Grade 5 Curriculum

Unit Pacing - 5 weeks (September - October)

In this unit, students will: 

• Solve multistep story problems involving multiplication and division with remainders 
• Multiply and divide multidigit numbers 
• Demonstrate an understanding of volume of rectangular prisms and structures made from rectangular prisms 
• Write expressions to record calculations with numbers

Unit Pacing - 6 weeks (October - November)

In this unit, students will: 

• Add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators 
• Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions with unlike denominators 
• Find common denominators for fractions with unlike denominators 
• Find the greatest common factor and least common multiple to help simplify fractions and find common denominators
   

Unit Pacing - 5 weeks (November - December)

In this unit, students will: 

• Read, write, order, model, and compare decimal numbers 
• Multiply and divide whole and decimal numbers by 10 
• Add and subtract decimal numbers to the hundredths place 
• Identify equivalent fractions and decimals 
• Divide multidigit whole numbers

Unit Pacing - 5 weeks (December - January)

In this unit, students will: 

• Use a variety of strategies for multiplying and dividing multidigit whole numbers 
• Practice using the standard algorithm to multiply multidigit whole numbers 
• Begin multiplying and dividing with decimal numbers

Unit Pacing - 5 weeks (February - March)

In this unit, students will:

• Multiply fractions by whole numbers such as 12 × 1/3 = 12/3 = 4 
• Use rectangular area models to show multiplication of a fraction by a fraction, such as 1/3 × 3/4 = 1/4 
• Divide a whole number by a unit fraction (a fraction with a 1 in the numerator) such as, 4 ÷ 1/3 = 12 
• Divide a unit fraction by a whole number, such as 1/3 ÷ 4 = 1/12

Unit Pacing - 6 weeks (March - April)

In this unit, students will: 

• Calculate the volume of a rectangular prism using formulas and other strategies 
• Graph points in the coordinate plane and describe the meaning of the values of coordinate points based on the context of a problem or situation 
• Sort and classify triangles and quadrilaterals within a hierarchy based on properties 
• Multiply a mixed number by a whole number and by another mixed number

Unit Pacing - 4 weeks (May - June)

In this unit, students will:

• Divide multidigit numbers 
• Describe patterns for multiplying and dividing by powers of 10 
• Multiply and divide decimal numbers 
• Solve word problems using unit fractions and whole numbers

Unit Pacing - Taught in STEM

In this unit, students will: 

• Learn about solar home design and thermal energy transfer through reading, research, and experiments 
• Use mathematics to design and build model houses to meet specific criteria and constraints 
• Collect, graph, and analyze experimental data 
• Work with scaled drawings and dimensions 
• Practice math skills developed earlier this year, especially those involving volume measurement, multiplication, division, decimals, fractions, and geometry

September - September's workouts focus on volume, fractions and decimals, and understanding factors and multiples.

October - October's focus includes writing and evaluating expressions with grouping symbols, graphing data on a coordinate plane, and performing operations with decimals and fractions with unlike denominators.

November - November introduces coordinate geometry (transformations), metric conversions based on powers of ten, and subtraction of fractions and mixed numbers.

December - December focuses heavily on geometry (quadrilateral classification), data analysis (line plots and scatter plots), and multiplication/division of decimals and fractions.

January - January's emphasis is on generating and graphing numerical patterns, volume of composite figures, and fraction/decimal operations in the context of money and time.

February - The central theme for February is multiplication of fractions using the area model, alongside conversion problems within the customary and metric systems.

March - March is dedicated to multiplication with decimal numbers using the area model and division fluency with fraction and decimal quotients.

April - April focuses on volume formulas, the relationship between fractions and decimals in the context of money/time, and fraction multiplication/division.

May - The final month focuses on synthesizing the year's skills, with an emphasis on coordinate geometry (mapping), complex problem solving requiring reasoning and working backward, and conversion between customary units of liquid volume.

Unit 1 - 18 Days (September)

This unit examines the genre of personal narratives. Students read five personal narratives and identify the elements of the genre, which include a logical sequence of events, dialogue, vivid descriptive language, sensory details, figurative language, and images that accompany a written text. Students are given frequent writing opportunities to employ these elements. They also share their writing with their classmates throughout the unit, offering concrete and positive feedback. 

Writing Focus

Through daily writing exercises, students develop their ideas into single paragraph or multi-paragraph narratives. Focusing on personal writing, students practice crafting dialogue, using descriptive verbs and adjectives, and sequencing events to tell a story. Students share their writing with classmates and engage in sentence elaboration activities, such as incorporating their partners’ ideas, expanding sentence stems, and using conjunctions.

Overall Learning Outcomes:

• Identify and begin to correctly use personification in writing
• Identify and begin to correctly use point of view in writing 
• Identify and begin to correctly use similes and metaphors in writing 
• Use the “Think as You Read” strategy to deepen understanding of a text 
• Write a personal narrative

Unit 2 - 18 Days (October)

This unit orients students to the geography, climate, flora, and fauna of the Americas, while also presenting a general history and timeline of the rise and fall of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca empires. The unit features myths from these ancient civilizations and describes Mayan, Aztec, and Incan innovations and discoveries. Students study the root word tract and the prefixes ir–, inter–, and il–. They also practice properly using subjects and predicates, distinguishing between action verbs and linking verbs, and correcting run-on sentences. Finally, they learn about words and phrases used to compare and contrast. 

Writing Focus

Students follow the stages of the writing process as they use information from the text to create an informative project comparing the Maya, Aztec, and Inca empires. They practice paraphrasing, note-taking, and using linking words to compare the groups and select online images to support their writing. Finally, students craft cause and effect sentences and expand sentences using details from the Read-Alouds.

