface and major geologic events by making their own volcanoes online and making functioning Sea Floor Spreading Models out of everyday art materials. These two projects also incorporate how many of the phenomena are affected by the transfer of energy through radiation and convection currents.  After other smaller projects, the Sixth Graders then end the year with an electricity science project. During the chapter about electricity and circuits, the students do work outside of their textbooks. They learn about electricity buy a totally hands-on  science booklet called, “Enjoying Electricity.” Students learn about basic circuit types by using wires, batteries, battery holders, light bulbs, clips, etc.  After the unit is completed, the students choose from a list of electricity projects and build the project of their choice. The various projects are:  Electric boat, simple circuit, complex circuits, battery, circuit games, lighthouses, various types of switches, Morse code tappers, electromagnetic crane and circuit quizzes.

For Vocabulary, the Sixth Graders are given a set of words and definitions.  They study and learn their various meanings, paying attention to context.  They then utilize their new vocabulary words throughout the year in their assignments, thus reinforcing their retention of the meanings of the vocabulary words.  They are tested on the vocabulary every two weeks.

The Sixth Grade goes on field trips to further expand their knowledge of history, science and vocabulary.  Each year the class goes to the following places:  The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. The museum has a tremendous amount of information regarding U.S. History, dinosaurs, prehistoric animals, rain forests, Native Americans, rocks and gems, and many ancient cultures.  The class also goes to the California Science Center of Los Angeles. The California Science Center has many exhibits, including: earthquakes and earthquake safety, how sound travels through the air, how basic waves travel through various media, the heart, the digestive system, animal reproduction, and many other exhibits that change from month to month, and year to year. The children also take a trip to the IMAX Theater twice a year.  The theater shows various educational movies that enhance both history and science knowledge.  The students also go to the zoo each year in order to reinforce their knowledge about animals and ecosystems. Along with these trips, the Sixth Graders may go to some of the following places: La Brea Tar Pits, Griffith Observatory, Fort Tejon, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and other places that will help the students better understand and appreciate history and science.