Incoming 6th Grade Information

Did you miss the 6th Grade Curriculum Night? Click the link below to watch the recording (available in both English and Spanish):

• English Recording
• Spanish Recording

Additionally, you can access the slide deck from the presentation below as well as the curriculum guides:

• English Slide Deck
• Spanish Slide Deck

• Curriculum Guide (English)
• Curriculum Guide (Spanish)

See below for information regarding an overview of courses that 6th grade students will take:

• All 6th grade students will be enrolled in a STEM/Innovation Exploration course. In order to provide exposure to 21st century skills, students will be exposed to digital and technology literacy, project-based collaboration, computer science, and design thinking. Students will also participate in projects meant to expose them to Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. This course is a precursor to Project Lead The Way courses which introduce students to projects in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM).
• All 6th grade students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their passion and interest in Science and Individuals & Societies through a rigorous and differentiated secondary curriculum. Moving forward, 6th grade students will not be offered Honors Science or Honors Individuals & Societies (I&S). In previous years, students did not have the opportunity to qualify for 6th grade Science and Individuals & Societies (Social Studies) honors courses by demonstrated content mastery. Students were automatically placed in these courses based on their reading or math test scores. Leveling the playing field of students coming from many different experiences and elementary schools will give all students the opportunity to qualify for 7th grade Science and/or I&S Honors courses through demonstrated excitement and academic achievement in 6th grade. 

The regular curriculum will still include previous Honors components, so those students, who may have typically qualified for honors,  will have an opportunity to be challenged in each unit of study. Please note: Honors Math and Honors Language and Literature (English) will remain in 6th grade, so qualifying students may still have three honors courses (two English classes and math) . With the addition of the STEM course, there will be another rigorous course at this grade level, so students will still be challenged despite the change in the number of honors courses. All Honors courses in 7th and 8th grade will remain, but we will be adding Biology as an eighth grade Honors Science course for the 2022-23 school year. 

• All 6th grade students will be enrolled in an exploratory World Language course for one semester providing access to multiple languages during the 6th grade year. In previous years, students were assigned to one language instead of having access to multiple languages. Moving forward, students will be able to make an informed decision on which language they are passionate about based on their experience in each language and culture going into 7th grade. 
• All sixth grade students will now have two Language and Literature classes, one of which will focus solely on reading and the other on writing. We hope to establish a strong literacy foundation by developing stronger readers and writers so that we can increase the rigor in each subsequent English course through graduation. If students qualify for Honors in Language and Literature, they will be enrolled in Honors Language and Honors Writing.

• All sixth grade students will be enrolled in a semester of Pre-AVID. This is a course where students will learn the importance of organization, gain experience with critical reading, note taking, higher level thinking, and public speaking skills. Pre-AVID helps you become “a better version of you.” 

• All sixth grade students will be enrolled in a music course. Students may select band, orchestra, or choir. This is a yearlong commitment. Sign up HERE

• Students in need of additional reading or math support will have a modified schedule resulting in a reduction of a few of the aforementioned courses.  

We believe changes to the courses taken by sixth grade students will provide students a  stronger foundation as well as broad exposure to a number of other courses resulting in a richer middle school experience.  A typical sixth grade schedule is reflected below.