Language Arts

Reading focuses on comprehension in novels and informational text. Students further develop good study strategies, including note-taking, highlighting and summarizing. They develop the ability to restate information in a discussion and to contribute their own ideas to a discussion or debate. All areas of the curriculum emphasize the writing program. Fifth graders write in a variety of different forms, including poems, letters, fictional narratives, personal narratives, news stories, reviews, biographical and autobiographical sketches, persuasive essays, science research reports, and country research reports. Students practice speaking skills during formal and informal presentations. They develop the ability to restate information in a discussion and to contribute their own ideas to a discussion or a debate. Students learn to use word processing, and practice typing both formally and informally.

Mathematics

Fifth graders review operations using multi-digit whole numbers. They use and manipulate fractions and decimals properly. They find equivalent fractions and decimals. They use models to interpret, order and compare fractions and decimals. They solve problems that include fractions with like and unlike denominators and mixed numbers. Students focus during the study of decimals on place value to the ten-thousandths, writing decimals, and multi-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They are introduced to percents as they study fractions and decimals. In geometry, they expand their knowledge of formulas and geometry vocabulary and develop an awareness of the importance of geometry in mathematics and our world. Students explore lines, line segments, rays and angles. They relate geometric ideas to number and measurement ideas, e.g., coordinate systems and number lines, to specify location and distance. They compare and contrast geometric shapes and solids. They explore area and perimeter, surface area and volume, using models. They recognize geometric forms in the world.

Students analyze single and multi-step word problems. They apply estimation and mental computation strategies in working quantities, measurements, computation and problem solving. Students work on problems in both individual and group settings. They select, apply and explain problem-solving strategies, e.g., writing an equation or working backwards.

Students explain and demonstrate how to measure using standard units for length, area, capacity, time, temperature, and money. They estimate and check their measurement. They use indirect measurement concepts, e.g., map scales, know place value from billions to ten-thousandths, and model, explain and apply place value concepts, from hundredths to millions.

Students collect, organize, display, read and interpret data in a variety of ways, including tallies, tables, line graphs, picture graphs, bar graphs, line plots and circle graphs. Students learn to use calculators and computers as problem-solving tools. Calculator skills taught include computing sums, differences, products, and quotients for whole numbers, decimals and fractions. Students learn to interpret calculator display and error messages.

Social Studies

The fifth grade curriculum includes history, geography, political science, and economics. Students develop an understanding of why we study history and of the relationships between the past and the present while developing the skills that will enable them to become life-long learners in this area. Topics covered include structure and functioning of the U.S. Government, and history of the United States from the Civil War to Reconstruction. To see a video presentation by fifth graders on the Civil War, click here.

Students also select a country of the world to study. They obtain book, web and other resources relating to that country, take notes, and present the information. To see an example of a country report, click here. As part of classroom study of world geography the class learns about regions of the world, compares and contrasts continents, hemispheres, countries, states and cities; describes major physical characteristics of each region; interprets and applies standard symbols and scales when using maps; explains what natural resources are and describe how people use them; and understands the ways people adapt to their environment and how people impact the environment.

Research skills are a large component of fifth grade social studies units. Students learn how to choose a topic that is meaningful to them. They focus on study strategies such as note-taking, highlighting and summarizing. They learn how to paraphrase in their own words and to present information persuasively and in an organized way. In fifth grade students expand their use of resources for research reports. They must create a first draft of any report, and review their work, considering comments from their peers. They write a second draft based on their own review and based on comments from peers. They must proofread their own and their peers’ work for punctuation, style and spelling. They produce a final draft in the computer lab using word processing software.

Science

Science studies in the fifth grade focus on the scientific process and solving problems with reasoning, observation and experimentation. Note taking, highlighting, annotating texts, and proper use of laboratory equipment are skills that are emphasized. Science units include Mealworms, Electricity, Human Body Systems, and Human Growth and Development. Students observe the development of mealworms from larvae to adulthood and conduct experiments with mealworms using the scientific method. Fifth graders learn about electricity and create electronic circuits. Students learn about human body systems and write a research report on the human body. To see an example of such a report, look here. Students understand and use scientific processes. They develop solutions to unfamiliar problems through reasoning, observation and experiment. They research and review scientific writing.

See link to fifth grade curriculum map

See fifth graders' scores on standardized tests.