Curriculum Highlights: Fifth Grade
Language Arts
- Parts of speech
- Capitalization
- Punctuation
- Sentence writing
- Paragraph writing
- Writing process
- Writing: narrative, descriptive, creative, persuasive, reports, letters, journal
- Literary terms
- Reading skills
- Spelling
- Vocabulary
- Independent reading
- Oral reports
- Junior Great Books
- Summer workbook
- Summer reading
Mathematics
- Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers, fractions, and decimals
- Exponential notation
- Percentages
- Rates, ratios, and averages
- Probability
- Negative numbers
- Factors, prime factors
- Divisibility rules
- Metric units of measurement
- Basic geometry: perimeter, area, volume, and congruency of simple figures
- Angles
- Ordered pairs and function rules
- Inverse functions
- Graphing
- Map skills
- Money and banking skills
- Summer workbook
History / Classical Studies
- Sources of historical knowledge
- Legacy of Rome
- Roman mythology
- Rome as a kingdom
- Roman republic
- Augustus and the Golden Age
- The Aeneid
- Roman daily life
- Rome as an empire
- Decline and fall of Rome
- Note taking, outlining, research skills
- Written/oral reports
- National Mythology Exam: The Iliad, The Odyssey, myths, gods
Science
- Scientific method
- Frequent hands-on activities/labs
- Animals: classification, adaptations
- Body systems and health
- Plants: photosynthesis, cellular respiration
- Astronomy: effects of the movement of earth, distances in space, stars
- Matter: properties and states, physical/chemical changes, periodic table, chemical equations, solutions
- Forces: gravity, motion, work/machines
- Energy: energy transfer, electricity and magnetism, thermal energy, waves
- Independent experiment: design, implement, report findings
Geography
- Themes and elements associated with geography
- Review of globe concepts/skills
- Review of map concepts and skills
- Map projections
- The United Kingdom and Ireland
- France
- Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg
- Germany, Switzerland, and Austria
- Spain and Portugal
- Italy
- Greece
- Poland
- Baltic republics
- Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia
- Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Yugoslavia
- Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova
Modern/Classical Languages
French
- Daily P.E. class in uniform
- Fitness and conditioning, including endurance, strength, balance, flexibility
- Healthy lifestyle
- Social dancing: Virginia Reel, line dances, dance party
- Game skills/strategy: soccer, football, basketball, softball, whiffle ball, field/floor hockey, volleyball, bowling, track and field, frisbee, lacrosse
- Intramural opportunities
- Sports teams opportunities (all students may play)
- Responsibility, self-control, team work, good sportsmanship
Physical Education
- Daily P.E. class in uniform
- Fitness and conditioning, including endurance, strength, balance, flexibility
- Healthy lifestyle
- Social dancing: waltz, jitterbug, fox trot, line dances, dance parties, etiquette
- Game skills/strategy: soccer, football, basketball, softball, whiffle ball, field/floor hockey, volleyball, bowling, track and field, frisbee, lacrosse
- Intramural opportunities
- Sports teams opportunities (all students may play)
- Responsibility, self-control, team work, good sportsmanship
Visual Arts
- Weekly art class
- Drawing: pencil, eraser, markers, colored pencils, oil crayons, oil pastels
- Painting: watercolors, tempera paints, acrylic paints
- Sculpture: polymer clay, air drying clay
- Relief printing: linoleum blocks, carving tools, water-soluble ink
- Color: color wheel, terms, variations, mixing
- Classical proportions: human face, figure
- Emotions in portraits
- Patterns, repeated images
- Andy Warhol
- Annual school-wide art contest
Field Trips
Several field trips per year; recent examples include:
- Inner Quest (outdoor challenges)
- Sheridan Mountain Campus (overnight camping & activities)
- American Indian Museum
- Jamestown Settlement/Colonial Williamsburg (overnight)
- Woodlawn Plantation
- Kennedy Center
- Folger Shakespeare Theater
Performing Arts
Music
- Develop choral singing
- Develop musical literacy
- Musical tour of the Western World: life and works of various composers
- Story and music of ballets
- Percussion instruments
- Performance: music program twice each year
Drama
- Attendance at drama productions
- Speaking role in class play
- Develop acting skills
- Imaginative use of costumes/props
- Ensemble/solo singing, choreography
- Public speaking, confidence, poise
Library
- Selecting/checking out books
- Research skills, internet research
- Journalism
- Historical atlases
- Periodicals
- Biographies
- National Archives
- Internet research
- Autobiographies
- Fantasy literature
- Books on Roman society
- Book fair
Technology
- Star Boards in each classroom
- Rolling computer cart for computer use in classroom
- Weekly computer/technology class
- Basic keyboarding
- Word processing
- Basic computer operations
- Touch typing
- Creating/revising documents
- Navigating internet; safety
- Integration within academic classes
Enrichment:
Several field trips per year; recent examples include:
- Inner Quest (outdoor challenges)
- National Building Museum
- National Gallery of Art
- Capital Mall
- Gunston Hall
- National Library of Medicine
- Marriott Corporation