Fifth Grade Curriculum
2010-2011
Content Summaries
Language Arts & Reading - Georgia Performance Standards – www.georgiastandards.org
In the fifth grade, students expand and deepen the concepts, skills, and strategies learned in earlier grades. Fifth grade students read and comprehend texts from a variety of genres (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama) and subject areas (math, science, social studies, and English language arts), and they make new connections as they encounter new ideas and begin to study subjects in more formal ways.
Students use writing as a tool for learning, and they write for a variety of purposes and audiences. Fifth graders write daily in order to maximize and formalize their writing skills. Students communicate their personal voices in writing, expressing ideas through journals, notes, and e-mail. They understand and articulate how authors use a variety of techniques and craft in their writing, and they show evidence of the author’s craft in their own writing. Additionally, students are aware of the connections between reading and writing, and they use those skills to learn and understand more about their world and different cultures. Students continue to increase vocabulary knowledge through reading, word study, discussion, and content area study.
In their verbal interactions, students communicate effectively with different audiences. Fifth graders engage in student-to-student and student-to teacher interactions about a variety of texts and concepts. They use appropriate conversational skills, and they speak in turns rather than all at once during group interaction. Students are able to understand a problem or conflict as stated in oral, visual, or written texts, and they can determine an appropriate solution. In this process, students utilize previous knowledge and experience, draw conclusions and/or make valid generalizations, and apply logic to develop possible solutions. Fifth grade students support solutions with a variety of evidence and reasons.
Students participate in a cooperative learning environment, and they move independently around the room to gain information from other students. Students work cooperatively in a variety of situations, assuming productive roles within each group. Fifth graders also complete more complex assignments that ask them to use sources to inform their oral and written discussions of topics.
Math - Georgia Performance Standards – www.georgiastandards.org
By the end of grade five, students will further develop their understanding of multiplication and division of whole numbers, decimals, and fractions. They will also understand and investigate algebraic mathematical expressions. Students will also expand their understanding of computing area and volume of simple geometric figures. Students will understand the meaning of congruent geometric shapes and the relationship of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. They will also use percentages and circle graphs to interpret statistical data.
Instruction and assessment should include the use of manipulatives and appropriate technology. Topics should be represented in multiple ways including concrete/pictorial, verbal/written, numeric/data-based, graphical, and symbolic. Concepts should be introduced and used in the context of real world phenomena.
Science – Georgia Performance Standards – www.georgiastandards.org
Fifth grade students will investigate scientific concepts and begin to understand that science is a process. Their scientific explanations will emphasize the importance of gathering evidence and begin to use scientific principals, models, and theories. By the end of fifth grade students will be able to identify surface features of the Earth caused by constructive and destructive processes and the role of technology and human intervention in their control. Students will investigate the relationship between electricity and magnetism and the difference between a chemical and physical change. Using microscopes students will identify parts of a variety of cells, understand the importance of microorganisms, how scientists classify organisms, and how offspring can resemble parents in inherited traits and learned behaviors.
Social Studies - Georgia Performance Standards – www.georgiastandards.org
UNITED STATES HISTORY SINCE 1860 - In fifth grade, students continue their formal study of United States history. As with fourth grade, the strands of history, geography, civics, and economics are fully integrated. Students study United States history beginning with the Civil War and continue to the present. The geography strand emphasizes the influence of geography on U. S. history. The civics strand emphasizes concepts and rights as outlined in amendments to the U. S. Constitution. The economics strand uses material from the historical strand to further understanding of economic concepts.
Health - Quality Core Curriculum
The fifth grade health curriculum is organized around eight major strands of study. These strands include: alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs; disease prevention; family living, human growth and development; mental health; nutrition, personal health, and safety.
