Classroom Expectations

Fifth Grade Expectations

Fifth grade is an exciting year for learning! Students will read challenging and engaging texts, learn about several history-defining events, and write several essays. Expectations are high in fifth grade, both academically and behaviorally. The grading used by the fifth grade team reflects these high expectations, so we would like to be clear about them from the start. 

Academically, students will receive grades for the following subjects: reading, writing, social studies, science and math. You should expect the average grades for your fifth grader to receive will be B grades (80-89%). B’s are GOOD grades and indicate that your child is meeting the standards we are aiming for. An A grade shows that your child has done excellent work and is giving exceptional effort, a C grade suggests that the work/effort is simply satisfactory, and anything lower shows that either the standards are not being met, effort is not being made, or some combination of the two. 

Science and Social Studies: For both science and social studies grades are academically focused, but have a large effort component as well. We look for attentiveness during class and effort in assignment completion. Your child will earn their grade based on those two main factors. 

Reading and Writing: In 5th grade we use a Language Arts structure that combines reading, writing, speaking and listening. Our main curriculum is the Wit & Wisdom program, though we do some additional things including integrating with science and social studies. There are four Wit & Wisdom modules over the course of the year. Each module focuses on one or two main texts and one overarching Essential Question that guides our study in the module. Grades come from daily work, quizzes, and responses to text dependent questions. The largest point value for both reading and writing grades come from FQTs.

Daily Work: Each student will have a Wit & Wisdom “journal” used during daily lessons. There are several times throughout each module where students will be asked to turn in their journal to receive a grade on the work they were asked to complete that day. 

Quizzes: Each teacher chooses which quizzes to give, but both classes should expect quizzes to be used in class for things including but not limited to: reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar rules, and more. 

Text Dependent Questions: After reading and discussing a text, students will be asked to respond thoughtfully to a number of questions about the text using complete sentences, providing text evidence and elaborating on that evidence. 

FQTs: FQT stands for Focusing Question Task. These are larger reading and writing assignments based on the focusing questions of each module. These FQTs are usually larger writing prompts of 1-6 paragraphs in response to the focusing question for that group of lessons. We work on these assignments over several lessons that are scaffolded to build up to the final writing task. Students will write rough drafts and type final drafts for the majority of the FQT assignments. 

Students will receive a rubric for each FQT before they write it so they know which standards they are being asked to meet, and it is the same rubric used to grade the assignment. After submitting the assignment, students will receive written feedback from their teacher along with a filled out rubric for each FQT. The rubrics will indicate how their work meets the standard expectations based on the following scale:

Grades will then be assigned looking at how many of each letter the student earned. Please note, If a student receives an M, B, or D for any standard, the highest grade they will be able to receive for that assignment will be a B. 

Math: Your child may have a different teacher than us for math, and their grading expectations may be different, so please check with them with any questions or concerns you have with math grades. 

Behavior grades are given to students quarterly on a O-S-N scale in the following categories: responsibility, work completion, self control, organization, follows directions, positive attitude, respects authority, works cooperatively, works independently, works neatly, speaking, and listening. Please know that in fifth grade we believe that “Satisfactory” (or an S) is the standard! Students can move up or down from an S based on their observed behaviors during each quarter. We also have a set of expectations in fifth grade called the “25 Rules to Live By” that outline some very specific behaviors we look for throughout the day and take into account. Grades in this area are up to teacher discretion, but at the end of the day, they are earned by the students! 

Vacations and Absences

We know there are times when a child misses school. Sometimes this is an illness and other times this is a planned family trip or sport trip. If your family goes on a vacation or sport trip, please ask for work at least a week in advance. Students are responsible for completing the assignments to the best of their ability. Our language arts curriculum is cumulative. Keeping up with the work is important to building an understanding and foundation. Canvas is the place to find digital and audio copies of books, videos and other things we do in class. If a child misses an FQT assignment, they are responsible for making up that work at home. 

We have tried to outline here the most common grading scenarios for fifth grade. We also realize that it is impossible to outline every single scenario in one document, so there may be some things that arise throughout the year that cause us to deviate from what we have written here. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and ask any questions you may have to your child’s teacher. Open communication is the best way to make sure we are all on the same page, and we are here to help however we can. We are looking forward to a great school year filled with learning and loads of fun! 

Thank you!

Ms. Brady