+ MATHEMATICS

In 5th grade, students practice more complex computations with larger numbers, fractions, decimals, and use all operations including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to solve problems.

5th grade math also emphasizes real life situations to help students strengthen their skills and understand that Math is a tool to be used in their everyday lives. Students will often be asked to explain how they solved problems in order to master the underlying rules they used.

Our goal will be for the class to use the four operations to solve decimal problems, round decimals and to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions with unlike denominators.

+ RELIGION

Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the Word of Christ.

Romans 10:17

Our 5th grade religion classes will help us to understand and develop our faith using the teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the basis of our study. We will explore our core Catholic beliefs in order to develop a common knowledge and language that allows us to interact with our community of faith. Contributing to their growth will be a study of the Mass, Sacraments, discovering the Church’s celebration of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, the life of Mary and the saints, and weekly scripture readings. We will see how the sacraments strengthen us to grow in faith and holiness and the love of God. We will study the Beatitudes and Corporal works of Mercy as examples of how we can live our faith so we can ultimately grow closer to God.

+ ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

The curriculum at the fifth grade level in ELA will come to the students in a two part system. This two part phase ensures that students acquire new skills necessary for their advancement to Middle School. It will also reinforce and expand on old skills they have already mastered.

Students will advance to the next level in the Voyages curriculum. They will continue to learn and expand on the following concepts: parts of speech, proper utilization of different parts of speech, proper grammar, and proper sentence structure. Exercises will be provided to the students two of these ways are: book-work and real life application of the concepts in outside text.

Writing is the next part of the system with fifth grade ELA. Students will reinforce previously learned skills through various small writing activities. Throughout the year students will maintain intense focus on several different genres of writing such as Personal Narrative, Business Letters, Formal Book Reports, and Research Papers. An in depth focus on different types of writing will allow students to practice writing. It also allows students to apply their writing and grammar skills to specialized pieces. Writing Workshop is set up with a mixture of teacher instruction, guided writing, student/teacher guided revision, and exploration of professional pieces of writing in the genre that is being learned about.

One goal for fifth grade ELA is to enhance the student’s grasp of grammar concepts. A second major goal is to enhance the student’s writing capabilities and prepare them for more advanced and specialized pieces that will presented to them at the Middle School Level.

+ SOCIAL STUDIES

In Social Studies, the students will focus on American history beginning with the colonization of America and the events through the 20th century. We will begin with the earliest settlements in North America, examining how they established the economic, political and social development of the English colonies. We will discuss how so many people believed in finding freedom to express their religious beliefs and gain a better way of life that is still a dream of many today.

Our studies will also explore the development of democratic institutions and ideas, including the events that led to the independence of the original 13 colonies and ultimately the formation of our national government under the rules of our new constitution.

We will continue to read and interpret maps and charts. We will discuss current events and how they influence our lives, research people past and present and study the sacrifices they made to help others attain better lives. Students will see how historical events helped mold the country we live in today.

+ SCIENCE

The fifth grade Science Curriculum at Saint Patrick’s gives students a broad overview of many different topics such as Geology, Biology, Ecology, Physics, etc… With these many different Sciences students will have a two fold experience.

In fifth grade we will explore concepts within the book relating to all different fields. As a class the fifth grade will learn to read and pull important information from text. They will also learn to record the information in their own words as well as expand upon that information given to them. This first element is crucial to the second piece of the curriculum.

In the second element of the curriculum students will begin to take a more in depth approach to their experiments relating to the field of study that has been covered by their coursework in specific Science Field. They will, with guidance and as a group, begin to design and implement experiments relating to the content. This will encourage students to utilize skills such as problem solving, data collection, and introduce them to the concept of Scientific writing and the Scientific method in action. These skills will be utilized and further expanded upon in their Middle School years.

The goal for the year is to allow the students to expand on their knowledge, enhance already learned skills, and help to foster the beginnings of new skills relating to Science.

+ SPECIALS

All students participate in specials that compliment the rigorous classroom curricula throughout the school year. Art, Physical Education, Music, STEAM, and Spanish are offered to all students from grades Kindergarten through grade 8.

Students begin to experience the Spanish language 1x per week starting in kindergarten through grade 5. Middle School students take Spanish 3x per week.