Saskatchewan · Grade 6
Science, Grade 6
Saskatchewan’s Grade 6 science course, from Diversity of Living Things to Our Solar System.
- Units
- 4
- Lessons
- 14
- Skills
- 30
- Provincial exam
- None
- Official curriculum
- Saskatchewan Ministry of Education
Unit by unit
Every skill in the course, with its official code.
Unit 1 · 11 skills
Diversity of Living Things
The Diversity of Living Things
What makes something a living thing
I can list the characteristics all living things share and describe the diversity of life in different habitats.
Official code: DL6.1
Careers that study living things
I can name several careers that depend on understanding the diversity of living things and describe what each one does.
Official code: DL6.1
Classifying Living Things
How humans build classification systems
I can build a classification system to sort living things into groups and explain why humans refine their systems.
Official code: DL6.2
Five kingdoms and Indigenous ways of knowing
I can name the five kingdoms and describe how First Nations and Métis peoples organize understanding of living things.
Official code: DL6.2
Vertebrates and Invertebrates
Sorting animals by backbone
I can tell vertebrates from invertebrates and classify animals into the two groups.
Official code: DL6.3
Comparing animal bodies and behaviours
I can compare the body features and behaviours of different animals across groups.
Official code: DL6.3
Structures, Behaviours, and Adaptation
Surviving in the short term
I can describe structures and behaviours that help an organism survive from day to day and season to season.
Official code: DL6.4
Adapting over the long term
I can describe adaptations that help a species survive over long periods and explain how fossils give evidence of change.
Official code: DL6.4
Micro-organisms
Observing tiny living things
I can use a magnifier or microscope to observe and represent micro-organisms from a water sample.
Official code: DL6.5
How micro-organisms live and break down matter
I can explain how micro-organisms meet their needs and investigate what makes them break down matter faster.
Official code: DL6.5
Micro-organisms in society
I can weigh the helpful and harmful effects of micro-organisms and describe how scientists advanced the germ theory.
Official code: DL6.5
The official wording · 11 outcomes
- DL6.1
- Recognize, describe, and appreciate the diversity of living things in local and other ecosystems
- DL6.1
- explore related careers.
- DL6.2
- Examine how humans organize understanding of the diversity of living things.
- DL6.2
- Examine how humans organize understanding of the diversity of living things.
- DL6.3
- Analyze the characteristics and behaviours of vertebrates (i.e., mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish) and invertebrates.
- DL6.3
- characteristics and behaviours of vertebrates (i.e., mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish) and invertebrates.
- DL6.4
- Examine and describe structures and behaviours that help: • individual living organisms survive in their environments in the short term
- DL6.4
- • species of living organisms adapt to their environments in the long term.
- DL6.5
- contributions of science and technology to human understanding of micro-organisms.
- DL6.5
- contributions of science and technology to human understanding of micro-organisms.
- DL6.5
- Assess effects of micro-organisms on past and present society, and contributions of science and technology to human understanding of micro-organisms.
Key ideas
All living things are made of one or more cells, need energy, respond to their environment, and can reproduce.
A classification system sorts living things into groups and subgroups using chosen criteria.
Vertebrates (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish) have an internal backbone; invertebrates do not.
Structures (a beak shape, thick fur) and behaviours (hibernation, migration) help an individual survive within its own lifetime.
Magnifying glasses and microscopes let us see organisms too small for the naked eye.
Watch out for
- Thinking that only animals are alive and plants or fungi are not.
- Thinking there is only one correct way to classify living things.
- Assuming all large animals are vertebrates and all small ones are invertebrates.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 2 · 7 skills
Understanding Electricity
Electricity in Saskatchewan
How Saskatchewan makes electricity
I can describe how Saskatchewan generates and transmits electrical energy and sort sources as renewable or non-renewable.
Official code: EL6.1
Reducing the impacts of electricity use
I can identify what affects electricity use and propose actions to reduce its impacts.
