5th Grade Curriculum

5th Grade Curriculum 

The reading, writing, and communicating standards move from developing skills in reading, writing, and communicating to applying these literacy skills to more complex texts through the elementary years. Standards at each grade emphasize skills related to speaking and collaborating with others as students work with literature and informational readings and participate in individual and group research projects.

 

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Reading, Writing, and Communicating 

Expectations for 5th Grade Students:

Oral Expression and Listening: Speak to an audience to express an opinion, to persuade, or to explain an idea/process; actively listen during a presentation using listening strategies (asking questions, paraphrasing, and displaying positive body posture).

Reading for All Purposes: Read literary (stories and poems), informational, and persuasive texts in order to understand, interpret, and compare ideas from a variety of authors.

Writing and Composition: Use a writing process – planning, drafting, revising, editing, sharing – to produce effective, unique, well-researched, and grammatically correct writing for different audiences and purposes (telling a story, explaining a topic, building an argument).

Research Inquiry and Design: Gather and organize information from different sources and produce a well-organized, well-thought-out written or verbal presentation that answers a specific question.

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Math

Expectations for 5th Grade Students:

Number and Quantity: Fluently (consistently) multiply multi-digit whole numbers; extend the idea of place value to decimals; begin to divide using multi-digit divisors (fluency isn't expected until sixth grade); multiply fractions; add and subtract fractions by creating equivalent fractions (1/2 is the same as 2/4); understand the relationship between fractions and division (2/5 means 2 ÷ 5); solve simple word problems involving the division of fractions with pictures (the formal procedure for dividing fractions is taught in sixth grade).

Algebra and Function: Write and interpret numerical expressions.

Data, Statistics, and Probability: Convert within the metric system; find the volumes of rectangular prisms using multiplication.

Geometry: Graph points on a grid using positive numbers.

 

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Social Studies

Expectations for 5th Grade Students:

History: Use timelines, artifacts, and documents to understand the different people, diverse (cultural) perspectives, and important events that shaped the early history of the United States (exploration through the American Revolution).

Geography: Use different kinds of maps, globes, graphs, and diagrams to ask and answer questions about the geography of the 13 Colonies and the United States.

Economics: Explain how trade shaped the development of early America; understand how government actions connect with the economy (interest rates) at the local, state, and national level. Personal Financial Literacy: Identify different financial institutions (banks, credit unions) and the services they provide.

Civics: Explain the foundations and structure (the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches) of the United States government; describe the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship.

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Science

Expectations for 5th Grade Students:

Physical Science: Recognize that matter is made of particles that are too small to be seen; describe how new substances can be formed when chemical reactions occur, explain how Earth’s gravitational force exerts force on objects. 

Life Science: Understand that plants acquire their material from growth chiefly from air and water, and that matter flows in cycles between air, soil, plants, animals, and microbes as these organisms live and die. 

Earth and Space Science: Understand that the Earth and sun provide many renewable and nonrenewable resources; recognize that Earth’s surface changes constantly; understand how the uneven heating of Earth’s surface (by the sun) affects weather.