Posts in 5th Grade
5th grade - foreign language

Foreign Language

The Greene School Foreign Language program exposes students to ample listening and reading opportunities with classes four times per week. Fifth grade Spanish curriculum integrates speaking, reading, writing, and listening, to help students achieve a level of proficiency. It is a gentle immersion to the language and culture, as a whole. Students are encouraged to answer in Spanish with one word or sentences according to student’s level, with approximately 90% of the class communication in Spanish. Students will learn the most elementary concepts of grammar, vocabulary, dialogue, and culture, focusing on activities and routines used in daily life at school and home. Geography and culture of Spanish speaking countries is highlighted in fifth grade including Dia de los Muertos, bullfights, art, Christmas, and Mother’s Day.

Students acquire language proficiency with visual and interactive support using grade-level vocabulary and techniques such as Total Physical Response and Natural Approach. The goal of both of these strategies is to allow students to learn a second language in the same way they learned their first language – through their senses, encouraging long-term retention of the language. The approach to learning the language is naturally fundamental and repetitive, as vocabulary is recycled to ensure mastery of the vocabulary words.

Fifth grade students use the ¡Qué chévere! and Realidades curriculum textbooks, which integrate the development of language proficiency into cultural understanding, using project-based learning activities, multimedia resources, songs, games, and stories.

  • Students will learn: there is\there are, to be (ser), to be (estar), to go, to have, to want, and to like.

  • Students will learn five more high frequency verbs: to say, to do, to give, to see, can, to put on, and to know.

  • Students will learn to answer question words (what, when, how, how many, who, why, and how many).

  • Students will review greetings, likes and dislikes, school, family, weather, sports, animals, physical descriptions, and personality traits.

  • Students will learn verb conjugation in relation to pronouns (I, you, he, she, we, and they).

  • Students will learn the proper grammatical use of subject pronouns, present tense -ar, infinitives, negative sentences, agreement or disagreement, adjectives, definite and indefinite articles, word order, prepositions, singular, and plural.

  • Students will begin to learn to differentiate between the verbs estar and ser (to be).

  • Students will learn vocabulary through retelling stories and personalized questions and answers.

  • Students will learn through topics: what do I want to be, interests and talents, food and health, entertainment, places around me, clothes, and chores.

Content is delivered using the following strategies:

  • Collaborative Storytelling

  • MovieTalk

  • Embedded Reading

  • PictureTalk

  • Total Physical Response

  • Personalized Questions and Answers

  • Read and Discuss

Technology is used to incorporate independent listening, speaking, and reading. Technology is crucial in our Spanish class to differentiate instruction and to play games. Music, games, stories, and videos engage students on their learning journey. Fifth grade Spanish integrates computer science, and students create online children’s books using MIT Scratch.

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5th GradeSamantha PennForeign Language
5th grade - science

Science

The fifth grade science program develops an understanding of scientific methods and processes. It involves a variety of labs, activities, and learning experiences that provide personal engagement in the dynamics of learning and the excitement of self-discovery, which exposes students to the interrelationships in the world around them. Students are exposed to concerns that confront humans daily through current events. This participatory approach is used to create knowledge and to enhance students’ appreciation for the laws and principles that guide our existence. Concepts are not independently taught but are intertwined and multidisciplinary, providing students with a multitude of opportunities to become involved in science. This combination of knowledge and discovery skills will help our students relate to current real-world issues.

  • Matter: Physical and Chemical Changes: What are some properties of matter?

  • Mechanical Energy: What are some ways that energy can be changed from one form to another?

  • The Body System: How do organs carry out life functions?

  • Exploring Ecosystems: The Everglades – How are plants and animals in an ecosystem connected?

  • Health & Nutrition: How do nutrition and exercise affect our health?

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5th GradeSamantha PennScience
5th grade - social science

Social Science

The fifth grade social studies curriculum is designed to help students master geographic, historic, and civic concepts, in order to instill a historical perspective, readying students for more advanced study.

  • Students will learn the application of map skills, and reading charts and graphs for geographical understanding.

  • Students will learn note-taking skills and how to utilize information and research for written assignments (reports, projects, and use of technological apps).

  • Students will learn geographic vocabulary, and will gain a geographic awareness of the diversity of places.

  • Students will learn historical vocabulary along with historical awareness, becoming aware of major historical events and their impact on history.

  • Students will become proficient in research and the use of primary sources for reports and written presentations.

  • Students will learn public speaking and oral presentation skills, including using fact-based arguments in debate-style simulations.

  • Students will develop responsibility and time management skills throughout all facets of learning.

  • Students will collaborate in and out of class with civically minded students.

