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Fifth Grade

Fifth Grade students begin their year building community and leadership skills on a three day, two night outdoor education experience on the Eastern Shore.

team building exercise
Upon their return, students are excited to participate in many new programs specifically designed for our oldest students such as interscholastic sports, the NPS Handbell Program, the Spring Musical, Student Council, and writing for our school newspaper, the Nebraska Avenue Times. 
boy doing a math problem with cubes

Mathematics

  • Addition, subtraction, and multiplication of whole numbers and decimals
  • Division of whole numbers
  • Use of various algorithms
  • Fractions, decimals, and percentages
  • Volume
  • Geometry exploration
  • Million Dollar Project
girl reading

Reading

  • Reading Workshop: fiction, non-fiction, argument and advocacy
  • Comprehension strategy instruction: themes, characters, prediction, inferences, and summarization
  • Book clubs
  • Whole class novel discussions: Home of the Brave, Front Desk, A Long Walk to Water
Teacher and student working together

Language Arts

  • Writing Workshop: Narrative essay, literary essay, expository writing, argument essay 
  • Emphasis on 5-paragraph essay
  • Year long grammar and morphology studies
  • Poetry Unit
     
students examining religious text

Social and Global Studies

  • Development of civilizations
  • Prehistoric life
  • Ancient civilizations: Mesopotamia and Fertile Crescent, Egypt, Greece, and Rome
  • Timeline, map, research, and note-taking skills
girl working on a Science project

Science

  • Earth and sun
  • Mixtures and solutions
  • Living systems
two students working on homework

Homework

  • Four nights a week: up to 50 minutes
Chorus

Highlights

  • First Grade buddies
  • Overnight environmental education and adventure program
  • Interscholastic sports teams
  • Student Council 
  • Handbell Choir, Chorus, and Spring Musical
  • Writing for school newspaper
  • Interdisciplinary service learning project on homelessness
  • Field Trips to Washington Hebrew Congregation and The Walters Art Museum, among others
  • Specials: Art, Drama, Library, Music, PE, Religion, Science, Spanish, Technology