Click the folder icon to access 6th Grade files

Welcome to sixth grade social studies! Please keep all hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times when we rocket off down history lane for the year opener: the study of ancient Greece. Our sixth graders learn about the food, culture and life of ancient Greeks. We close our unit with Greek Day, when our sixth graders dress up as Greeks and get to act out plays. (The Olympics might even come to Raleigh for this.) As the study of Greece comes to a close, we begin our study of Shakespeare, with a reading of Macbeth, and a trip to the Blackfriar's Playhouse in Staunton, VA. Next comes Rome, our study of how it went from the grandest city in Europe, to a desolate wasteland. This leads to our study of the Middle Ages and our trip to Myrtle Beach, where we visit the Medieval Times Theater. Then comes the study of imperial Russia and Stalin, paired with the study of the Holocaust, which may cause you to break down and cry. Finally, comes our renaissance study to end the year on a happy note. At last, it’s 11:15 on the last day of school, and sixth grade social studies comes to a heartbreaking close. The Social Studies journey is definitely a memory you will cherish forever.

As fifth graders complete their school year, they look forward to just hanging out with friends, relaxing and….reading? During the summer they are expected to read and summarize two books; however this is only the beginning of the journey. Once a sixth grader walks in the door, the first thing they see is two smiling faces, Mrs. Grant’s and Mrs. Walker’s, that make them feel welcome to their first language arts class in the sixth grade. Beginning with the new school year, 2007-2008, language arts will be shared by Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Pring. After students have been in classes for several weeks and have been writing and reading day after day, classes are side-lined for special days of activities full of fun. One of these days is Greek Day. This day is full of activities; both academic and athletic Olympics take place. However, this is not the only day when exciting things happen, not even close. Medieval day has a king, queen, lords, ladies, and townspeople. All students are involved in the banquet, morality plays, entertainment and knighting. In language arts both Greek myths and fables are written while studying these two periods of history, as well as writing and producing plays. Finally, in the spring, the Holocaust is studied, and students understand this horrible period of history after watching movies and reading novels about the subject. One other aspect of language arts is a vocabulary book, and students learn over 300 words by studying fifteen units of the book. All in all, language arts is challenging but fun with interesting novels to read and many choices of writing to produce.

When students arrive in Mrs. Sutton’s math class with their brand new pencils and paper, they have just arrived from a fun-filled summer. Little do they know, that soon they will be jumping into fractions, probability, percents, ratios, and even pre- algebra. The school year 2007-2008 is Mrs. Sutton’s first full year at Magellan with sixth grade math. She is a really great teacher, and the kids like her.

In science we discover and experience things we never would have been able to without going to Magellan. We take a journey through soil and discover how to grow a garden, which we tend to throughout the year. Then we rapidly move into astronomy, and learn about everything from the theory of the Big Bang, to NASA landing on the moon in 1969, and everything in between. Later, we become geologists and dig our way through rocks. While we journey through all this, we are performing exciting hands on experiments as individuals and groups. We make popcorn to convey the process of energy traveling through solids (then eat it), burn different materials to show their composition, we are detectives as we ID rocks and minerals together, draw with soils from different areas to create beautiful art-work, and so much more! During the year we also are able to express our artistic side as we learn useful songs and dances as mnemonics.