I am so excited that you have chosen to visit my Welcome to Fifth Grade! This website is designed so that I can share our curriculum and expectations with you.
Our Fifth Grade Classroom Rules
1. "Owl" be a good listener and show respect.
2. "Owl" be kind with my words and actions.
3. "Owl" be a hard worker and always give my best.
4. "Owl" believe in myself and encourage others.
5. "Owl" strive to be a role model by following classroom rules and school expectations.
Be an OWL...
Organized While Learning
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The F.I.S.H. (Family Involvement Starts Here) binder is a way to organize all the things we need on a day to day basis. Each child was asked to bring in a 3-ring binder. This binder will house all of our materials needed for a successful year in fifth grade. Each binder will contain a student journal, home/school communication folder, and sheet protectors.
It is important that the F.I.S.H. binder be treated with respect. These binders are not to be doodled on and every effort should be taken to keep them clean and in tip-top shape. This is an important communication piece and students will be using these binders all year. Let's take pride in our F.I.S.H. binder.
The F.I.S.H. binder is to travel to and from school daily. It is the child's responsibility to share the F.I.S.H. binder with his/her parents each night.
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Fifth Grade Curriculum
Language Arts
In fifth grade, students continue to develop strategies to effectively use language. Through the presentation of reports and journal writing, they learn to write and speak for a specific purpose. Students learn to become strategic readers by identifying the elements of a story. They read expository material for specific information. Study skills include note taking, the use of reference materials, interpreting graphs and diagrams, and test-taking skills. Vocabulary development continues to include the refinement of phonetic and decoding skills. Word analysis strategies include: homonyms, antonyms, synonyms, analogies, multiple meaning and compound words. Students expand their vocabulary by learning strategies for identifying unfamiliar words.
Reading comprehension skills include: understanding fiction and nonfiction reading selections, identifying main ideas, sequencing events, recalling details, making predictions, drawing inferences, and understanding cause-and-effect relationships. Fifth graders continue to learn and practice the steps of the writing process. Peer conferencing is introduced as another revision technique. Proper grammar, spelling, and the mechanics of writing are taught to enable students to proofread and communicate more effectively.
A Day in Our Reading Workshop
Mini-Lesson
Each Reading Workshop session will begin with a mini lesson that lasts approximately 10-15 minutes. During each mini lesson, the teacher will introduce a specific concept, also known as the teaching point. Most often the teaching point will focus on a reading strategy or skill. The teacher will explicitly model or demonstrate the skill for the students.
Students then get a chance to practice the skill or strategy on their own or with a partner. This part of the mini-lesson is called the active engagement.
Individualized Daily Reading
During this time students are engaged in self-selected texts at their independent level. They use this time to practice the skill that was taught during the mini-lesson. Students are reading in book nooks around the room while the teacher holds individual reading conferences or meets with small groups of students for guided reading, strategy lessons, or book clubs.
Closing
I taught you this … now go to your book and apply. Come back to share how you’ve applied it.
During this time the class might:
-Meet as a whole group to refer back to the mini-lesson and think further.
-Meet together to think about and respond to questions such as: What did you learn about reading today? What did you learn about yourself as a reader?
-Meet with reading partners to have a quick chat about how the reading is going.
Reading Comprehension
In fifth grade we make a switch from learning to read to reading to learn. When reading, it's almost as if you have 2 voices in your head. One voice reads the words that are on the page and the other voice has thoughts related to the meaning of those words. Studying and practicing comprehension strategies models the invisible internal dialogue that goes on in a reader's head. Practicing these strategies guide students to purposefully develop these thoughts.
Comprehension Strategies
- Predicting - using the information from the text to guess what will happen next in the story. A prediction is a statement that we are making. As we read further in the text, we need to confirm or change our predictions. Predicting helps us understand the text because we need to ....
- Making Connections - when you make connections, you are realizing when something in the text reminds you of something else. There are three kinds of connections you can make:
- Text-to-Self: when what you read reminds you of something in your own life
- Text-to-Text: when what you read reminds you of something you have read in another text
- Text-to-World: when what you read reminds you of something that is happening in the world
- Visualizing/Picturing - creating a picture or a movie in your mind. Visualizing when you are reading helps you to see what the characters are doing. This assists you to make meaning of the text, understand the sequence, identify conflicts in a story, and make connections.
- Wondering/Asking Questions - asking questions about what you read. Asking questions while reading can include questioning the word meaning, or something about the character, setting, or plot. Questioning shows that you have either missed something in the text and need to figure out what you are missing, or leads you to extend your thinking beyond the book. Questioning shows that you are thinking about your thinking!
- Inferring - using your background knowledge and the words in the text to develop an understanding of what is being implied. Inferring is much like reading the facial cues/body language of a person. The person may not be directly saying, "I am busy, I cannot talk," but their actions are showing you this. In a text, the author will describe the actions of a character or the details of the setting and you must figure out what the author is showing you by using your background knowledge with the text to develop meaning.
- Summarizing - explaining the story using only the most important details including the main character, what they wanted to do or achieve, the problem they encountered, how the problem was solved, and how the story ended.
- We use the: Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then strategy to help students formulate a concise, cohesive summary.
