Sierra Canyon School: 6th Grade

6th Grade—a pivotal year in learning forward

The 6th grade year is an especially exciting and challenging time in your child’s development. We offer a one-of-a-kind, transitional program that gives your child the intellectual, emotional, and social tools they need to thrive in Middle School.

In the last year on our Lower Campus, students learn in a dedicated space, guided by expert faculty members who only teach 6th grade. Hands-on, curiosity-driven experiences—exploring the rainforest in Washington’s Olympic National Park, delving into ancient civilizations and recreating their artifacts, designing and racing a solar car—cultivate your child’s independent-learning, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.

Students also study Latin for a full year to understand how current languages work, prepare for further world-language study, and deepen their critical acumen in all subjects.

Equally important, as a mentor and example for their younger Lower School peers, 6th grade students build confidence and leadership abilities that serve them well in Middle School and throughout life.

At the end of this carefully designed program, your child is ready to continue their Middle School years on our energizing, perspective-changing Upper Campus.

“Sixth grade provides a rigorous Middle School schedule of classes that inspires higher level thinking and the love of learning. It was the nurturing environment of the Lower Campus that encouraged our child to thrive both academically and socially during this crucial year of development.” – SC Parent

Favorite 6th grade experiences • Investigating ecosystems in Olympic National Park, a temperate rain forest in Washington State • Conducting a mock trial of a literary character • Secretly researching a book your classmate would like— and then giving it to them for International Book Giving Day • Making an Egyptian mummy mask, Greek temple, and an early human cave with your classmates while learning about ancient civilizations • Mentoring Pre-K students (and remembering what it was like to be so young) • Working in a small group to build a solar car from scratch • Learning about mythology and Ancient Rome and realizing you can read and translate a full page of Latin by year’s end • Celebrating Pi Day with activities, games, contests, and pie

An exceptionally secure campus At Sierra Canyon, your child’s safety is our top priority. Every car entering campus stops at a locked gate, where a security guard verifies visitor information and runs a background check using the visitor’s driver’s license.

Our school perimeter is gated and enhanced by video monitoring, and during drop-off and dismissal, we help your child in and out of the car.

Upper Campus bound and ready for success Having already learned how to navigate a rotating schedule, juggle the expectations of several teachers, and understand the time-management and organization skills needed to be successful, students move up to the Upper Campus for 7th and 8th grade. Here, the Middle School program continues to build the academic, social, and emotional skills to thrive as a learner and an individual.

Fostering self-advocacy and self-direction Our 6th grade program develops your child’s independence, accountability, and take-charge attitude towards education. We give students extensive training in organization and time management so they can take on increasingly challenging courses and activities while maintaining a healthy life balance. We also encourage students to communicate with their teachers through regular one-on-one conferences and their own Sierra Canyon student email address. Engaging thoughtfully with faculty members about academic and personal goals, your child will recognize when they need help, asks for it, and more deeply understands themself as a learner and member of a larger community. Students emerge from 6th grade more capable, self-assured, and self-reliant than many other students their age—ready to fully own and shape the rest of their Middle and Upper School journey.

Our comprehensive, experiential 6th grade curriculum ensures subject-area mastery while inspiring your child to keep digging deeper.

SCIENCE

This program is a hands-on, inquiry-based learning opportunity. Students expand their understanding of the scientific method and how to participate in a laboratory setting through observation, data collection, analysis, and interpretation of results. The year concludes with the study of renewable energy culminating in a solar car race, where students design and build their own solar cars.

L ATIN

This program is a complete, for-credit language course, Latin 1A. Meeting four to five days per week, the course includes the study of mythology, ancient Rome, gladiators, and more. Students who continue with Latin in 7th grade are eligible to take the next course in the sequence. Students take the National Latin Exam and learn grammar, syntax, and common Latin phrases, which serve as a foundation for both English vocabulary development and second language learning in Middle and Upper School.

ENGLISH

This course is a rigorous and writing-intensive program in which students are challenged to hone the craft of writing, read a text closely, and foster a lifelong love of literature.

Students participate in activities such as Mock Trial, Socratic Seminars, and creative literary-focused endeavors.

HISTORY

This is a highly interactive program that covers history from early humans to ancient civilizations. Students learn valuable skills such as note-taking, time management, and test-taking strategies and understand why the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake is quintessential to life-long learning.

MATH

This program offers differentiated instruction and is designed to create mathematically literate students who are interested in, and garner satisfaction from, utilizing mathematical principles in their daily lives. The confidence with which the students apply their understandings, and the variety of contexts in which they practice their skills, provide a solid base for building mathematical competencies.

ART

Sixth grade art offers students an opportunity for creative expression and artistic development. Watercolor, acrylic, printmaking, sculpture, and stop-motion animation are among the many diverse media offered. Sixth grade students learn about contemporary artists such as Kehinde Wiley and Shepard Fairey and spend time learning about the business side of the art world.

COMPUTER SCIENCE

This course focuses on creating technology rather than consuming it. Students learn the latest techniques in filmmaking, song composing, stop-motion animation, stick-figure animation, coding and game design, and digital art. We also introduce them to mechanical engineering/3D design. Additionally, students hone their typing skills, learn email etiquette, and master the basics of word processing and presentation graphics. Most importantly, digital citizenship and cyber safety lessons are proactively and explicitly taught throughout the curriculum.

MUSIC

Our music program offers the opportunity to create music on a wide variety of instruments including violin, viola, cello, ukulele, drums, xylophone, voice, and piano. Students will learn how to read music as well as how to practice and perform together in an ensemble. Those students who want to pursue the instrument further can enroll in enrichment classes before and after school—Suzuki strings for beginner and intermediate string players or SC Chamber players for advanced musicians.

OLYMPIC PARK INSTITUTE

During the month of February, 6th grade students depart for a week-long trip to the temperate rainforest in Port Angeles, Washington. This interactive program allows students to develop inquiry-based science skills while hiking nearby peaks, exploring in Salish-style canoes, investigating tidepools, and analyzing old growth forests.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND TEAM SPORTS

PE is divided into three seasons. After spending a few days at the beginning of each season trying four or five team sports options, 6th-grade students will then select one of the sports to focus on by being a member of that “team” for the remaining season. No experience is necessary for any particular sport, but rather a willing mind and positive attitude. Sierra Canyon has a NO CUT policy through 12th grade, and all who would like to join and play for Sierra Canyon are encouraged to do so. Practices take place during scheduled PE times, three times a week. Allowing time for practices during the school day enables students to balance homework, family time, and other extracurricular activities.

Most sports will be complete inter-scholastically against other private schools (basketball, swimming, volleyball, soccer, flag football), while others, like tennis and lacrosse, will be intramural-style games after school. We design the seasons to be short so as not to overlap, allowing all students to maximize their potential by trying new things. Additionally, 6th graders can participate in Middle School teams outside of the 6th Grade PE program, including golf, lacrosse, and baseball.

Go to sierracanyonschool.org for more details. And please visit us.