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Fifth Grade

Welcome to Fifth Grade at Brandon Academy.  This class continues to enhance the skills covered in the areas of reading, math, writing/spelling, science, and social studies.  In addition to these core subjects, students take music, art, computer and physical education. Please see below for more information about each core subject. 

Reading - The overall goal for reading in fifth grade is for students to comprehend what they are reading and to critically examine the material. This is accomplished through the study of novels, short stories, and poetry. Students also have access to a wide variety of literature in the classroom library.

Skills
Beginning of the Year
  • Reading fluency
  • Basic comprehension skills
Middle of Year
  • Read independently
  • Identify literary elements such as protagonist, antagonist, setting, climax, solution
  • Comprehend and evaluate content independently
  • Critically respond to literature with assistance
  • Identify and expand upon details in a story with assistance
  • Identify genres of writing
End of the Year
  • Read, evaluate, and examine literature independently
  • Continue to develop critical thinking skills to respond to literature

 

Language Arts - The overall goal for language arts in fifth grade is for students to be a successful writer in narrative, descriptive, persuasive, and expository writing. The focus during the second half of fifth grade is on expository. Students should be able to write legibly in print and cursive. Focus during the second half of fifth grade is on typing. Students demonstrate their writing abilities through various informal and formal writing activities, culminating in a research paper that includes the use of citations and references. Students also participate annually in the Scripps Spelling Bee.

Skills
Beginning of the Year
  • Familiar with narrative, descriptive, persuasive, and expository writing
  • Familiar with google docs and google slides
  • Expand on complete sentences with descriptive detail
  • Write introduction, middle, and conclusion paragraphs using proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, indentation, and organization
Middle of the Year
  • Write a minimum of five paragraphs with eight or more sentences including proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, indentation, and organization
  • Use appropriate and specific vocabulary
  • Integrate writing with other subjects
  • Integrate personal viewpoints with research to write persuasive writing; use writing to critically debate
End of the Year
  • Use citations and references without plagiarism
  • Comfortable to write independently and successfully in all four styles of writing
  • Research independently to create expository or persuasive writing
  • Respond to questions in various subjects with fully thought out paragraphs
  • Use google docs and google slides

 

Math - The overall goal for math in fifth grade is for students to expand their basic knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to new areas such as decimals, fractions, integers, and equations. Fifth grade students are working a year ahead in a 6th grade math book.  By the end of the year, students should have an overall understanding of basic algebra.

Skills
Beginning of the Year
  • Write & find the value of exponents,  use divisibility rules, solve expressions using order of operations (PEMDAS)
  • Write and evaluate algebraic expressions & simplify equations
  •  Add/Subtract/Multiply/Divide decimals, fractions, and mixed numbers
  • Banking unit in preparation for JA BizTown- learn to write & endorse checks, balance check registers, fill out deposit tickets, learn the difference between gross and net pay
Middle of the Year
  • Be able to write ratios, solve proportions using equivalent ratios and unit rates
  • Write percentages as fractions & decimals, write fractions as decimals & percentages, compare & order fractions/decimals/percentages,
  •  Find the percent of a number and figure out tips
End of the Year
  • Add/Subtract/Multiply/Divide positive & negative integers
  • Add/Subtract/Multiply/Divide equations
  • Solve two step equations
  • Graph functions

 

Social Studies - The overall goal for social studies in fifth grade is for students to discuss, evaluate, and respond critically to historical content. Students also expand on their basic geographical skills. Students demonstrate their knowledge and practice their skills through projects, tests, discussions, field trips, and writing activities. Students also participate in the annual Geography Bee.

Skills
Beginning of the Year
  • Can identify, locate, and name the US states and capitals, continents, and oceans
  • Can analyze maps, graphs, and timelines
  • Understand Florida history and have rudimentary understanding of US history
Middle of the Year
  • Can identify, locate, and name World countries and capitals
  • Can analyze and create accurate charts, maps, graphs, and timelines
  • Gain deeper understanding of US history spanning the arrival of Native people to the Civil War era
End of the Year
  • Expand understanding of history including government and geography
  • Apply knowledge through personal research into a historical topic from the modern era and be able to critically discuss such research

 

Science - The overall goal for science in fifth grade is for students to discuss, evaluate, and respond critically to scientific concepts, methods and discoveries. Students expand on scientific concepts through theoretical knowledge and practical application in monthly lab activities. Students demonstrate their knowledge and practice their skills through projects, tests, discussions, field trips, and lab reports.

Skills
Beginning of the Year
  • Basic knowledge of plant systems, animal kingdoms, body systems, layers of the Earth, the Solar System, weather
  • Familiar with google docs and google slides
  • Able to research and able to conduct scientific experiments
  • Understand scientific contributions
Middle of the Year
  • Write observational and how-to lab reports
  • Properly diagram and label scientific drawings
  • Integrate concepts such as habitat, adaptation, and body parts to understand evolution
  • Explore the history of science
End of the Year
  • Classify animal and plant life     
  • Understanding of natural selection
  • Comprehend how traits are passed from parent to offspring (DNA)
  • Familiar with the Periodic Table and various types of elements
  • Writing chemical formulas