Fifth Grade

Fifth Grade is packed full of excitement, adventure, and an abundance of learning. The fifth graders turn a corner regarding their level of responsibilities and come to understand the need for self-discipline. As the middle school grades approach, we are confident that the experiences at this grade level will give them a firm foundation on which to build.

The goal of the fifth grade religion program is to challenge students to begin thinking about their Catholic faith and through that process to develop their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The students study the Bible and what it tells us about Jesus Christ. They bring scriptures alive with skits and songs. Fifth graders also study the Sacraments to develop a deeper understanding of how they bring us closer to Jesus. We have open discussions about our faith and pray together in class. Family life is taught in both religion and science. In religion, the themes of sacrament of Mary, respect, decision making, and family are taught and discussed. The physical piece of family life is taught in science class through a supplemental text, discussions, packets, and videos.

Fifth grade reading is taught through the use of trade books and supplemental materials. The primary focus of our reading program is to strengthen comprehension and to build a qualitative and quantitative vocabulary. Students are given a variety of opportunities to enhance their understanding of the material, including scene plays, book reports and review. Fun! Fun! Fun!

The English curriculum is comprised of proper grammar usage and the augmenting of the students' already strong writing skills. In fifth grade, we learn our parts of speech, types of sentences and paragraphs, the writing process, and much, much more. Boy, do we love our language!

Spelling, another component of fifth grade Language Arts, serves to instruct students in the correct patterns of letters that form words and the correct use of the phonics rules. It also provides students with the tools to recognize the incorrect usage of letter patterns and rules in order to edit their own and others' writing.

Fifth grade math uses the Houghton Mifflin Math textbook series. We start the year with a review and further study of the place value of numbers. It is expected that students already know the basic math facts for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. We do spend time reviewing these basic operations using larger numbers as their concepts of numbers have broadened. An in-depth unit of study is fractions. Fifth grade also works with units in geometry, measurement, and graphing. Emphasis is placed on mathematical vocabulary and correctly using/understanding math terms for solving problems. There is much practice with problem solving strategies using story problems, and multi-step problems which also reinforce the practice of math facts.

Fifth grade social studies consists largely of American and Minnesota History plus several world history units. One of the major goals of fifth grade social studies is that students understand how governments and societies are formed, how they evolve in response to people's needs and demands, and how the struggles and achievements of the past still affect us today. To achieve this goal, the curriculum utilizes a wide variety of engaging activities such as role playing, journaling, art creations, debates, skits, and internet projects.

Fifth grade Science combines hands-on experiments, student projects, class discussions, and offers opportunities for success to students with many different learning styles. The fifth grade year begins with a life schience unit, involving the study and classification of all living things. Next, the students study inventions by examining the steps of the inventing process. The culmination of this unit is the Hi-C Inventor's Fair which showcases the original invention of each fifth grader. Several student's inventions will be selected to enter the Metro ECSU's Young INventor's Fair in May. Th year ends with a unit on the environment, which includes ecosystems, biomes and pollution. Fifth graders traditionally find science to be a fun and exciting class, allowing the teachers to capitalize on their enthusiasm to generate impressive levels of learning.

The fifth graders write and present PRIDE, a student-based assembly held once a month.