5th Curriculum

Listed below are the skill sets and knowledge expected of all fifth grade students by the end of the year. Please be aware of these expectations and work in cooperation with your child's teacher to assist your child in acquiring these skills. If you have any questions about the expectations, please contact your building principal. The expectations are separated into the four core curriculum areas.

Language Arts

Reading:

• Use root words, synonyms, antonyms, affixes
• Interpret analogies, and figurative language
• Identify the structure of fiction/non-fiction
• Recognize: main idea, cause/effect, sequence, plot, conflict, supporting details, and setting
• Identify literary elements: characterization, narration, dialogue, and figurative language
• Make inferences and draw conclusions
• Students will participate in Novel Studies

Writing:

• Use simple and compound sentences
• Use the eight parts of speech appropriately
• Create compositions using 6 traits of writing (ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency , and conventions)
• Write and understand expository, narrative, and persuasive paragraphs

Listening and Speaking:

• Prepare and present researched ideas and content using outlines and visual aids
• Demonstrate effective listening skills

Approved Textbook: Harcourt, Collections 2001

Mathematics

• Compare and order whole numbers, fractions, decimals, percents, and ratios
• Solve word problems using all operations with whole numbers, decimals, and fractions
• Find quotient and remainder
• Use mental math to find sums, differences, products, and quotients
• Convert US customary and metric measurements into larger and smaller units
• Measure angles and lengths of lines
• Calculate perimeter/area/volume of a given shape
• Evaluate algebraic expressions for given values
• Create equations that represent word problems
• Identify attributes of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional geometric figures
• Graph points and identify coordinates of points
• Read, interpret, predict, and use information from graphs and tables
• Use the calculator to solve problems when appropriate

Approved Textbook: Harcourt, Math 2006

Science

Scientific Inquiry (Problem, Hypothesis, Materials, Procedures, Results, Conclusion)

• Understand relationships among science, technology, and society

Life:

• Introduce cell division, cell structure, genes, inheritance, and the reproductive processes
• Categorize features as either inherited or learned
• Compare physical characteristics of offspring
• Categorize features of animals and how they change over time

Physical:

• Describe and compare types of energy: light, heat, sound, electrical, mechanical
• Explain properties of solids, liquids, gases
• Explain constant, variable, and periodic motions
• Explain ways that forces cause actions and reactions
• Understand Newton's Three Laws of Motion: gravity, inertia, friction

Health:

• Identify stages of Human Growth and Development
• Understand the effects of alcohol and tobacco
• Introduce safety methods to reduce risks in dangerous situations (refusal skills)
• Identify strategies to prevent communicable and non-communicable diseases

Approved Textbook: Harcourt, Science 2002

Social Sciences

• Explain the roles of government and national leaders
• Explain the importance of rights and responsibilities to individuals and to the nation
• Explain the role of the US in international settings
• Identify how US political traditions are practiced
• Identify and explain factors that affect consumers' choices and compromises
• Identify which goods/services are provided by the federal government
• Describe significant US political and economic events from Reconstruction through the Civil Rights Movement
• Use maps and other geographic tools to gather information about people, places, and environments
• Understand different cultures of the world

Approved Textbook: Harcourt, Social Studies 2000

Physical Education

• Demonstrates manipulative skills (throwing, dribbling, etc)
• Identify and apply rules and safety procedures in physical activities
• Understand and perform health-enhancing levels of fitness
• Develop team building skills

Art

• Understand negative vs. positive space
• Understand intermediate colors
• Understand complementary colors
• Understand analogous colors
• Understand and create a complete color wheel
• General knowledge of art history

Music

• Demonstrate proficiency in performing a musical piece
• Demonstrate proficient music transcription skills
• Demonstrate proficiency in performing rhythms
• Identify/demonstrate knowledge of musical steps, leaps, and repeats

Approved Textbook: MacMillan Spotlight on Music, 2005