Fifth Grade
Language Arts
Fifth grade literature encourages students to explore novels, biographies, and poetry through critical thought, analysis, and the understanding of literary and poetic devices including exaggeration, conflict, resolution, suspense, climax, personification, foreshadowing, contradiction, symbolism, meter, rhyme, metaphor, setting, and irony. Reading strategies focus on effective underlining, inference making, predicting, summarizing, and the understanding of character motivation. The overarching goal is the establishment of concrete understanding and love of many differing categories of literature.
Fifth grade writing lab begins with explicit grammar instruction to establish a common vocabulary revolving around the eight parts of speech. Students practice comma rules, sentence construction, and the proper use of phrase and clause. Subsequently, a concentration on written organization and paragraph writing utilizing the six-trait method is expanded into multi-paragraph writing. Specific areas of written focus include poetry, narrative writing, journaling, letter writing, persuasive writing, analytical writing, comparing and contrasting, revising, editing, and peer review. Students are challenged to reach beyond the simple sentence and formulaic paragraph to express and apply the abstract thoughts they are beginning to understand and utilize.
Math
The fifth grade math curriculum includes numeration, operations, data analysis, geometry, measurement, patterns, functions and algebra. Fifth graders are expected to be able to use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division efficiently and accurately. Problem solving approaches and logic further develop critical thinking skills. Students begin the year with a thorough review and extension of place value, addition and subtraction of large numbers, and basic multiplication facts. Then study of the concept of division and how it relates to fractions, decimals and percents is introduced. Once students understand the definition and function of a fraction, they are exposed to the ideas of equivalent fractions, improper fractions vs. mixed numbers, fraction inequalities, the addition and subtraction of fractions, and ultimately, changing fractions into decimals and percents. Data collection, data analysis, and graphing are also studied. Students are encouraged to verbalize and record their mathematical processes and thinking.
Science
Fifth grade science supports scientific thinking through wonder, thought, exploration, investigation, observation, and developing critical response skills. Learning by doing is central to the program. The year begins with a study of Energy, followed by Earth’s Changing Surface and Human Body in Motion. As part of the Human Body unit, the students begin the Worth the Wait curriculum which focuses on puberty and male and female anatomy.
Social Studies
Fifth grade social studies explores the history and development of the United States of America. Study begins with the Native peoples of North America and the relationship of the development of native civilizations to the physical environment of the tribal home. Students next explore the reasons and motivations behind the Age of Exploration. Explorers from European powers are examined and the lasting effects of specific explorations are connected to “famous” explorers. Early colonial settlements are studied through a colonial American simulation activity which incorporates the religious, economic, cultural decisions necessary to develop a community. Students study the actions leading to the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War, major battle action during the war and the ultimate victory of the new country. Finally, students study the development of the United States Constitution. Throughout the year, students learn research skills, discernment strategies, economic decision making, and examine positive character traits.
