What New York 6th graders
learn this year

Sixth grade is the start of middle school math: ratios and rates, negative numbers, and equations with a letter in them. History turns to the ancient world and the Eastern Hemisphere.

Fall: September to November

• Math: Fluent multi-digit division; Fluent decimal operations; GCF, LCM and distributive factoring; Divide fractions and interpret quotients and 4 more
• Science: Atomic models of molecules and extended structures; Natural resources and synthetic materials; Mixture separation and reaction evidence; Particle motion, phases and measured density and 3 more
• Social studies: Environment, settlement and present issues; Eastern Hemisphere maps and regions; Artifacts, features and evidence about early humans; Agriculture, domestication and turning points

Winter: December to February

• Math: Use ratios to convert units; Signed numbers and the meaning of zero; Opposites, number lines and reflections; Order rational numbers and use absolute value and 4 more
• Science: Balanced forces, mass, motion and collisions; Kinetic, potential and transferred energy; Attractive gravity, mass and distance; Electric current and energy transfer and 3 more
• Social studies: Specialization, hierarchies and social access; Compare early river-valley civilizations; Shared values, diversity and religious social influence; Origins and core ideas of major belief systems and 1 more

Early spring: March and April

• Math: Test equations and inequalities by substitution; Write and solve one-step rational equations; Represent constraints and solution sets; Dependent and independent variables and 4 more
• Science: Interacting body systems and sensory information; Cells and the functions of cell parts; Resources, interactions, matter flow and biodiversity; Matter and energy in photosynthesis and respiration and 3 more
• Social studies: Laws, authority and classical political structures; Cultural contributions and golden-age claims; Roman decline and feudal Western Europe; Byzantine continuity, trade and Orthodox Christianity

Late spring: May and June

• Math: Recognize statistical questions and variability; Representative samples and sampling variability; Describe center, spread and shape; Dot plots and histograms and 4 more
• Science: Variation and natural selection in populations; Rock strata, geologic time and plate evidence; Earth-Sun-Moon models, gravity and solar-system scale; Rock and water cycles and surface changes and 3 more
• Social studies: Islamic caliphates and Mediterranean connections; Causes and consequences of medieval conflicts; Silk Roads, Indian Ocean and trans-Saharan exchange; Mongol expansion and cultural diffusion and 1 more

The four subjects in 6th grade

Math. Division and decimal fluency and common factors first, then ratios, rates and negative numbers, then expressions and one-step equations, and statistics last.

English. Longer informational texts and arguments, with questions about how an author builds a claim and supports it.

Science. Middle school science begins: matter and its particles, forces, motion and energy, then cells, body systems and ecosystems.

Social studies. The Eastern Hemisphere: early humans, the first river-valley civilizations, world religions, Greece and Rome, and trade across Asia, Africa and Europe.

Where 6th graders slip

Watch ratios and negative numbers. They are new ideas rather than harder versions of old ones, and a child who misses them in the winter carries the gap into seventh grade proportions.

Common questions

What changes in sixth grade math?

It stops being only arithmetic. Ratios, rates and negative numbers are new kinds of thinking, and letters start standing for numbers.

Which science does sixth grade cover?

New York sets middle school science for grades 6 to 8 together, not grade by grade. Our sixth grade quarters cover matter, forces and energy, cells and ecosystems; how the band is split across the three years is our choice.