California+Standards

**California Content Standards for 6th Grade Science**
Standards that this web space will address and links to the pages that describe them.

1. Plate tectonics accounts for important features of Earth’s surface and major geologic events. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents; the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and midocean ridges; and the distribution of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones. d. Students know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface. e. Students know major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from plate motions. f. Students know how to explain major features of California geology (including mountains, faults, volcanoes) in terms of plate tectonics. g. Students know how to determine the epicenter of an earthquake and know that the effects of an earthquake on any region vary, depending on the size of the earthquake, the distance of the region from the epicenter, the local geology, and the type of construction in the region. 2. Topography is reshaped by the weathering of rock and soil and by the transportation and deposition of sediment. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know water running downhill is the dominant process in shaping the landscape, including California’s landscape. b. Students know rivers and streams are dynamic systems that erode, transport sediment, change course, and flood their banks in natural and recurring patterns. 3. Heat moves in a predictable flow from warmer objects to cooler objects until all the objects are at the same temperature. As a basis for understanding this concept: c. Students know heat flows in solids by conduction (which involves no flow of matter) and in fluids by conduction and by convection (which involves flow of matter). d. Students know heat energy is also transferred between objects by radiation (radiation can travel through space). 4. Many phenomena on Earth’s surface are affected by the transfer of energy through radiation and convection currents. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know the sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on Earth’s surface; it powers winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle. b. Students know solar energy reaches Earth through radiation, mostly in the form of visible light. c. Students know heat from Earth’s interior reaches the surface primarily through convection. d. Students know convection currents distribute heat in the atmosphere and oceans.
 * Plate Tectonics and Earth’s Structure**
 * Shaping Earth’s Surface**
 * Heat (Thermal Energy) (Physical Sciences)**
 * Energy in the Earth System**

5. Organisms in ecosystems exchange energy and nutrients among themselves and with the environment. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis and then from organism to organism through food webs. b. Students know matter is transferred over time from one organism to others in the food web and between organisms and the physical environment. c. Students know populations of organisms can be categorized by the functions they serve in an ecosystem. d. Students know different kinds of organisms may play similar ecological roles in similar biomes. e. Students know the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and on abiotic factors, such as quantities of light and water, a range of temperatures, and soil composition.
 * Ecology (Life Sciences)**

6. Sources of energy and materials differ in amounts, distribution, usefulness, and the time required for their formation. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know the utility of energy sources is determined by factors that are involved in converting these sources to useful forms and the consequences of the conversion process. b. Students know different natural energy and material resources, including air, soil, rocks, minerals, petroleum, fresh water, wildlife, and forests, and know how to classify them as renewable or nonrenewable. c. Students know the natural origin of the materials used to make common objects.
 * Resources**

**California Content Standards for 6th Grade Social Studies**
Standards that this web space will address and links to the pages that describe them. 1. Locate and describe the major river systems and discuss the physical settings that supported permanent settlement and early civilizations. 2. Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power. 3. Understand the relationship between religion and the social and political order in Mesopotamia and Egypt. 4. Know the significance of Hammurabi’s Code. 5. Discuss the main features of Egyptian art and architecture. 6. Describe the role of Egyptian trade in the eastern Mediterranean and Nile valley. 7. Understand the significance of Queen Hatshepsut and Ramses the Great. 8. Identify the location of the Kush civilization and describe its political, commercial, and cultural relations with Egypt. 9. Trace the evolution of language and its written forms.
 * 6.2 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Kush**.