Fifth Grade

Why Fifth Grade at Friends Academy?

As the eldest students in Lower School, Friends Academy fifth graders are leaders to younger students while also looking up to older grades. Fifth grade begins a gradual transition to Middle School by mixing in Middle School specialists for art, music, and PE, as well as interscholastic athletics and an annual musical production.

The fifth grade academic curriculum focuses on solidifying essential math and writing skills while also thinking critically, investigating topics through research, solving problems, and exploring different perspectives. From the Columbian Exchange to world economics, students learn not just what happened and is happening, but why and how. Many projects take an interdisciplinary approach, and the classroom is often filled with conversation as students lend their voices and listen to others’ viewpoints.

Just as important as building their academic stamina, fifth grade challenges students to grow their independence, social skills, and executive functioning – all critical to success in Middle School and beyond. Day-to-day learning in fifth grade is less teacher-managed than in previous grades, as students develop a deeper understanding of how they learn, how to use classroom tools to support their learning, and how to advocate for themselves when needed. Students complete Lower School and enter sixth grade understanding that they truly are agents of change, setting the stage for formal service learning in Middle School.

“[Friends] is a wonderful environment for my son to learn in. He feels so supported and is excited about learning.”

Parent of a fifth grade student

Fifth Grade Curriculum

At the end of each week, the fifth grade teacher sends out a newsletter to families with photos and updates about what students learned that week. (See a sample newsletter.)

Language Arts (Reading and Writing)

• Focus on grammatical skills and understanding the specific role of each part of speech in a sentence.
• Explore a wide variety of literature including poetry, short stories, and novels (both fiction and non-fiction). through both independent and group reading.
• Develop well-articulated paragraphs (clear topic sentence, solid supporting evidence, and concluding statement).
• Draft and revise written work using a critique process.
• Continue to practice typing and cursive writing.

Mathematics

• Understand factors, including concepts such as the greatest common factor and least common multiple.
• Routinely practice the order of operations to ready students for more complex mathematical concepts in Middle School.
• Work with exponential problem sets.
• Focus on utilizing fractions within operations.
• Use math skills to enhance understanding of economic concepts in interdisciplinary units with social studies.

Social Studies

• Explore the colonization of the U.S., including the arrival of the Puritans and the founding of Jamestown and Plymouth as distinct colonies.
• Analyze the effects of the Columbian Exchange on the global community, particularly on colonization.
• Understand economics, focusing on supply and demand and the influence of natural resources on an economy.

Science

• Study the six major terrestrial biomes, including geography, climates, and plant and animal adaptations.
• Explore renewable vs. non-renewable energy sources and understand how different forms of energy work.
• Investigate Newton’s Three Laws of Motion by building experimental exhibits that demonstrate inertia, force, and action and reaction.
• Understand the water cycle, including watersheds, weather, and human influences on the environment.

Physical Education

• Promote physical movement and motor skill competency through activities including soccer, handball, basketball, volleyball, kickball, and ultimate frisbee.
• Practice skills such as communication, following the rules of the game, proper form and technique, spacing and body positioning, and team strategizing.

Art

• Explore many different modes of image making and personal expression through art.
• Develop powers of observation, memory, and imagination and use them as springboards to create artwork.
• Empower students to feel that anything is possible, want to try new things, and allow themselves to make mistakes.

Music

• Explore themes of freedom and independence in music, digging deeply into Samba Reggae as a foundation for music studies.
• Focus on rhythm, including writing and performing rhythms on drums as well as listening to and reflecting on the effects of a “good beat” in music.
• Study a through-line artist and their use of music to communicate messages, beliefs, and movements.
• Use GarageBand to create original music on MacBooks.

Spanish

• Continue to build Spanish language skills by reading simple stories and building vocabulary in context.
• Grow confidence in speaking, writing, and reading in Spanish.

Library

• Review techniques and ethics of research, including searching databases and including proper citations, and practice organizing digital research (e.g., saving images on Google Drive).
• Understand primary sources by interviewing Friends Academy alumni.
• Use digital databases and books to research class projects.
• Discover new books for independent reading time.