Grade 5

List of 12 items.

• Art

  All art classes utilize the elements of art of line, color, shape, texture, space, and form. A variety of media is explored throughout the year including oil pastels, painting, sculpting, and collaging.  Students study artists such as Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, and Marc Chagall. In grade 5 special emphasis is placed on awareness and understanding of their lives and the lives of their communities through art making.

• Math

  •Operations and Algebraic Thinking: Write and interpret numerical expressions. Analyze patterns and relationships.

  •Operations in Base Ten: Understand the place value system. Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths.

  •Operations and Fractions: Use equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and subtract fractions. Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division.

  •Measurement and Data:  Convert like measurement units within a given measurement system. Represent and interpret data. Understand concepts of volume.

  •Geometry: Graph points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world and mathematical problems. Classify two-dimensional figures into categories based on their properties.

• Music

  The fifth-grade music program emphasizes creating and interpreting vocal and instrumental pieces.  All fifth-grade students are part of either brass, woodwind, or string ensemble. Emphasis is placed on improving instrumental technique and playing as a larger band.  Fifth grade performs several times a year in our fall and spring musical concerts.  They produce and star in a whole-class musical production as a culminating experience of their Lower School years.   

• Phonics

  •Phonics and Word Recognition: Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and morphology (e.g., roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context and out of context.

• Physical Education

  Movement and exercise are an important part of the school day. All grade levels have Physical Education three days a week. Physical Education classes develop fitness and skills and focus on life-long health and wellness.  In grade 5, students focus on team sports to build cooperation and camaraderie.  Skills in throwing, catching, kicking, dribbling, volleying, and striking are emphasized throughout the units. 

• Reading

  •Key Ideas and Details: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text. Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text. Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.

  •Craft and Structure: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes. Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem. Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area. Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject are

  •Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries and adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics. Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point(s). Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

  •Fluency: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

• Research Lab

  The Lower School Library is a place of discovery.  All Lower School students visit the library regularly and can explore their interests by delving further into books and online sources for deeper learning.  During Research Lab class, students learn a variety of research, technology, and digital citizenship skills.  In fifth grade, some examples of specific units and topics include: research skills, paraphrasing, citing sources, typing skills, using assorted Microsoft Office products, website reliability, online search strategies, evaluating news sources for credibility and bias, navigating online friendships, digital security, recognizing clickbait, online communication etiquette, and preventing identity theft.  Of course, students also enjoy reading for pleasure and look forward to checking out books to enjoy at home. 

• Science

  Topics of study: Life Science, Earth and Space Science, Engineering + Application of Science, Geology
  

• Social and Emotional Learning

  All homeroom teachers start the day with a morning meeting, which builds community and sets students up for a successful day. These morning meetings include four components and are based on the Responsive Classroom best-practices: 1) greeting everyone by name, 2) sharing important information about our lives and listening actively to our peers while asking clarifying questions, 3) a brief activity around social-emotional learning, and 4) watching community announcements and reading a short message that reviews the schedule for the day.   
    
  In addition, to morning meeting, all homerooms include a “Social Emotional Learning” block in the schedule in which students actively learn and practice a core set of social and emotional competencies: “C.A.R.E.S.: cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy, and self-control.  
  
  

  Our Lower School counselor visits each class once per week for a focused SEL lesson as well.   

• Social Studies

  Topics of study: Geography, World Lakes, Mayas, Incas, and Aztecs, Renaissance and Reformation, Civil War

• Spanish

  Fifth grade students increase their competency in reading, writing, and speaking Spanish. Increased focus on vocabulary and grammar structures enhances students' understanding of and appreciation for the Spanish language, while culture studies increase their global awareness. Students produce simple dialogue and short writings in Spanish. 

• Writing

  •Text Types and Purposes:  Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic. Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event. sequences.

  •Language: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 5 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

  •Production and Distribution of Writing: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.