What to Expect in 6th Grade

In 6th Grade, your child will be expected to use his mathematical abilities to understand and solve math problems that are closer to real-life situations. At this point in their educational career, math skills will form the foundation for most of the advanced mathematical concepts taught in middle and high school classes, so it is especially important that your child does not fall behind the rest of the class this year.

All the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division practice from the previous years will now pay off as these operations become a means to solve more complex math problems on percentages, algebra and statistics. If your 6ht grader is struggling with any of these mathematical operations, this is the best time to work on improving speed and accuracy. Any further type of delay in their learning can run the risk of slowing them down in solving 6th grade math problems, or make the concepts themselves seem more difficult than they actually are. At this point in their educational career, your kids will need to build off their mathematical skills in fields like multiplication to help further their education.

6th Grade Math Curriculum

The topics covered in sixth grade math will vary from between states and schools, but most will include the following skills as a means of paving the way for move advanced math concepts:

1. Understanding the meaning and usage of ratios and proportions, and being able to explain them in terms of everyday situations
2. Being able to use the four operations with multi-digit decimals
3. Understanding the meaning and usage of positive and negative numbers, and how they can describe real life situations
4. Evaluating and writing expressions that include numbers and letters
5. Writing expressions to solve word problems by using variables in the place of unknown values
6. Using geometric formula to solve real-world problems
7. Finding the surface area of three dimensional figures by adding the areas of the shapes that make them up
8. Understanding the different ways of organizing and describing statistical data

At this level of learning it is easy to equate math to everyday applications, and parents should use their kids’ mathematical skills in interesting and interactive ways. For example, children can be asked to calculate the price of items after discount while shopping, or use algebra to figure out how long your road trip will take if you’re traveling at a certain speed. Being able to break down complex word problems into easily solved mathematical equations is key at this point in your child’s educational career.

In sixth grade, students are expected to think independently and use their math abilities to solve new types of challenging problems. The focus is on logical thinking and reasoning rather than following a single method to arrive at a standard answer. Teachers will encourage students to think and reason for themselves, and will be more interested in knowing that the students have understood the process than whether they have got the right answer.

By bringing math lessons home and encouraging your sixth grader to use math skills beyond the classroom, you can make sixth grade mathematics a lot easier for your child. Give your child plenty of opportunities to practice the new skills being learnt, and use additional practice resources such as 6th grade math worksheets if necessary to help your child breeze through math classes!