Sixth Grade Science

Instructor: Mrs. Shannon West

Phone: 572-2680

E-mail: swest@stcatherineofsiena.org

Grade: 6

Description:

Sixth Grade Science will allow the individual student to identify, investigate, and explain the physical and natural principles of our environment.  The course will include but not limited to the following topics:  equipment identification and use, metric measurement, matter, characteristics of light and sound, motion and work, and Life science (plants and animals).  Sixth Grade Science prepares the students to view and appreciate science as an important part of their life. 

Standards:

Upon completing the Sixth Grade Science course students should be able to:

• Identify and refine questions that can be answered through scientific investigations combined with scientific information.
• Use appropriate equipment, tools, techniques, technology, and mathematics in scientific investigations.
• Use evidence, logic, and scientific knowledge to develop scientific explanations.
• Design and conduct different kinds of scientific investigations to answer different kinds of questions.
• Communicate designs, procedures, and results of scientific investigations.
• Review and analyze scientific investigations and explanations of other students.
• Investigate structure and function of the atom.
• Examine and classify elements of the periodic table.
• Differentiate the characteristic properties between elements, compounds, mixtures, and solutions.
• Show how energy is released in a chemical reaction in the forms of heat, light, electrical, and mechanical energy.
• Investigate natural resources as sources of energy.
• Increase awareness of biodiversity through direct observation and use of various media and technology.
• Identify factors whereby human beings can effect the quality of life.
• Investigate how plants and animals obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce, and maintain stable internal conditions.  Examine the regulation of an organism’s internal environment.
• Analyze internal or environmental stimuli and organisms’ behavioral responses.  Explore how organisms’ behavior changes through adaptation.
• Compare and contrast populations in an ecosystem and determine existing interrelationships and functions.
• Investigate energy flow in ecosystems.
• Investigate factors that affect the number of organisms an ecosystem can support.
• Examine the circulatory and digestive systems of the human body.
• Compare and contrast invertebrates and vertebrates.

Grading:

Students will be evaluated on class assignments and activities including but not limited to the following:

• Notebook ( open response questions, entrance and exit questions, labs)
• Projects
• Tests/Quizzes
• Homework/ Participation

Course Content:

FIRST QUARTER

Scientific Method and Science Safety                          1 week

Unit 1 Understanding Living Things   

·        Chapter 1 Cells, Genetics, and Heredity                 2 weeks

·        Chapter 2  Classification                                        2 weeks

Unit 2 Living Things Grow and Respond

·        Chapter 1 Plant Growth and Responses              2 weeks

·        Chapter 2 Types of Plants                                       2 weeks

SECOND QUARTER

Unit 2 cont’d

·        Chapter 3 Invertebrates                                       1 ½ weeks

·        Chapter 4 Vertebrates                                          1 ½ weeks

Unit 3  The Living Planet

·        Chapter 1 Characteristics and Cycles                    2 weeks

·        Chapter 2 Interactions in Ecosystems                        1 week

·        Chapter 3 Earth’s Oceans                                     1 week

·        Chapter 4 Weather Changes                             2 weeks

THIRD QUARTER

Unit 4  Cycles in Earth and Space

·        Chapter 1 Movement of Earth’s Crust                      1 ½ weeks

·        Chapter 2 Rocks and the Rock Cycle                     2 weeks

·        Chapter 3 Cycles in the Solar System                   2 weeks

·        Chapter 4 Exploring the Universe                             1 ½ weeks

Unit 5 

·        Chapter 1 Atoms, Elements, and Compounds           2 weeks

FOURTH QUARTER

Unit 5 Cont’d

·        Chapter 2 Properties and Changes                 1 ½ weeks

·        Chapter 3 Energy                                                  2 weeks

·        Chapter 4 Sound and Light                                   1 ½ weeks

Unit 6 Forces and Machines

·        Chapter 1 Forces and Motion                               2 weeks

·        Chapter 2 Machines and Work                           2 weeks