Curriculum Highlights: Fifth Grade

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

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
• Special Event: Roman Day

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

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