Fifth grade mathematics has four main goals. Students: 1) learn to value mathematics, 2) become confident in their abilities, 3) become mathematical problem solvers, and 4) learn to communicate mathematically. We work to achieve these goals by using manipulatives consistently, stressing process instead of product only, having partner and class discussions, and using real life situations. We encourage risk-taking, making conjectures and building an argument, as well as writing and discussing students' own mathematical thinking. Students are also assisted in learning basic skills, such as rapid knowledge of basic facts and the form of standard algorithms.

Some of the concepts this year will include:

Language Arts

Reading

The basic goals of fifth grade reading are increasing comprehension (using strategies such as predicting, sequencing, summarizing), sharpening word attack skills, building vocabulary, learning about a variety of literature, strengthening oral expression, and most importantly, encouraging a love of literature.

The children will be reading many kinds of books from different genres this year and will be responding in a variety of ways. Titles this year may include: The Twenty-One Balloons, Bill Peet: an Autobiography, Under the Blood-Red Sun, Goody Hall, The Double Life of Pocahontas, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and many others. We will also be reading a variety of non-fiction books (mainly those that relate to our social studies theme). Students read in varied settings: as a whole class, with a partner, in small groups, and alone. In addition to the morning reading program, there is a daily silent reading period, and each day I read classic children's books aloud.

Some of this year's reading activities will include character analysis, prediction, author inspirations, general opinions, dramatic re-enactment of important scenes, book reviews, poems, rhymes, banners, book character interviews, and written responses.

Writing

In writing, the major goals of the fifth grade are to foster a love of writing and refine the concept of audience. This is done by engaging the children in a wide variety of writing activities. These activities include creative writing, written reports, poetry, play writing, letters and spelling, and editing. Creative and report writing both stress the importance of the writers' workshop process. This process involves brainstorming, drafting, revision, editing, and the creation of a final copy. Writers' workshop gives the children a structure that helps them create clear and understandable writing. We also have the children publish their work. This includes making books and displaying final copies in many different ways.

Specific writing skills and techniques (literary elements) are presented weekly. These are practiced during our daily challenge and with mini-lessons, which are taught at the beginning of writing time.

Throughout the year, we ask the children to create writing based on research. With this type of writing, we stress using one's own voice, where to find research materials, and how to use a variety of these materials. The final copies of these are presented as bound books (made by the children), diary accounts, postcards, and as incorporated into multimedia computer programs.

We encourage invented spelling to help with the flow of ideas. As the children revise their work, they are asked to find standardized spelling. The children also have weekly spelling exercises that stress word analysis. To foster vocabulary development, students will also be studying the root origins of words once per week.

Science

In the fifth grade, we continue to use the "process approach," using "hands-on" activities. Throughout these activities we stress the scientific process - observing, predicting, designing experiments to test hypotheses, and creating theories. The study of science actively engages children because of their natural curiosity and the hands-on nature of the activities. The children enjoy creating projects, performing experiments and bringing in science related items from home. We offer the children many ways to display their scientific knowledge - including science fairs, oral reports, posters, and models. As in math, we talk and reflect constantly about our thought processes. Individually, in small groups and as a whole class, we discuss our scientific thinking.

General topics to be covered are gathering facts, interpreting and organizing data, measuring and recording findings, looking for irregularities, deviations, or exceptions, using books to gather data, verifying data, developing models, and reporting findings accurately.

The fifth grade also takes an annual trip to IslandWood, an independent environmental learning camp on Bainbridge Island. This four-day experience gives an intense focus on ecosystems and gives students the opportunity to learn in a natural setting.

Some specific topics to be covered this year include: simple machines and inventions, forces of nature, and environmental science.

Computers

The students will be doing a wide variety of activities on the computer this year. We stress basic skills in the Windows format and use programs that are intellectually demanding but allow the student to be creative. Basic skills programs include: typing technique, word processing, and math programs. More creative activities may include using PowerPoint, HyperStudio (presentations), online researching, and email projects.

Social Studies

Social studies is integrated into all of our other subject areas. In language arts, we will read historical fiction, myth, and do research projects about the social studies topic that we are investigating. Art and mathematics are also an integral part of our social studies units. These units often also include non-fiction readings, research, debates, role-playing, and field trips

One of our first social studies units will focus on inventors. Students will learn what makes someone an inventor, how advertising plays a role in developing and marketing inventions, and create an invention of their own. Later in the year, the class will study the early Native Americans who lived here in the Northwest. This exploration will allow us to uncover the differences between our cultures, as well as our similarities. We will also be studying colonization during the early years of our country's history, and taking part in a simulation.

Fine Arts

Art

The children are exposed to a wide variety of techniques and artists. In the classroom, we will be creating art in a variety of different media, such as watercolor, oil pastel, clay and other ceramics, colored pencils, acrylics, and cut paper. We encourage students to be creative at the same time that they are strengthening basic skills. Concepts such as balance, color, shape, and texture are explored in a variety of projects. An art specialist also teaches these concepts as they pertain to specific creative projects for a full hour once per week. The art teacher also helps classroom teachers integrate art with other units of study as requested.

Drama

Drama is integrated in many of our activities throughout the school day. Students act out key events from stories, have debates as characters from history, and interview story characters. We will also be playing many drama games and exercises with the help of a drama specialist.

We have a large production every year, which is often related to our social studies unit. These productions usually include singing, acting, and often a musical accompaniment coordinated by a music specialist.

Music

Music is part of an afternoon "arts block" that is lead by a music specialist. As part of this block (which includes art and dance), students are introduced to many of the structures of music (rhythm, melody, beat), examine musical genres, and sing a wide variety of songs.

Our music specialist helps students learn to sing in intervals using the solfeggio system, involving ear training and hand signals. A variety of instruments, including xylophones, drums, and cymbals, are used to teach pitch and rhythm with many Orff-Schulwerk techniques. Students also learn basic musical notation to identify note types and musical symbols.

During the year, professional musicians from different traditions will visit the school. For example, we plan to have members of the Seattle Symphony present a program to individual classrooms and to the whole school, as they did last year.

Physical Education

We enjoy an ongoing relationship with the Ewajo studio, where students participate in dance classes on Friday afternoons. At the same time, an accredited children's yoga instructor teaches yoga at the nearby Santosha studio. Students alternate between the two activities throughout the year. Both of these activities afford children wonderful opportunities to develop confidence, physical strength and balance while exercising.

Regular P.E. sessions are held on campus. Various skills are emphasized, and children learn specific sports. The different grades meet with a P.E. specialist on a rotating basis to acquire these skills. Students also have ample time at recess to structure their own organized games. French

By fifth grade, the students are able to handle a wide-ranging vocabulary, topical conversations, and beginning reading and writing. They continue to play games with both manipulatives and real objects to encourage learning in a hands-on way. Topics include the basics: introductions, counting, size weather, color, foods, animals, households, transportation, etc. More advanced units may be based on travel, castles, or villages, and they incorporate dialogue and drama. Over the span of the elementary years, the children gain confidence in speaking and develop concepts basic to all foreign languages.