Mr. Sancton's
Math & Science Emporium

Mr. Sancton teaches 6th grade Math and Science and 8th grade Math. 

The course content of 6^th grade math focuses on continuing the mastering of many skills started in earlier grades and the introduction of many new concepts and skills. Skills, concepts, topics covered in 6^th grade math include: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with whole numbers, fractions, and decimals; estimating answers and mental solutions to problems; numeration to the hundred-thousandths place; rounding off; prime and composite numbers; geometry of quadrilaterals, triangles, circles and rectangular prisms with respect to perimeter, circumference, area and volume; metric and customary units of measurement; ratios and percents; probability; adding and subtracting of integers, and the graphing of ordered pairs of numbers. Tests at the end of each chapter are cumulative, covering all work from the beginning of the sixth grade.

Sixth grade math classes are heterogeneously grouped and do exactly the same work. However, based on 6^th grade class grades, national standardized test results, and teacher recommendations, students will be placed in a 7^th grade on level math class or in a 7^th grade advanced class.

The topics covered in 6^th grade science complement the 7^th and 8^th grade science programs. Sixth grade science focuses on: plate tectonics, continental drift, the earth’s interior structure, earthquakes, volcanoes, minerals, igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks; the fossils record, geologic time, the states of matter; physical and chemical changes; properties of matter; atomic structure; elements, compounds, and mixtures; the periodic table; bonding; metals and nonmetals; solutions; acids, bases, and salts; and radioactivity.

Activities consist of laboratory experiments and classroom discussion. In the laboratory students learn to work cooperatively, perform experiments, use laboratory equipment properly and safely, and reason scientifically. Students are required to submit a project each quarter.

This course covers typical grade 8 topics required by the State Education Department. Grade 7 topics are reviewed and expanded. New topics include: the Pythagorean Rule, the use of sine, cosine, and tangent, relations, functions, and graphing, transformations and constructions. Special attention is placed on problem solving. The course culminates in a Grade 8 State Math exam.

6th Grade Curriculum-Pocantico Hills School

 This page was last edited January 31, 2005.