Official code: EL6.1
Static, Conductors, and Electromagnets
Static electric charge
I can investigate how static charges attract and repel and give real applications of static electricity.
Official code: EL6.2
Conductors and insulators
I can test materials to find out which are conductors and which are insulators.
Official code: EL6.2
Electromagnets
I can describe how an electromagnet works and plan a fair test to make it stronger.
Official code: EL6.2
Series and Parallel Circuits
What a circuit needs
I can state what a circuit needs to work and tell a closed circuit from an open or short circuit.
Official code: EL6.3
Series versus parallel
I can build series and parallel circuits, draw them with symbols, and explain how they differ.
Official code: EL6.3
The official wording · 7 outcomes
- EL6.1
- Assess personal, societal, economic, and environmental impacts of electricity use in Saskatchewan
- EL6.1
- propose actions to reduce those impacts.
- EL6.2
- Investigate the characteristics and applications of static electric charges, conductors, insulators, switches, and electromagnetism.
- EL6.2
- the characteristics and applications of static electric charges, conductors, insulators, switches
- EL6.2
- static electric charges, conductors, insulators, switches, and electromagnetism.
- EL6.3
- Explain and model the properties of simple series and parallel circuits.
- EL6.3
- the properties of simple series and parallel circuits.
Key ideas
Electricity is generated from hydroelectric, coal, natural gas, nuclear, geothermal, biomass, solar, and wind sources.
Electrostatically charged materials can attract or repel each other.
A circuit needs an energy source, a closed conducting path, and a load.
Sources are renewable (wind, solar, hydro) or non-renewable (coal, natural gas), and energy is transmitted across the province from generating facilities.
Static charge and discharge appear in nature and technology (lightning, photocopiers, air filters, paint sprayers).
Watch out for
- Thinking all electricity comes from one source.
- Thinking static electricity and current electricity are the same thing.
- Thinking a bulb lights with only one wire and no return path.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 3 · 6 skills
Principles of Flight
The Fascination with Flight
Flight in nature and invention
I can describe features that let animals fly and how they inspired human flying devices.
Official code: FL6.1
Careers in flight
I can name careers related to flight and describe how flight technologies changed the way people live.
Official code: FL6.1
The Four Forces of Flight
Lift against gravity
I can explain how lift overcomes gravity and how wing shape affects lift.
Official code: FL6.2
Drag
I can describe what drag is and how flying things change it.
Official code: FL6.2
Thrust
I can compare how different flying devices produce thrust.
Official code: FL6.2
Designing a Flying Prototype
Building and testing a flying object
I can design, build, test, and improve a flying object that meets set performance criteria.
Official code: FL6.3
The official wording · 6 outcomes
- FL6.1
- Examine connections between human fascination with flight and technologies and careers based on the scientific principles of flight.
- FL6.1
- careers based on the scientific principles of flight.
- FL6.2
- Investigate how the forces of thrust, drag, lift, and gravity act on living things and constructed devices that fly through the air.
- FL6.2
- the forces of thrust, drag, lift, and gravity act on living things and constructed devices that fly through the air.
- FL6.2
- the forces of thrust, drag, lift, and gravity act on living things and constructed devices that fly through the air.
- FL6.3
- Design a working prototype of a flying object that meets specified performance criteria.
Key ideas
Birds, insects, and bats have physical features and adaptations that enable flight.
Lift is the upward force that overcomes gravity and lets a device or living thing fly.
A prototype is a working model built and tested against agreed criteria.
Observing flying animals inspired flying devices from kites and gliders to airplanes and rockets, and First Nations, Métis, and other cultures built flight-based technologies (atlatl, bow and arrow, boomerang).
The shape of a wing surface affects how much lift is produced.
Watch out for
- Thinking only birds can fly among animals.
- Thinking heavier objects can never generate enough lift to fly.
