Fifth Grade

Fifth Grade Scope & Sequence

The Fifth Grade Scope & Sequence shows what teachers plan to teach each quarter of the school year. The scope and sequence lists the academic expectations for each academic subject. Click on the document to expand and see all of the subjects. In addition, access more information below to learn about specific skills you can expect fifth graders to learn during the school year.

Fifth Grade Scope and Sequence

English Language Arts

In grade five, students will continue to build important reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. They will read more challenging literature, articles, and other sources of information and continue to grow their vocabulary. Students will also be expected to understand and clearly summarize what they have learned from readings and classroom discussions, referring to specific evidence and details from the text. Students will write regularly and continue to develop their ability to gather, organize, interpret, and present information.

Activities in Fifth Grade ELA

Activities in these areas will include:

• Determining the theme of a story, play, or poem, including how characters respond to challenges

• Comparing and contrasting stories that deal with similar themes or topics

• Explaining how authors use reasons and evidence to support their points or ideas

• Drawing on information from multiple books, articles, or online sources to locate an answer or to solve a problem quickly

• Learning the rules of spoken and written English

• Learning and using new words, including words related to specific subjects (such as science words)

• Understanding figurative language

• Participating in class discussions by listening, asking questions, sharing ideas, and building on the ideas of others

• Giving a class presentation on a topic or telling a story, introducing relevant facts and details in a clear, logical order

• Writing research or opinion papers over extended periods of time.

Excerpt provided by the Council of the Great City Schools at https://www.cgcs.org/Page/244

Curricular Materials in English Language Arts

Words Their Way™ is a curricular approach to phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The program is implemented as a supplemental curriculum in the district and aims to provide a practical way to study words with students. The purpose of word study (which involves examining, manipulating, comparing, and categorizing words) is to reveal logic and consistencies within written language and to help students achieve mastery in recognizing, spelling, and defining specific words.

Wonders, a comprehensive literacy curriculum, is designed to meet the challenges of today’s classroom and reach all learners. A wealth of research-based print and digital resources provide unmatched support for building strong literacy foundations, accessing complex fiction and nonfiction texts, writing to sources, and building social emotional learning skills. Whether in the core classroom, an English language learner, or benefiting from intervention support, Wonders provides students equity of access to rich texts and rigorous instruction.

Math

In grade five, students will build their understanding of the place value system by working with decimals up to the hundredths place. Students will also add, subtract, and multiply fractions, including fractions with unlike denominators. They will continue to expand their geometry and measurement skills, learning the concept of volume and measuring the volume of a solid figure.

Activities in Fifth Grade Math

Activities in these areas will include:

• Quickly and accurately multiplying multi-digit whole numbers

• Dividing numbers with up to four digits by two digit numbers

• Using exponents to express powers of 10 (in 102, 2 is the exponent)

• Reading, writing, and comparing decimals to the thousandths place

• Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals to the hundredths place

• Writing and interpreting mathematical expressions using symbols such as parentheses. For example, “add 8 and 7, then multiply by 2” can be written as 2×(8+7).

• Adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators (bottom numbers) by converting them to fractions with matching denominators

• Multiplying fractions by whole numbers and other fractions

• Dividing fractions by whole numbers and whole numbers by fractions

• Analyzing and determining relationships between numerical patterns

• Measuring volume using multiplication and addition

Excerpt provided by the Council of the Great City Schools at https://www.cgcs.org/Page/244

Curricular Materials in Math

Students will experience activities that ensure a progression of knowledge in McGraw-Hill My Math curriculum materials throughout kindergarten to fifth grade. This framework is a foundation for rigorous standards, resulting in a program that provides the conceptual understanding, key areas of focus, and connection to prior concepts and skills for each grade.

Science

In fifth grade, your student will gain a deeper understanding of matter, and how every form of matter can be grouped based on its properties, such as liquids, solids and gases. They will do experiments that will help them comprehend what happens when you heat, cool or mix substances of matter. Students will develop a better comprehension of energy, and how plants and animals get their energy from food, which was once energy from the sun. This will help your student better predict what types of food and energy will be beneficial versus harmful. Students will also begin studying space, and how the sun and stars can look different at different times of the year due to location changes in our solar system.

Social Science: Our Nation, Our World

In fifth grade, students will focus learning on the United States and the world. Students will learn geography, economics, civics and history. Students will also experience an in depth unit on the Civil Rights Movement.

Activities in Fifth Grade in Social Science

Students will learn:

distinguish the responsibilities and powers of government officials at various levels and branches of government and in different times and places
examine the origins and purposes of rules, laws, and key U.S. constitutional provisions
compare the origins, functions, and structure of different systems of government
investigate how the cultural and environmental characteristics of places within the United States change over time
describe how humans have utilized natural resources in the United States
analyze the effects of specific catastrophic and environmental events as well as technological developments that have impacted our nation and compare to other places
compare the environmental characteristics of the United States to other world regions
analyze why and how individuals, businesses and nations around the world specialize and trade
discover how positive incentives and negative incentives influence behavior in our nation’s economy and around the world
determine the ways in which the government pays for the goods and services it provides
explain that interest is the price the borrower pays for using someone else’s money
create and use a chronological sequence of related events to compare developments that happened at the same time
use information about a historical source
explain probable causes and effects of events and developments in U.S. history

Physical Education & Health

The goal of physical education is to develop physically literate individuals who have the knowledge, skills and confidence to enjoy a lifetime of healthful physical activity.

Activities in Fifth Grade PE & Health

To pursue a lifetime of healthful physical activity, a physically literate individual:

• Has learned the skills necessary to participate in a variety of physical activities.

• Knows the implications and the benefits of involvement in various types of physical activities.

• Participates regularly in physical activity.

• Is physically fit.

• Values physical activity and its contributions to a healthful lifestyle

Adapted from Moving into the future: National standards for physical education (2nd ed.), National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 2004. Reston, VA: Author.

Physical Development and Health standards are embedded into the following 3rd-5th grade band of expectations:

Acquire movement and motor skills and understand concepts necessary to engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity.
Achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical fitness based upon continual self-assessment.
Develop skills necessary to become a successful member of a team by working with others during physical activity.
Understand principles of health promotion and the prevention and treatment of illness and injury.
Understand human body systems and factors that influence growth and development.
Promote and enhance health and well-being through the use of effective communication and decision-making skills.

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