6th-grade students at Liberty Common School continue an aggressively paced, content-rich curriculum as they prepare to transition to junior-high. Preparing for junior high means 4-minute locker visits in between subject rotations, and escalating rigor across all subjects. Grammar and literature are accentuated to prepare students for success in future English classes, and ten minutes are added to the standard 45-minute Singapore Math instructional-time.
As 6th-grade students continue acquiring knowledge within well-defined areas of the Core Knowledge Sequence, they are also encouraged to elevate their analyses of the ideas within the sequence. This advances the transition from knowledge acquisition exclusively to understanding the patterns and connections among the various pieces of the knowledge (Thinking Framework). Since 6th-grade students have been fully immersed in Core Knowledge Curriculum for several years, the begin this academic year with the necessary background knowledge to think in terms of the patterns of history and science, as well as the patterns across the curriculum.
As a function of commercial real estate and the financial market, Liberty Common School’s K-6 students are educated in a building about one mile from the 7th-12th-grade building. As such, 6th-grade at LCS has the feel of a capstone year. The classroom instructors ensure their charges have received everything intended for them by the building’s administration, and as directed by the parent-run board of directors. There is a ceremonious 6th-Grade Day, where the soon-to-be rising 7th graders spend a day at the 7th-12th-grade campus previewing a “day in the life of a 7th-grade student.” To accommodate space for this event, current 7th-grade students vacate their campus and spend the day touring Denver art museums guided by the school’s professional Art instructors.