Fifth Grade Curriculum Overview
Fifth grade is a year of great transition at Stevens. Our students become part of our middle school program as they are developing into more independent and accountable individuals in ways that will serve them throughout their academic careers. Students thrive as they are offered new opportunities to positively contribute to our classrooms and school community.
Fifth grade also means deeper and more complex learning than Lower School. From analyzing increasingly challenging texts and solving multilayered calculations to pursuing a musical instrument, participating in Affinity and Alliance Groups, clubs, electives and the annual Cabaret talent show, 5th grade is a year of expansive growth.
Students continue their social-emotional growth by participating in our middle school CAP (Classroom Advisory Program) program, which focuses on identity, health and wellness, communication and interpersonal relationships.
Explore what your child will learn in each of the following subject areas:
- Literacy
- Math
- Humanities
- Science
- Social-Emotional Learning
- Specials Classes
- Electives
- Homework and Assessments
- Trips
Literacy
The 5th grade reading list is intentionally diverse. Students encounter a wide variety of literary genres and author perspectives in order to make personal connections and develop an understanding and appreciation of perspectives different from their own. They are taught how to critically read a text by analyzing the literary elements and characters, in addition to understanding the author’s message and theme. Students continue to build their vocabularies through textual analysis and a word study program.
Skills
- Content Knowledge:
- Analyzes text
- Cites textual evidence
- Determines an author's point of view, bias, or purpose in a text
- Identifies and uses literary elements with understanding
- Organization and Style/Mechanics:
- Writes a range of texts for specific purpose and audience
- Develops a thesis
- Cites evidence
- Demonstrates writer's craft following conventions of grammar, spelling and MLA format
Sample Reading List
- Bridge to Terabithia
- Brown Girl Dreaming
- Esperanza Rising
- Ghost Boys
- The Hatchet
- Maniac Magee
- The Season of Styx Malone
- Pashmina
- A Bone From a Dry Sea
Math
Continuing with the Singapore Math curriculum, 5th grade math is organized into three major topics: whole numbers, parts and geometry. Math class is organized into a structure in which students review the homework from the previous night, engage in a mini-lesson about a concept, then practice either independently or in small groups before regrouping to share their classwork.
Units of Study:
- Whole Numbers and the Four Operations
- Fractions and Mixed Numbers
- Multiplying and Dividing Fractions and Mixed Numbers
- Decimals
- Four Operations of Decimals
- Volume
- Line Plots and the Coordinate Plane
- Polygons
- Ratio
- Percent
Humanities
In social studies, 5th graders start the year by studying the rise and fall of civilizations through the lens of five themes - geography, place, location, human/environment interaction, movement, and region - and assess how these components impact our modern world. Students learn about the various geographical features of the world, practice mapping skills, and discuss the difference between prehistory and history by thinking about how we know what happened in the past and who influences the process of recording history. Themes of geography support students as they explore various ancient civilizations.
Students explore relevant current events occurring locally, nationally, and internationally, and participate in discussions about why these events occur and their impact on us, our greater community, and the world. Fifth grade is a year to develop critical-thinking skills, analytical reading skills, public speaking skills and media literacy skills. This is also a time for students to reflect on their role in the community and what they can do to help our world become a better place.
Concepts
- The impact of geographical locations on a civilization
- Agriculture and technology, economy and trade, specialized labor and society, government and leadership, and religion
- What contributes to the rise and fall of a civilization
- Compare and contrast civilizations
- Impact of history on current events and the world we live in today
Skills
- Content Knowledge:
- Demonstrate understanding of key concepts
- Causal relationships and historical timelines
- Compare, contrast and analyze a variety of texts, primary and secondary sources
- Analysis and Research Skills:
- Interprets and synthesizes primary and secondary sources
- Researches and presents topic of choice using notes and a variety of credible sources to make citations
- Correctly formats a works cited page
Units of Study
- Peopling of the World
- Paleolithic
- Mesolithic
- Neolithic time periods
- Ancient Civilizations
- Out of Eden
- The world around you: The present and the Local
- How we learn about History: The past and the global
Science
With inquiry at its core, the 5th grade science curriculum aims to guide students to collaboratively and independently investigate issues through observation, research and experimentation. As students investigate real examples of science applications, they discover the dependencies and tensions between ethics, culture, economics, and environment.
Beginning in 5th grade, our students participate in the annual Science Expo where visiting scientists attend and assess projects students have designed, implemented and evaluated. In 5th grade, students work in partners or trios to develop their Science Expo projects.
