Fifth Grade Curriculum
Curriculum follows California Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards
Religion
The religion curriculum centers around the seven Sacraments. Students explore and learn about the Sacraments through presentations, projects, and reflecting on their own participation in the Sacraments of Baptism, the Eucharist, and Reconciliation.
English Language Arts
Students practice parts of speech, analyze Greek and Latin roots, study phonics to improve spelling, read different genres of work, compare and contrast, identify themes, characters, setting and plot. Our Fifth Graders have the opportunity to explore and debate a variety of novels, participate in reenactments and lively discussions, as well as create artwork based on each novel, allowing readers of all levels and talents to offer and receive support from their classmates. Freckle, an online adaptive reading program, is implemented in our reading block to help meet individual student needs.
Writing
The writing curriculum begins with essential sentence building practice which is used to cover the three disciplines of Narrative, Opinion, and Informative writing. Students engage in writing as a process, participating in planning, drafting, editing and revising, and publishing. Students develop their own original short story, expanding on their knowledge of setting, plot, characterization, and problem and solution. Students write five paragraph essays by year’s end.
Math
Fifth Grade Common Core Standards are brought to life! Students are introduced to and master comparing, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions and decimals. They play, create, discuss and decode on a daily basis in ways that encourage individuality, fun and perseverance. Freckle, an online adaptive math program, is implemented in our math block to help meet individual student needs.
Social Studies
Students in grade five study the development of the nation up to 1850, including current states and capitals. Emphasis on learning about the people who were already here, when and from where others arrived, and why they came. Students learn about the colonial government founded on Judeo Christian principles, the ideals of the Enlightenment, and the English traditions of self government. They recognize that ours is a nation that has a constitution that derives its power from the people, that has gone through a revolution, that once sanctioned slavery, that experienced conflict over land and displacement of many original inhabitants, and that experienced a westward movement that took its people across the continent. Studying the cause, course, and consequences of the early explorations through the War for Independence and western expansion is central to students’ fundamental understanding of how the principles of the American republic form the basis of a pluralistic society in which individual rights are secured.
Science
Students in Fifth Grade develop an understanding of key concepts through hands-on lab experiences to help them make sense of the world around them. The NGSS performance expectations in fifth grade science blend the core ideas with scientific and engineering practices as well as crosscutting concepts to support students in developing usable knowledge to explain real-world phenomena in scientific terms. In the fifth grade performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in asking questions and defining problems; developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations and designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Also, students engage in engineering practices through 3D printing.
Science Camp
n Fifth Grade, students have the opportunity to attend a week at Science Camp. Students explore the natural world to learn about the different ecosystems, and the flow of energy through the different organisms that occupy an ecosystem. Science Camp also teaches students about positive and negative effects of human interactions on the environment.