6th

Sixth graders’ primary focus is on process and exploration of ideas, materials, and techniques that will enable them to  create thoughtful and creative art. They begin their projects with idea development and move on to explore how to use the medium for each project. They leave with an understanding of an artistic process and how every stage leads to their artistic success. Many of the projects are tied to what they are learning in their academic classes. During the spring, the art program focuses on self-portraits, first through sketching and then expressed through a multimedia composition using canvas for a base. The students are given the assignment of reflecting upon this crossroad in their life, to think back to their past and ponder their future hopes and dreams. Exiting the Lower School is a true milestone, and this self-reflective art challenge using canvas, paint, and paint pens offers them the opportunity for true self-expression.

Sixth graders learn to read critically, write clearly, and speak effectively. Special focus on vocabulary, grammar, listening, and speaking skills allows students to develop into critical readers, writers, and presenters. Students will learn how to write in the genres of narrative, opinion, and literary analysis.  Through a variety of novels, students are taught annotation skills, summarizing, and identifying effective passages to support their analysis of what they have read.  Class instruction includes both whole-class activities as well as small literature groups. Sample novels include Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, A Long Walk to Water, and Among the Hidden.

In sixth grade, the students have a back-to-back music class and theater class each week. In music, students focus on group singing, ensemble playing in a drum circle, and an introduction to a variety of Broadway musicals. In theater, students participate in a variety of theater games and activities that focus on working together, storytelling, and creativity.
They build confidence and comfort on the stage by performing short monologues and short theatrical sketches for one another. Sixth graders perform in the lower school winter concert series, featuring songs that showcase the skills they have been building in both classes. During the second semester, the students begin working on a full scale musical production of a junior level musical that is performed for their families and the lower school community in late April. During the month of May, the sixth grade works with the music and theater teachers to prepare the music that will be performed at their sixth grade graduation ceremony.  

The world language program in Lower School includes classes in Chinese Mandarin (PreSchool, PreKindergarten, Kindergarten, and grade 1), Spanish (grades 2–4), and Latin (grades 5–6). In the younger grades, children learn basic vocabulary and grammar as well as the culture and traditions of countries where the target language is spoken.  Fifth and sixth graders are introduced to Latin and the Roman world through Unit 1 of the Cambridge Latin Course.