Sixth Grade

THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE: ANCIENT CULTURES

Sixth grade students hone their intellectual independence through immersion in interpretation/ perspective-taking book clubs and complex nonfiction analysis. By researching relevant topics and engaging each other in debates utilizing evidence-based positions, students will discover ancient cultures, focusing on people’s everyday experiences, living and working in ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. We explore ancient games, medical practices, and architecture. Through class simulations, students tackle problems confronted by ancient peoples in establishing civilizations.

With a reading workshop format, sixth graders become powerful and more nuanced readers. Students read and evaluate multiple perspectives, taking notice of who is telling the story and who is missing from the story. Representation is vital and our goal is for all students to see themselves in the books they read as well as developing empathy for people with experiences that differ from their own.

MATHEMATICS

Sixth graders at Berkwood Hedge Middle School use a combination of learning experiences on paper that are flexible and creative as well as experiences with technology that are dynamic and interactive. Throughout the year, students will dive deeply into Area & Surface Area, Ratios, Unit Rates & Percentages, Dividing Fractions, Expressions & Equations, Positive & Negative Numbers, Data Sets & Distributions, and Decimal Arithmetic.

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Sixth grade science at Berkwood Hedge School introduces the concept of Design Thinking. Students learn to define criteria and constraints of design problems, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment. Throughout the year, they test and evaluate different design solutions to answer questions and solve problems pertaining to topics including energy, body systems, genetics and heredity, the Earth’s systems, and the Earth and human activity.

WILD WAYS

Sixth graders focus on traditional tools and technologies with hands-on lessons including weaving a variety of containers from local materials, starting a fire using friction, using heat to straighten sticks for tool construction, making cordage, and more.