Grade 5 Curriculum Overview

Parents and Guardians

This guide provides an overview of what your child will be learning in fifth grade. It is based on the Common Core Standards, the Massachusetts Frameworks, and the curricular approaches which have been adopted by the Somerville Public Schools. The detailed Massachusetts Frameworks are available at: http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/.

Academic standards are important. They ensure that all students, no matter where they start, are prepared for success in the next grade level, college, and their careers. By defining standards clearly, we aim to help families and teachers work together to ensure that students succeed. There are some students who will need additional support to meet a standard. Other students will need more complex work to go beyond the standard. Teachers craft their day-to-day classroom instruction based on the standards, individual student needs, and the unique characters of their schools and community.

How can I support my child's learning at home?

• Talk to your child about what they are learning in school
• Contact your child's teacher with any questions or concerns and attend Parent Teacher Conferences
• Check your child's folder and/or agenda book every night
• Provide a space and a consistent time for your child to complete their homework

English Language Arts

For curriculum, we us an In-District developed reading and writing units based on "Science of Reading" principles and the recommendations of the National Reading Panel. We are in the process of selecting a new k-5 literacy curriculum and will begin implementation in 2025. Student’s reading progress is monitored using the DIBELS reading assessment and the i-Ready formative assessment

Reading: During the year, students in the fifth grade will be working on:

• Understanding characters in-depth (how they respond to challenges, their point of view, their thoughts, feelings, and motivations)
• Comparing characters in a story by drawing on specific details and quoting accurately from the text
• Reading fiction texts, non-fiction texts, and poems.
• Summarizing the text by explaining the relationships between ideas and quoting accurately
• Using multiple strategies (previewing and predicting, activating prior knowledge, setting a purpose for reading, summarizing, asking questions, and synthesizing information) to read and comprehend a nonfiction text
• Using elements of poetry (figurative language, imagery, rhythm/meter, alliteration, onomatopoeia, consonance, and assonance) when talking about poems
• Figuring out the theme/author's message of a poem by drawing on evidence and quotes from the text (tone, language used, imagery)
• Comparing and analyzing different points of view by reading multiple texts on the same topic
• Communicating multiple sides of an issue using evidence from research
• Forming an opinion based on information gathered using multiple sources and points of view
• Comparing books with similar themes using specific details (setting, characters, lessons, etc.) and quoting accurately from the text
• Engaging in discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) on topics and texts, building on others' ideas, expressing their own ideas clearly, and using evidence to support claims

Writing: Somerville's writing program emphasizes giving students many opportunities to write each day across subject areas. As they write during the year, students in fifth grade will be working on:

• Organizing ideas on a topic into a multi-paragraph piece
• Linking ideas in my writing (consequently, specifically, in contract, especially, however)
• Writing a conclusion that goes beyond just repeating the introduction
• Using formal, informal, and specialized language that's appropriate for the purpose and audience
• Using figurative language (metaphors and imagery) to create an effect on the reader
• Use details and evidence to support an idea
• Writing sentences of varying lengths and structure to communicate meaning or mood
• Correctly spelling grade level words using resources if needed
• Using commas to separate clauses
• Correctly using multiple tenses in one piece of writing as needed

Over the course of the year, students will complete three types of writing: narrative (story), informative, and opinion. Examples of these in fifth grade could include: writing original poetry, writing an essay about a story's themes, or writing a feature article about a science topic.

How can I support my child's literacy learning at home?

• Encourage your child to read daily and discuss the texts he/she is reading
• When your child shares an opinion or thought about a book, ask them why? and have them use evidence from the book
• Encourage your child to write by keeping a diary, or sending a thank you note or a letter to a family member or friends

Mathematics

In School Year 2024-25, Somerville Public Schools is implementing the Illustrative Mathematics (IM) curriculum districtwide in grades 3-5. You can find more information on the publisher's website.

