5^th Grade Curricular Units

Language Arts  

This year students will take their skills and develop them even further to become better

readers and writers.  Through books and short stories, they will learn about themselves and

others in the world—both present and past. Our class will share their narratives and personal essays.  They will practice persuasive writing and create original poetry. 

During the year there will be many books shared during class.  In addition, students will independently read nightly exploring various genres. Some of our writing and many of the books our class will read relate directly to other subject areas.  In this way, students will gain a deeper understanding of the topic they are exploring.

Science

This will be an exciting year of exploration of the world around us.  Our class will be using a fairly new program called Inspire Science to guide us through many units of study.  Several new modules, which we will investigate, will include concepts in Physical Science-Structures and Properties of Matter, Earth Science-Earth and the Solar System, and Life Science-The Interaction of Living Things.

Social Studies     

Throughout the coming school year, the class will examine the idea of power and how it is used.  Fifth grade begins its social studies with an exploration of America’s Westward Expansion during the 1800’s.  Students will be examining the period and events from both the pioneer and Native American point of view.

Students will also learn about Slavery during colonial times through primary sources, various texts, discussions and interactive projects.  Next, they will investigate specific aspects of the Civil War, how it shaped our nation, and led to the Civil Rights era.

Mathematics

Our fifth grade mathematics program will continue to use the Everyday Mathematics program to review and expand on concepts from prior grades.   As the year progresses, students will explore and be challenges by new mathematical strategies.  

Some of the strands that we will be covering are:  data and chance, geometry, measurement,

and reference frames, numeration, operations and computation, patterns, functions, and algebra.

Woven throughout the units will be several key mathematical themes:  algorithmic and procedural thinking, estimation skill, and number sense, mental arithmetic skills, and real world application problem solving.

Assessments

Throughout the year students are assessed in a number of ways.

These include:

Class participation

Projects

Presentations

Tests

Journal Responses

Journal Writing

Observations

For additional information, please refer to the 5th grade district rubric.