Skills
- Understand and explain scientific concepts
- Use structured processes to solve problems, gather information, and draw conclusions
- Record observations and thought processes, measure with accuracy and communicate with relevance, meaning and insight
- Engage in hands-on experiments to explore and inquire about science in the world around us
Units of Study
- Ecosystems
- Water Issues
- Solubility chemistry
- Microworlds
Social-Emotional Learning
The Classroom Advisory Program (CAP) builds upon community-building lessons that take place in the Lower School. Our Middle School CAP program focuses on identity, health and wellness, communication, and interpersonal relationships and learning. CAP provides students with a spiraling curriculum that allows for a deeper dive into character education, social-emotional learning and citizenship as students progress through the grades.
Fifth grade topics include:
- Managing stress in healthy ways
- Self-esteem
- Healthy friendships and relationships
- Conflict resolution
- Confronting bullying, bias and discrimination
- Upstander vs. bystander
- Peer pressure
- Responsibility and accountability
- Respect
- Identity
- Mental health awareness
- Puberty, hygiene and changing hormones
Specials Classes
Music
Fifth grade is an exciting time for music students as they select an individual string, woodwind or brass instrument and participate in small group instruction and orchestra practice. The year culminates with our beloved Middle School Spring Concert, during which students perform for families.
Units of Study:
- Rhythm
- Melody
- Musicianship
- Vocal Technique
- Musical Literacy
- Music Appreciation
Physical Education
Technology
- Computational thinking through block-based coding in interactive apps and robotics
- Expressing ideas through graphic design, webpage design and videos
- Digital citizenship
- Media balance and well-being
- Privacy and security
- Digital footprint and identity
- Relationships and communication
- Cyberbullying, digital drama and hate speech
- Media literacy
Visual Arts
In 5th grade, the Middle School art curriculum begins a more systematic approach to the formal elements of art, beginning with an extended study of color theory. Drawing assignments isolate components of drafting, such as contour lines, hatching and value. Students view the complexity of the ancient civilization of Egypt through plaster carving, and encounter Mayan architecture through the durable art forms they left behind.
Units of Study:
- Color scheme exploration
- Aboriginal art
- Careers in art
- Cartouches
- Ancient Mayan architecture
- Ancient pottery
- Drawing homework focusing on foundational drawing skills
World Languages: Spanish and Mandarin
Beginning in 5th grade, students choose between Spanish or Mandarin as their World Language course.
Spanish
Students learn Spanish vocabulary, grammar, culture and history through the lenses of different countries including Spain and Spanish-speaking countries in Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Fifth grade students practice their speaking and listening skills three times per cycle.
- Vocabulary:
- Food
- Meals and celebrations
- The body and health
- A healthy life
- Grammar:
- Using the verb ser
- Regular verb conjugations in the present tense
- Conjugations in past tense for some regular and irregular verbs
- Cultural backdrop: Guatemala
- Identify foods by studying traditional Guatemalan dishes and comparing them with dishes in the United States.
- Explain the role of food in celebrations by describing birthday parties and the food served at those celebrations.
- Identify parts of the body by describing physical activities and describing ailments.
- Explain how to maintain a good health and healthy environment by discussing ways to care for their bodies and the environment.
Mandarin
Students learn to write fundamental Chinese characters using their pictographic features, and begin to gain an understanding of where and how the characters were originally formed, a solid foundation for true learning in Chinese characters. By learning simplified characters, pinyin (Mandarin’s phonetic alphabet) and tone, students develop speaking, listening, reading and writing skills through topic-based conversation. Mandarin class also includes cultural exposure, including the celebration of major Chinese holidays like the Moon Festival and Chinese New Year.
- Introduction
- Pinyin
- Tones
- Basic strokes
- Pictographic words/phrases
- Origin of Chinese characters
- Numbers
- Greetings
- Dates
Electives
Beginning in fifth grade, Electives are offered once per cycle to middle school students in mixed group settings. This is a chance for students to have choice and voice through personal selection and an opportunity to work with peers from other middle school classes. Offerings change from year to year and have included Photography, Creative Writing, Fiber Arts, Tinkering and Makerspace, The Art of Public Speaking, Healthy Habits and Nutrition, Service Learning, Theatre, Coding, and Ethics Bowl. (Pictured below is our winning team at the 2023 Middle School Ethics Bowl!)
Homework and Assessments
5th graders can expect daily homework that is purposeful and helps students manage their time and workload responsibly. Students will be assessed in a variety of ways, including class discussions, homework assignments, comprehension questions, essays, end of unit tests, quizzes, and research projects. Stevens uses authentic observation, testing, and ongoing assessment to provide a comprehensive evaluation of each student.
Trips
In addition to exploring relevant curriculum connections through local day trips to museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, students participate in an overnight trip to the Stokes State Forest (New Jersey School of Conservation) for three days and two nights focused on enhancing teamwork, leadership and self-confidence.