During the year, students in the fifth grade will be working on:

• Multiplying multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm
• Using parentheses, brackets, and braces in solving equations, for example [3 x (45 + 42) ] =
• Reading, writing, comparing, and rounding decimals to the thousandths place
• Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals to hundredths
• Adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators (including mixed numbers)
• Solving word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions
• Solving word problems involving multiplication and division of whole numbers
• Solving word problems involving multiplication and division of fractions
• Understanding the concept of volume, and solving word problems that involve volume
• Graphing points in the coordinate plane (two dimensions) to solve problems
• Analyzing mathematical patterns and relationships

(Adapted from PTA Common Core Guide and Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks Critical Areas. Please see the Massachusetts Frameworks for more detailed standards and skills.)

How can I support my child's math learning at home?

• Point out examples of using math in everyday life such as using fractions while measuring ingredients for a recipe, estimating the cost of items at a store.
• Look for "word problems" in real life. Some 5th grade examples might include: doing arithmetic with decimals, for example when balancing a checkbook; multiplying with fractions, for example, if you used about 2/3 of a 3/4 cup measure of vegetable stock, then how much stock did you use? About how much is left?; using the length, width, and depth of a garden plot to determine how many bags of soil to buy.

Science, Technology, and Engineering

During the year, students in the fifth grade will be learning:

• To use a model to communicate Earth’s relationship to the sun, moon, and other stars that explain (a) why people on Earth experience day and night, (b) patterns in daily changes in length and direction of shadows over a day, and (c) changes in the apparent position of the sun, moon, and stars at different times during a day, over a month, and over a year
• To describe the cycling of water through a watershed through evaporation, precipitation, absorption, surface runoff, and condensation
• How relative amounts of salt water in the ocean, and fresh water in lakes, rivers, and groundwater, and fresh water frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps relate to the availability of fresh water in Earth’s biosphere
• How communities can reduce human impact on the Earth’s resources and environment by changing an agricultural, industrial, or community practice or process
• The process by which plants use air, water, and energy from sunlight to produce sugars and plant materials needed for growth and reproduction
• How matter moves among producers, consumers, decomposers, and the air, water, and soil in the environment
• How different designs for a composter can effectively encourage decomposition of materials
• Use a particle model of matter to explain common phenomena involving gases, and phase changes between gas and liquid and between liquid and solid
• How the total mass of matter is conserved even after a reaction or phase change
• How to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances with new properties (a chemical reaction) or not (a mixture)
• How the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed toward Earth’s center
• That the food animals digest (a) contains energy that was once energy from the sun, and (b) provides energy and nutrients for life processes, including body repair, growth, motion, body warmth, and reproduction
• To provide examples of improvements to existing technologies (innovations) and the development of new technologies (inventions)

Social Studies

5th grade students use the Investigating History curriculum. This is an inquiry based Massachusetts-specific curriculum.

Social/Emotional

The elementary years are an important time to nurture social-emotional competence and develop foundational learning skills. The Somerville Public Schools uses the Second Step curriculum, an evidence-based program that includes everything schools need to integrate social-emotional learning into their classrooms and school-wide. The curriculum is designed to promote school success, self-regulation, and a sense of safety and support.

Classroom teachers are responsible for implementing Second Step. Schools' guidance counselors and other support personnel assist teachers and students to work toward attaining curriculum goals. Staff at your child's school can give you more detailed information about the sequence of skills taught and how social/emotional skills are taught.

Specialists: The Somerville Public Schools provides each student with 40 minutes per week of instruction in General, Music, Library/media, Art, and Physical Education. The specialists at each school are available to give you more detailed information about specific skills addressed.

Assessment: We believe that there is more than one way to accurately assess student learning. These include not only standardized measures such as DIBELS (Grades K-3), MCAS ( Grades 3-10), and STAR (Grades 2-8), but also more informal assessments including common end of unit assessments, reading/writing conferences, classroom participation, classroom projects, and writing assignments.

updated 09/2024