Upon its launch in 1991, E. D. Hirsch's Core Knowledge Series instantly became popular among hundreds of thousands of parents who were concerned about the state of their children's education. Hirsch realized that the solutions to America's much-debated declining educational standards might very well lie in the primary grades, where many current curricula emphasize skills at the expense of knowledge. Since knowledge builds upon knowledge, these early years provide the foundation for further learning.The Core Knowledge Series helps children gain the fundamentals they will need to make progress in school and be effective in society - specific knowledge in the subject areas of language arts, fine arts, history, geography, mathematics, science, and technology. Editor E. D. Hirsch, Jr., author of Cultural Literacy, has worked with many teachers, parents, historians, scientists, and experts on America's multicultural tradition to compile this model of a coherent core of content for elementary school children. By devoting a modest amount of time each day, you and your child can work through every page of what Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know as a supplement to classroom education.Building upon themes and topics from earlier volumes in the Core Knowledge Series, some of the things you will find in this volume include: Stories and Speeches: Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; Romeo and Juliet; Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl; Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Geography: weather patterns and why deserts form. World Civilizations: revolutions in South and Central America and Colonial Mexico; the Industrial Revolution and its effects on Europe; Africa and the struggle against European rule; Japan and the Meiji Restoration; toward World War I. American Civilization: the end of American neutrality; the Harlem Renaissance; the Great Depression and the New Deal; World War II and the atomic bomb; communism and the Cold War; Civil Rights, from Brown v. Board of Education to Malcolm X; the Vietnam War. Fine Arts: American music of the twentieth century; realism, impressionism, cubism, and expressionism. Life Sciences: heredity and genetics; asexual and sexual reproduction; the immune system and diseases. Physical Sciences: light and optics - reflectors, lenses, telescopes, and microscopes; properties of sound; atoms, elements, molecules, and chemical reactions. Stories about Scientists: the Wright Brothers; Percy Lavon Julian; Barbara McClintock; and Albert Einstein.For parents and teachers alike, what Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know is an essential volume. You can make a difference! Read Less