6th grade Science
17 units matched to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Focus areas
- Matter, the periodic table, density and chemical change
- Forces, Newton's third law, energy and waves
- Seasons, tides, Earth's spheres and layers, and the rock cycle
- Ecosystems, relationships, cells and kinds of organisms
Units
Unit 1
Particles & Mixtures
The particle theory of matter, the states of matter, pure substances versus mixtures, and homogeneous versus heterogeneous mixtures.
TEKS student expectation: 6.6(A); 6.6(B) · the structure and particle motion of solids, liquids and gases, and mixtures
Unit 2
The Periodic Table
Groups and periods, metals, non-metals and metalloids, alkali metals, halogens and noble gases, and how valence electrons and shells explain the patterns.
TEKS student expectation: 6.6(C) · metals, nonmetals and metalloids on the periodic table
Unit 3
Density & Buoyancy
Calculating density from mass and volume, explaining why solids, liquids and gases differ in density using the particle theory, and predicting whether objects float or sink in different fluids.
TEKS student expectation: 6.6(D) · comparing the density of substances in different fluids
Unit 4
Chemical Reactions
Practices signs of chemical reactions, how properties change when new substances form, conservation of mass, and devices that release or absorb thermal energy through reactions.
TEKS student expectation: 6.6(E) · evidence of chemical change such as a gas, a precipitate or a color change
Unit 5
Gravity & Friction
Working out net force, telling balanced from unbalanced forces, mass versus weight on the Moon and other planets, and when friction helps or causes problems.
TEKS student expectation: 6.7(A); 6.7(B) · gravity, friction and applied forces, net force, and balanced and unbalanced forces
Unit 6
Newton's Laws
Inertia (1st law), force = mass × acceleration (2nd law) and action–reaction pairs (3rd law), with everyday examples and a few simple calculations.
TEKS student expectation: 6.7(C) · equal and opposite force pairs (Newton's third law)
Unit 7
Kinetic & Potential Energy
Practices how kinetic energy depends on mass and speed, how potential energy changes with position, and how energy transfers change an object's motion.
TEKS student expectation: 6.8(A) · gravitational, elastic and chemical potential energy compared with kinetic energy
Unit 8
Stored Energy
Practices the idea that objects can hold stored energy (chemical, elastic, height) and that it can be transferred to cause events such as motion, heat and light.
TEKS student expectation: 6.8(A); 6.8(B) · stored energy and how energy is transferred and transformed
Unit 9
Ecosystems
Biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem, how they interact, and the limiting factors and carrying capacity that decide how many organisms an ecosystem can support.
TEKS student expectation: 6.12(A); 6.12(C) · biotic and abiotic factors, competition, and organisms, populations and communities
Unit 10
Biodiversity
Why a variety of life makes species and communities more resilient, how species depend on each other, and why biodiversity matters to people.
TEKS student expectation: 6.12(B) · predation, competition and symbiosis, including mutualism
Unit 11
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.
TEKS student expectation: 6.13(A) · cell theory: all organisms are made of cells that come from other cells
Unit 12
Seasons & Tides
Practices how the tilt of Earth's axis as it revolves around the Sun causes the seasons, and how the positions of the Earth, Sun and Moon cause daily tides and monthly spring and neap tides.
TEKS student expectation: 6.9(A); 6.9(B) · seasons caused by Earth's tilt, and daily, spring and neap tides
Unit 13
Managing Resources
Practices why resource management matters for reducing energy poverty, malnutrition, and air and water pollution around the world, and how conservation, efficiency and technology help manage air, water, soil and energy resources.
TEKS student expectation: 6.11(A); 6.11(B) · why resource management matters, and how conservation, efficiency and technology help
Unit 14
Energy Transfers & Waves
Practices how energy is conserved as it is transferred and transformed in systems such as circuits, food webs, roller coasters and photosynthesis, and how transverse and longitudinal waves carry energy.
TEKS student expectation: 6.8(B); 6.8(C) · conservation of energy in systems, and energy carried by transverse and longitudinal waves
Unit 15
Earth's Spheres & Layers
Practices the four Earth systems (biosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and geosphere) and their parts, and the layers of Earth: crust, mantle, outer core and inner core.
TEKS student expectation: 6.10(A); 6.10(B) · Earth's four spheres, and the layers of Earth
Unit 16
Kinds of Organisms
Practices comparing prokaryotic and eukaryotic, unicellular and multicellular, and autotrophic and heterotrophic organisms, and how variation within a population can help or hurt survival when the environment changes.
TEKS student expectation: 6.13(B); 6.13(C) · basic characteristics of organisms, and how variation in a population affects survival
Unit 17
The Rock Cycle
Practices how igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks form and change into one another through melting, cooling, weathering, compaction, heat and pressure, with Texas examples such as the pink granite of Enchanted Rock and the limestone of the Hill Country.
TEKS student expectation: 6.10(C) · how igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks form and change in the rock cycle
Ready to try Gradelings?
Curriculum-matched practice for Kindergarten to Grade 9 in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Nunavut, and in Washington, Oregon, California, New York, Texas, Maine, Minnesota, Alaska, Alabama, Arizona and Arkansas, with kind hints, learning games and no ads. Subscribe now, or try everything free for 30 days with no card.