Grade 6 Math Curriculum in North America: What Children Learn

Grade 6 is the pivot point. Arithmetic is largely behind them and the math starts to look more abstract — ratios and percents, negative numbers, variables in simple equations. For many children this is the year math stops being about counting and starts being about relationships.

Ratios, rates, and percents

• Understanding ratio as a comparison of quantities.
• Finding unit rates and using them to solve problems.
• Understanding percent as a rate per 100.
• Converting between fractions, decimals, and percents.

Number system

• Dividing fractions by fractions.
• Fluent operations with decimals.
• Finding greatest common factor and least common multiple.
• Introduction to negative numbers and the full number line.
• Absolute value.

Expressions and equations

• Writing and evaluating algebraic expressions with variables.
• Using properties to generate equivalent expressions.
• Solving one-variable equations and inequalities.

Geometry and statistics

• Area of triangles, quadrilaterals, and other polygons.
• Volume of rectangular prisms with fractional edge lengths.
• Understanding statistical questions and variability.
• Measures of center and spread: mean, median, range.

What parents should know

The children who struggle most in Grade 6 are the ones whose fraction and decimal fluency from Grade 5 was shaky. Almost everything in Grade 6 either builds on that fluency or depends on it. If your child is drowning, do not start with Grade 6 material — go back and solidify Grade 5 fractions and decimals first. It will save weeks of frustration.