Amy Bailey, Kimberly Smith, Harley Fore, and Tracey Papiernik

Fifth-grade students will apply a variety of reading comprehension strategies before-, during-, and after-reading to enhance understanding of text. They will continue to develop an appreciation for literature by reading a variety of fiction and nonfiction selections across content areas. Students will increase communication skills by participating in a variety of learning experiences and will use online, print, and media resources to prepare presentations. Students will plan, draft, revise, and edit to describe, entertain, and explain. All aspects of literacy will be taught through a balanced literacy framework for instruction, enabling all students to become independent and strategic readers, writers, thinkers, and communicators.

In fifth grade math, problem-solving strategies, logical reasoning skills, and algebraic thinking skills continue to be developed and refined. Work continues with numbers and operations with whole numbers, decimals, and fractions. Students will explore topics such as, measurement, geometry, data analysis, and probability.

In fifth grade accelerated math, the basic skills that students have acquired are extended. The ideas pertaining to operations on numbers, elementary number theory, geometry, measurement, statistics, proportions, patterns and functions are refined and expanded. These topics, along with an introduction to algebraic symbolism prepare students for pre-algebra.

The fifth grade standards focus on student growth in the nature of science. Students will develop these standards through observations, experiments, models, and scientific investigation. Key concepts of matter, including those about atoms, molecules, elements, and compounds, are studied, and the properties of matter are defined in greater detail. The cellular makeup of organisms and the distinguishing characteristics of groups of organisms are stressed. Students learn about the characteristics of the oceans and Earth’s changing surface. Students are introduced to more detailed concepts of sound and light and the tools used for studying them.

The World Studies curriculum in fifth grade serves as a bridge between the study of the ancients in second and third grades and the world history courses in high school. The course introduces students to regions of the world that are increasingly important to our country. Students will study Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The World Studies curriculum is designed to be a hands-on experience focusing on critical thinking while building geographic, communication, and research skills. Students will study five regions of the world and apply concepts of geography, civics, and economics to their everyday life.