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5th GradeSamantha PennSocial Science
5th grade - mathematics

Mathematics

The fifth grade curriculum is a transition from the arithmetic-based curriculum of fourth grade to the algebra that is developed in middle school. The course reinforces the comprehension, computation, and application skills necessary for a solid foundation in mathematics, while also exposing students to algebraic concepts and developing their abstract reasoning skills. Word problems are incorporated throughout the course of the year to support and strengthen students in applying their knowledge. In fifth grade, students extend their computational skills with whole numbers, decimals, and fractions to include operations with integers, exponents, and rational numbers. They are also introduced to the concepts of ratio, proportion, and percent, as well as the language of algebra used to write and solve expressions and equations. In addition, students will further develop their knowledge of concepts in geometry, measurement, probability, and statistics. To enhance their comprehension and deepen their foundation, Pearson’s Envision Math textbook and the internet, including iXL, serve as resources for projects, additional problems, and review activities.

Mathematical skills taught in fifth grade include:

Number Sense and Operations with Whole Numbers

  • Use place value, including how to read, write, and compare whole numbers to the hundred-trillions place.

  • Write numbers in standard, expanded, and word form.

  • Know the language of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and understand the relationship between the operations.

  • Use estimation to solve problems including all four operations.

  • Understand the properties of addition and multiplication including the identity, inverse, commutative, associative, distributive and zero property of multiplication.

  • Express very large and very small numbers using expanded and scientific notation.

  • Solve single and multi-step real-life problems involving number operations.

  • Determine key vocabulary words and concepts, check for reasonableness, and identify relevant and irrelevant information with problems.

Number Sense and Operations with Integers

  • Order, compare, and graph integers with and without a number line.

  • Solve mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with integers.

  • Solve numeric expressions with integers using order of operations.

  • Solve real-life problems involving integers.

Number Sense and Operations with Fractions and Decimals

  • Use place value, including how to read, write, and compare decimals to the ten-thousandths place.

  • Use models and number lines to identify, compare, and represent the order of fractions and decimals.

  • Recognize the relationship between fractions and decimals.

  • Add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions and mixed numbers with like and unlike denominators.

  • Convert between mixed numbers and improper fractions.

  • Solve real-life problems involving fractions and decimals.

Number Sense and Operations with Ratios, Proportions, and Percent

  • Write ratios in three different ways.

  • Find unit rate.

  • Solve problems involving ratios and rate with proportional reasoning.

  • Understand the meaning of percent.

  • Discover the relationship between fractions, decimals, and percentages.

  • Convert between fractions, decimals, and percent.

  • Perform calculations with percentages.

  • Apply concepts learned to real life applications such as interest, discounts, taxes, tips, and sale prices.

Geometry and Spatial Sense

  • Identify congruent and similar figures.

  • Use proportions to find the missing side of similar figures.

  • Use formulas to find perimeter, area, and volume on singular and compound shapes.

  • Identify and define parts of a circle.

  • Use formulas to find the circumference and area of a circle and semicircle.

  • Graph and identify ordered pairs on a four-quadrant plane.

  • Identify the quadrant for a given ordered pair.

Measurement

  • Convert measurements within the same system, customary and metric.

  • Simplify ratios with measurement.

Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability

  • Read and interpret various types of tables, including tally charts and line plots, and simple graphs, including bar, line, circle, and pictographs.

  • Calculate mean, median, mode, and range from a given set of data.

  • Find the probability of simple and compound events including independent and dependent events.

Patterns, Functions, and Pre-Algebra

  • Use order of operations to solve numeric expressions.

  • Solve single and multi-step algebraic equations including all four operations.

  • Read, write, and solve algebraic expressions and equations.

  • Convert between word phrases and algebraic expressions or equations.

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5th GradeSamantha PennMathematics
5th grade - language arts

Language Arts

Our middle school language arts curriculum utilizes a balanced approach to literacy, including reading, writing, and vocabulary study in an integrated and interrelated manner. Our ELA curriculum deeply engages our thriving learners in the reading, speaking, and writing process through a broad range of instructional devices. In seventh and eighth grades, students will interact with more challenging literature, articles, and other sources of information to continue to increase their vocabulary and understanding of the English language. Students participate in project-based learning experiences that weave together student engagement, discourse, and collaboration. Each student’s reading level is individually assessed at various times throughout the year, in order to provide continued differentiated instruction.

  • Students will learn through an in-depth study of rich and varied literary and informational text.

  • Students will learn various writing techniques and forms: argumentative, informative/explanatory, narrative, and summary of reading materials.

  • Students will learn language arts skills and strategies.

  • Students will work independently and collaboratively to better understand what they read.

  • Students will learn to evaluate an author’s assumptions and claims.

  • Students will learn to conduct research that will require the analysis of resources and accurate interpretation of literary and informational text.

  • Students will strategically and capably use technology and digital media to enhance their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language use.

  • Students will focus on the themes of race, identity, and the American Dream.

  • Students will explore the abuse of power in the twentieth century.

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5th GradeSamantha PennLanguage Arts