Global Citizens
Anyone who remembers history class as boring was never a ROBS sixth grader. The sixth-grade Social Studies curriculum covers the ancient civilizations along the river valleys of Mesopotamia, Egypt, West Africa, Central/Meso-America, China, Japan, and India. Your child will learn about the history, geography, religion, government, and societal structures of each of these historic regions.
In-depth projects about Ancient Egypt will enable your child to practice the soup-to-nuts research process of choosing a topic, exploratory reading, defining major points, identifying supportive and counter-supportive information, choosing the best product to display learning, presenting research in an innovative and audience-pleasing manner, and debriefing the process afterwards. While each civilization has interesting aspects of its own, there are larger lessons to be learned. Social Studies helps us understand the world around us, and connections between past events and current events can help us predict what is likely to happen in the future. We want students to be able to discern between interesting, significant, and essential knowledge—and to enjoy history as a story well-told.
A highlight of the sixth-grade year is the study of Japan, which culminates in our much-anticipated Japan Festival. Volunteers from the Japan-America Society of Houston teach our kimono-clad students traditional Japanese customs such as a formal tea ceremony, flower arranging, origami, and calligraphy. Over the last few years, our relationship with JASH has expanded to include the Youth Ambassador Exchange Program between Houston and Chiba City, our sister city in Japan. Every other year, students from Chiba visit Houston for two weeks, attending school at ROBS and living with ROBS host families. In the other years, a delegation of ROBS students and faculty travels to Chiba for two weeks, experiencing life and school with a Japanese host family. ROBS is honored to be the only school in Houston to host this unique program. Through opportunities like this—and our entire Social Studies curriculum—your child is learning to become a citizen of the world.