FIFTH GRADE
Our Fifth Grade program provides children a strong start on being successful and independent learners throughout their St. Mary’s experience, into college, and beyond. Courses are inquiry- and project-based, as they are throughout the Middle School. Our goal is to create a safe and nurturing child-centered program that fosters a love of learning and exploration.
Humanities: Literature and Writing
The literature and writing component of Humanities asks students to consider themselves in relation to their immediate communities—family, friends, and the people at school. Essential questions include, “How does making choices affect me?” and “What responsibilities do I have to my communities?” Writer’s Workshop provides a structured process for students to brainstorm, draft, revise, edit, publish and celebrate. Students receive feedback about their writing on a regular basis from their teacher, and peer editing is introduced so that developing writers learn how to best give and receive feedback. Students learn to edit for grammar, punctuation and usage.
Writing is explored in several genres including personal narrative, poetry, short story, and persuasive essay. Vocabulary building occurs through shared texts as well as supplemental materials. Close reading is emphasized through annotations and group discussion.
Humanities: History and Social Studies
The social studies component of Humanities uses global themes such as change, interdependence, diversity, human migration, human rights, quality of life, and sustainability to explore the history of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Students learn how the physical and political geography of the region influenced the region’s economic and cultural history. They study the roles that fishing, timber, and other industries played in shaping the economic and social development of the Pacific Northwest, and their impact upon the region’s natural environment and its indigenous cultures. Working individually and in groups, students read historical accounts, analyze historical issues, discuss current events, role-play, create art related to the content, and write persuasive essays on issues that affect their local communities and the region as a whole.
Physical Education
Physical Education is consistent with other Middle School PE classes and emphasizes movement education, fitness, and a healthy lifestyle. Students learn to monitor, track, and improve their own level of fitness throughout the year in a variety of different sports and physical activities.
Mathematics
This course is designed to give students extensive exposure to working with fractions, decimals and percentages. These concepts are built and developed through hands-on approaches and investigations that help students develop standard methods. In addition, they
will explore basic number
and multiples, estimation, measurement, and two- dimensional geometry.
Integrated Science I
This course integrates physical and life science, earth and space science, and engineering. A key purpose and goal of this class is to guide students in thinking and acting like scientists. Scientific concepts in the course include cause and effect; scale, proportion, and quantity; energy and matter; and systems and systems models.
Art and Choir
In this course fifth-grade students are exposed to many different media in the realm of drawing, ceramics, and printmaking. Students will be able to build new skills while expressing themselves creatively. One theme of the year is the observation and use of negative space as a tool for drawing and for designing more interesting compositions and sculptures. They will complete drawing
projects with colored pencils, watercolor,
crayons, colored tissue paper, and learn some basics of color theory and drawing three-dimensionally.
During choir, students learn and reinforce basic music literacy skills as they read, write, and perform music from varied genres and time periods. Students learn the basics of healthy vocal production, choral performance, and musical improvisation.
High School partners
This program partners our Fifth Grade students with our high school juniors and seniors. The goal of Partners is to provide positive role models for our younger students and a valuable mentoring opportunity for our older students.
theory, factors
6
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
