6th grade Science
9 units matched to the Oregon State Standards.
Focus areas
- Energy, forces and motion
- Cells and living systems
- Weather, climate and the water cycle
Units
Unit 1
Body Systems
How the nervous and endocrine (hormone) systems send messages, how the excretory system removes waste, and the basic organs of the reproductive system, all at a simple organ-and-job level.
Learning standard: 6.LS1.3 · body systems made of interacting groups of cells
Unit 2
Cells: Life's Building Blocks
Practices evidence that living things are made of cells, the parts of plant and animal cells and their jobs, and how the cell works as a system.
Learning standard: 6.LS1.1; 6.LS1.2 · living things are made of cells, and the parts of a cell work together
Unit 3
Our Senses
Practices natural sensory systems: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. It follows the Grade 6 science skill descriptors on natural and technical sensory systems in the New Brunswick curriculum.
Learning standard: 6.LS1.8 · sensory receptors that send messages to the brain
Unit 4
Thermal Energy & Insulation
Practices how thermal energy moves from warmer to cooler objects, how mass and material affect temperature change, and how to design a device that slows heat transfer.
Learning standard: 6.PS3.3; 6.PS3.4 · designing to reduce heat transfer, and how mass and material affect temperature change
Unit 5
Work, Energy & Efficiency
Using the scientific terms force, displacement, work, energy and efficiency, calculating work as force times displacement, finding efficiency, and how friction and design affect the energy lost from machines.
Learning standard: 6.PS3.5 · when an object's kinetic energy changes, energy is transferred to or from it, as in work
Unit 6
Engineering Design
Practices the engineering design process: defining a problem with criteria and constraints, comparing solutions, testing to find the best features, and improving a design step by step.
Learning standard: MS.ETS1.1; MS.ETS1.2; MS.ETS1.3; MS.ETS1.4 · defining design problems, evaluating and testing solutions, and improving designs
Unit 7
Weather Systems
Practices how air masses and fronts change the weather, and how the sun and gravity drive the water cycle, including the rain shadow of the Cascades and atmospheric rivers.
Learning standard: 6.ESS2.4; 6.ESS2.5 · the water cycle driven by sunlight and gravity, and how air masses cause weather changes
Unit 8
Climate & Oregon's Changing Climate
Practices how unequal heating, Earth's rotation, ocean currents and mountains shape climate, the evidence that human activity is warming Earth, and ways to monitor and reduce human impacts, with Oregon examples like shrinking glaciers on Mount Hood, Cascade snowpack and the cool ocean off the coast.
Learning standard: 6.ESS2.6; 6.ESS3.5; 6.ESS3.3 · how heating and Earth's rotation shape climate, causes of recent climate change, and monitoring and reducing human impacts
Unit 9
Growing & Reproducing
Practices how animal behaviors and plant structures help living things reproduce, how genes and the environment both affect growth, and why asexual reproduction makes offspring with the same genes as the parent, with examples like Oregon's hazelnut orchards and salmon returning to spawn.
Learning standard: 6.LS1.4; 6.LS1.5; 6.LS3.2 · behaviours and structures that help organisms reproduce, what affects growth, and asexual versus sexual reproduction
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