Mathematics
Fifth graders focus on fact families in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They continue developing strategies for multi-digit addition and subtraction problems. Learning multiplication facts through the 10s is a goal this year. Other third-grade skills include understanding large numbers in addition to working with small numbers using equivalent fractions and decimals (to the thousandths). They continue the study of geometry, fractions, and telling time.
Practical application of measurement skills includes linear, weight, and capacity with customary and metric units. Students perform probability experiments that provide information for analyzing data and predicting outcomes. Third graders will have homework on a regular bas
Science
The fith-grade curriculum focuses on the life, earth, and physical sciences. In the Structures of Life module, students will observe and record the structures of a plants. We will also complete a thorough investigation of seeds--both comparing seed properties and investigating the effect of water on seeds. Students create a hydroponic garden to observe the life cycle of a bean plant. Following plants we will learn about the classification of animals, and animal adaptations and survival.
The Earth Science unit provides students with activities to explore the properties of water and the interaction between water and other earth materials. Students observe and explore properties of water in liquid and solid states, observe the expansion and contraction of water as it gains and loses heat, investigate factors that influence the cycle of evaporation and condensation of water, compare water quality using indicators, and observe changes that occur in water.
In the Physical Science unit, students learn all about matter, energy, and forces. Students will also learn about sound; how to discriminate between sounds, explore sound generators and musical instruments to discover what causes sound and how pitch changes.
Students also study the Solar System and the relationship between the sun, moon, and Earth. This unit is supplemented with literature that further explains the place of our solar system within the universe.
To further enhance the students' understanding they will participate in several classroom experiments and projects. Attendance is critical in order to provide your child with opportunities to participate
Social Studies
The social studies curriculum in fifth grade focuses on United States Hostory. Our curriculum will provide students knowledge in the areas of Geography, Native People of North America, Exploration of the United States, Colonial America, The American Revolution, Founding of Our Nation, and Westward Expansion. Students will participate in activities that teach them skills in geography, problem solving, and study skills.
Media Center
Fifth grade is a busy year in the media center. Students will use Destiny to find their books. They practice searching by author, by title and by subject. Encyclopedia, maps and globes in the media center are important resources. Students use these for classroom research on cities, countries and other curriculum subjects. Fifth graders are reading chapter books and poetry. Literature appreciation continues to be important, as it is a lifelong skill. Biography is an important unit for fifth grade as these students find a variety of materials with information about the person of their choice.
Music
In fifth grade, students continue to build upon their musical knowledge-base as more complex songs, musical notation, and vocabulary are presented by the music specialist. Students actively demonstrate their awareness of the elements of music through their successful use of dynamics, tone color, melody, and harmony in the songs they sing and in the accompaniments and compositions they create. Students deepen their understanding of the world around them and hone their critical-thinking skills by tracing a song's geographic, historical and cultural roots, as well as listening to, analyzing, interpreting, and responding to a variety of songs and musical works.
Art
The fifth-grade visual art curriculum continues to focus on the sequential study of the elements and principles of art, including color, line, form, shape, pattern, composition, space, and texture. Students are provided activities to stimulate their imaginations and refine as well as expand their artistic skills, visual acumen, and historic and aesthetic awareness. Students at this level can talk about and produce a high quality of art. They are able to discriminate and form artistic judgments about their art and the creative efforts of their peers.
Physical Education
Fifth-grade students continue to work on gross-motor skills, spatial awareness, and body control. At this level, there is an increased emphasis on cardiopulmonary fitness, muscular strength, and endurance. Students are encouraged to run or do continuous movement activities to increase their pulse rates. Students explore the principles of eye-hand-foot coordination through a variety of activities. They develop body coordination, strength and endurance, a sense of fair play, and cooperation with others.
You are cordially invited to be a
partner in your child’s education.
Stay-Tuned: Ask your child what he or she is studying, and look in the homework folder every night. Your child's F.I.S.H. binder is where you will find school newsletters and notes that are sent home, as well as any homework that needs to be completed. I will also send home progress reports or make phone calls if I feel that your child is not progressing as expected.
Ask Questions: If you have any concerns or are wondering why something is happening, please feel free to call or email me at any time. I welcome all concerns, ideas, and feedback that affect your child or our classroom. If something is not working, I am more than willing to talk. I welcome all feedback!
Homework: You should expect that your child will have some type of homework most everyday. You will always find the homework assignments written in your child's planner that is kept in the F.I.S.H. binder. It will go home everyday. I encourage you to set up with your child a scheduled time for homework each day. Students should be able to do most assignments independently, but do help if it is completely necessary. If you notice that your child is not able to do an assignment on his or her own, please send a note or jot a note to me on the assignment. I will contact you if your child is falling behind or turning in poor work.
Arrival Time: I also would like to request that students arrive at school no earlier than 7:25. It is not safe for them to be hanging around or playing on the hallways with no supervision. I certainly do not want your child to get injured prior to the school day. Please keep in mind that instruction / 5th grade specials begins promptly at 8:00 and students dismiss at 2:10. Attendance is critical in order for students to grasp all of the skills and strategies taught in fifth grade.