Curriculum

The 5th Grade Curriculum

Fifth grade is an exciting year for students. There are significant differences between 4th and 5th grade that influence the 5th grade curriculum and affect the overall school experience. While the 5th grade curriculum creates more responsibilities and challenges for the students, these changes are designed to develop the students and prepare them for the demands of middle school.

Language Arts

Fifth grade language arts incorporate three key elements of study: reading, writing and vocabulary/grammar/spelling.

In Reading, we are focusing on summary, actions, motives, and character traits.  In addition, we practice predicting, noticing, questioning, visualizing, connecting, and inferencing.  Our response to literature is becoming more detailed, including backing up statements with eveidence from the text.  Students are expected to draw conclusions about text and how it may impact them

The writing process is developed through Writers Workshop. This process includes prewriting, drafting, revising, proofreading and finally publishing.

Use of good literature is a basis for practice and expansion of student writing experiences.  We also incorporate grammar, vocabulary and spelling as parts of the process. The specific writing skills developed in fifth grade include sentence development, word usage, paragraph development and language mechanics.

Math  

 

This year in math we will be studying a variety of topics including:

  • multiplication and division
  • decimals and fractions
  • rounding
  • word problems
  • measurement
  • geometry
  • probability
  • graphing
  • interpreting graphs
  • algebraic expressions
  • and more...

The fifth grade curriculum emphasizes problem solving. Students will learn how to explain in writing the means by which they solve problems. Students will also learn that there is often more than one way to solve a problem. The main focus on all areas is application.  Students need to understand how to apply their knowledge to real life situations.

  Science

We will be learning about electricity and magnetism, sound and hearing, and light and seeing.  Hands on experimentation expands understanding and leads students to learn through their own discovery.