Students will develop their writing skills in a variety of ways which align to Oregon 5th grade English Language Arts and Literacy standards.

They will learn to: 

• Write opinion pieces using reasons and evidence.

• Write informative essays that teach readers about a topic.

• Write narratives with strong details, dialogue, and clear organization.

• Plan, revise, edit, and improve their writing.

• Use facts, research, and multiple sources to support their ideas.

• Write using correct grammar, punctuation, spelling, and appropriate vocabulary.

• Use technology to publish and share their work.

This year, your child will become a more thoughtful and independent reader. Students will learn to: 

• Read and understand a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts.

• Find evidence in the text to support their answers.

• Identify themes, main ideas, and important details.

• Compare characters, events, and ideas across different texts.

• Understand figurative language (such as similes and metaphors) and new vocabulary.

• Explain an author's purpose and point of view.

• Use information from multiple sources to learn about a topic.

• Read increasingly challenging books with confidence and independence.

This year, students will explore the people, events, and ideas that shaped Colonial America and the early United States. They will learn to: 

• Learn about the histories and cultures of Indigenous peoples and their interactions with European explorers and settlers.

• Explore why European countries established colonies in North America and how these settlements changed the lives of both Indigenous peoples and colonists.

• Study the events that led to the American Revolution and the founding of the United States.

• Examine important documents, such as the U.S. Constitution, and discuss how ideas about freedom and democracy have changed over time.

• Learn how rights and freedoms were not shared equally and how race, gender, religion, and social status affected people's opportunities.

• Investigate history using primary sources, maps, and multiple perspectives to better understand the experiences of different groups of people.

• Explore how geography influenced exploration, settlement, farming, and access to natural resources.

• Learn how economics - including trade, specialization of labor, and the slave trade shaped colonial life and the early United States.