Fifth grade English is made up of reading (literature, informational text, and foundational skills), writing (narratives, opinion pieces, and informational/explanatory pieces), speaking and listening, and language skills (conventions and spelling).
Students will read many different genres including fiction, historical fiction, and informational text. They will also use visualization, context clues, talking to the text, questioning, predicting, inferences, and identifying key words/phrases to help with comprehension in all types of text.
In writing, 5th graders will work on improving basic sentence structure, using elaboration in their writing, proper use of capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and comma usage. They will also work on developing paragraphs using a topic sentence with supporting details and clarifying statements. The students will write narrative, opinion and informative/explanatory pieces.
Students will work on listening and speaking skills in English through class discussions and presentations of knowledge including using multimedia components.
Fifth grade students will develop an understanding of growth and settlement patterns from pre-Columbian times through 1791 (ratification of the Bill of Rights). They will have basic understanding of geographic, economic, demographic, social (including ethnic and religious), and political similarities and differences among various regions of the United States, and their influence on American life. The will have basic understanding of the interactions among various groups of Americans and will be able to describe and give examples of major issues and/or points of tension around the treatment of American Indians, slavery, gender, religion, labor, and role ideals of government in early United States. Fifth grade students will develop understanding of contemporary government in the United States.
Era 1: Beginnings to 1620
American Indian Life in the Americas
European Exploration and Conquest
Three World Interactions
Era 2: Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)
European Struggle for Control of North America
Atlantic Slave Trade and Origins of Black America
Comparative Life in Colonial America
Era 3: Revolution and The New Nation (1754-1800)
Causes of the American Revolution
The American Revolution and Its Consequences
Creating New Governments and a New Constitution