- Thinking a prototype must work perfectly the first time.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 4 · 6 skills
Our Solar System
The Components of the Solar System
Researching the solar system
I can research and describe the physical characteristics of the sun, planets, moons, asteroids, and comets.
Official code: SS6.1
Modelling the solar system to scale
I can build a scale model of the solar system and judge how accurate it is.
Official code: SS6.1
Phases, Eclipses, and Seasons
Modelling sky events
I can model why the moon has phases, why eclipses happen, and why we have seasons.
Official code: SS6.2
Cultures and the sky
I can describe how different cultures recorded and used knowledge of the sky, including alternate season models.
Official code: SS6.2
Space Exploration
Living and working in space
I can explain how astronauts meet their needs in space and the roles that support spaceflight.
Official code: SS6.3
Weighing space exploration
I can evaluate the contributions of space exploration and identify barriers to living in space.
Official code: SS6.3
The official wording · 6 outcomes
- SS6.1
- Research and represent the physical characteristics of the major components of the solar system, including the sun, planets, moons, asteroids, and comets.
- SS6.1
- represent the physical characteristics of the major components of the solar system
- SS6.2
- Assess the efficacy of various methods of representing and interpreting astronomical phenomena, including phases, eclipses, and seasons.
- SS6.2
- interpreting astronomical phenomena, including phases, eclipses, and seasons.
- SS6.3
- which support living and working in the inner solar system.
- SS6.3
- Evaluate past, current, and possible future contributions of space exploration programs, including space probes and human spaceflight
Key ideas
The solar system's major components — the sun, planets, moons, asteroids, and comets — each have distinct physical characteristics.
Earth's rotation causes day and night; its 23.5° tilt and revolution around the sun cause the yearly cycle of seasons.
In space, basic needs — food, water, shelter, and waste elimination — must be met with special systems.
Star charts and astronomy guides help us observe and record objects in the night sky.
The relative positions of the sun, Earth, and moon produce moon phases and lunar and solar eclipses.
Watch out for
- Thinking all planets are about the same size.
- Thinking seasons are caused by Earth being closer to the sun in summer.
- Thinking astronauts do everything themselves with no ground support.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Plan the term
Pick your term and the days you study. Each unit gets its share of the weeks and comes back a week later for a review. The last two weeks go over the whole course.
The official curriculum
This page follows Saskatchewan’s own curriculum for Science, Grade 6.
Textbooks
The textbooks Saskatchewan Ministry of Education lists for Science, Grade 6:
- Pearson Saskatchewan Science 6
From core resources, read October 27, 2026. curriculum.gov.sk.ca
Study it in MapleMind
MapleMind teaches Science, Grade 6 one skill at a time. Each skill gets a short lesson, practice as you go and a check worth up to three stars. It remembers where you stopped.
Course Companion
Your year in one workbook
A fun way to keep Science, Grade 6 organized, get to know your child better and see early when they need a hand. Fill it in on a screen, or print it.
- Pages
- 31
- Fillable fields
- 1,421
- Price
- $4.99
Questions about Science, Grade 6
What is Science, Grade 6?
Saskatchewan’s Grade 6 science course: 4 units and 30 skills, from Diversity of Living Things to Our Solar System.
What units are in Science, Grade 6?
1. Diversity of Living Things, 2. Understanding Electricity, 3. Principles of Flight and 4. Our Solar System.
Is there a provincial exam for Science, Grade 6?
No. Saskatchewan gives no provincial exam for Science, Grade 6.
What textbook does Science, Grade 6 use?
The textbooks Saskatchewan Ministry of Education lists for Science, Grade 6: Pearson Saskatchewan Science 6.
What comes after Science, Grade 6?
Science, Grade 7.
Can MapleMind help with Science, Grade 6?
Yes. MapleMind teaches every skill of Science, Grade 6, step by step, with practice and checks, and its tutor answers questions about any of them. It’s free with daily limits, on iPhone, Android and the web.
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