Overall Learning Outcomes:

• Demonstrate understanding of key vocabulary 
• Compare and contrast the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations 
• Paraphrase information from a text 
• Create an informative or explanatory writing piece using evidence from a text 
• Develop understanding of grammar, including action verbs, linking verbs, words that compare and contrast, run-on sentences, subjects, and predicates

Unit 3 - 18 Days (November)

This unit teaches students tools and strategies for approaching poetry, trains them in the methods and devices that poets use, and equips them to read and interpret both formal and free verse poems. It also enables them to practice what they have learned by giving them regular opportunities to create their own poems. Students read poems that are drawn from various literary traditions over the last several centuries, ranging from William Blake’s eighteenth-century verse to the work of contemporary writers like Virgil Suárez and Marie Howe. The poets in this unit come from a diverse range of cultural heritages within the U.S., including Black, Hispanic, and Native American. The poems are also diverse in structure, employing a mix of precise meter and rhyme schemes as well as free verse and experimentation. 

Writing Focus

Throughout the unit, students practice close reading and writing as they learn the many formal elements of poetry, as well as how to identify these elements in text. They also apply their understanding by crafting poems of their own, improving their skills of analysis in the process. By learning to approach poetry through a number of tools, students build their confidence and engagement in the form. In addition, students work on expanding sentences by building on sentence stems and using conjunctions.

Overall Learning Outcomes:

• Identify and use poetic devices, including tone, anaphora, figurative language, rhyme, and metaphor 
• Identify and write in various poetic forms, such as villanelle and lists 
• Compare and contrast poems using graphic organizers 
• Apply new poetry knowledge to grow in the craft of writing poetry
   

Unit 4 - 18 Days (December)

In this unit, students read an adapted version of the classic novel Don Quixote. They focus on characters, plot, and other literary elements—such as characterization. Students trace the development of the plot, characters, and literary elements over the course of the novel. Regarding grammar, students learn how to use commas in a series, and they continue developing their understanding of subject-verb agreement. They also learn how to effectively use compare and contrast words, the suffix –ness, and the root word vac. 

Writing Focus

Students write a four-paragraph opinion essay in which they take a stance on whether they think Don Quixote’s good intentions justify his often calamitous actions. They support their claims with reasons and evidence from the text. Finally, students generate and expand sentences by adding details that describe when, where, and why.

Overall Learning Outcomes:

• Distinguish between fact and opinion 
• Demonstrate understanding of pronoun-verb agreement and commas in a series 
• Demonstrate understanding of key vocabulary 
• Craft and share a four-paragraph opinion essay 
• Support claims with textual evidence
   

Unit 5 - 18 Days (January)

Deep Blue World: Oceans is an informational unit that explores the diversity of animal and plant life within six ocean ecosystems. Students read rigorous informational texts and consider big questions regarding the characteristics of ocean environments that support thriving ecosystems. Informational texts and paired texts about marine biologists, oceanic phenomena, and marine life are used to develop students’ reading and writing skills. 

Writing Focus

Students plan, draft, revise, edit, publish, and present an informational text that they have crafted using collaborative research and the writing process. Specifically, they write to inform about their relationship to the ecosystem they live in, including their role in the food web. The unit culminates with students sharing their informational writing with their peers. Students work collaboratively to expand their writing by incorporating independent or dependent clauses and using conjunctions.

Overall Learning Outcomes:

• Discuss characteristics of ocean ecosystems through images and whole group discussions 
• Use quotations and paraphrased text details to identify characteristics of ocean ecosystems in informational texts 
• Analyze information in paired informational texts using a graphic organizer 
• Find and record key information, including main ideas and details, about marine animals and ecosystems 
• Write single- and multiple-paragraph descriptions of marine animals and ecosystems 
• Use evidence from an outline to develop introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs with relevant vocabulary 
• Plan for revisions to students’ drafts using peer feedback 
• Edit several developed paragraphs using peer and teacher feedback as well as students’ knowledge of English language conventions

Unit 6 - 18 Days (February)

This unit explores Native Americans' deep connections to the lands where they have lived and the impacts of 1800s U.S. government policies and settlers on their cultures. The Reader's complex texts prepare Grade 5 students for future advanced vocabulary and syntax. Students read stories from specific tribes to better understand how these stories communicate values and a shared history across generations of tribal members. In "We're Still Here," students learn about modern Native American efforts to preserve languages, lands, and traditions. 

Writing Focus 

Students will plan, draft, revise, edit, publish, and share an opinion essay in letter form to a museum director, detailing why a chosen image is ideal for an exhibit on Native American cultures and their connection to the land. The project emphasizes note-taking, formulating claims, supporting arguments with evidence, and revising and sharing their writing. Students also write compound-complex sentences and use conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections in a variety of sentences.

Overall Learning Outcomes:

• Demonstrate understanding of key vocabulary 
• Read, analyze, and explain ideas in text to deepen comprehension 
• Make inferences and cite evidence from informative text 
• Compare and contrast themes in narrative texts 
• Analyze how illustrations contribute to the meaning and tone of a story 
• Explain the function of coordinating conjunctions 
• Identify past, present, and future perfect verb tenses 
• Distinguish between root words and words with prefixes or suffixes in sentences 
• Use a graphic organizer to analyze the structure of an opinion essay 
• Focus on collecting relevant information to write an opinion essay

Unit 7 - 18 Days (March)

This unit focuses on the classic novel The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster. The story follows Milo, a young boy who finds that a phantom tollbooth has suddenly appeared in his bedroom with a mysterious note. As students progress through the novel and the lessons, they read the text closely, learn to analyze characters and settings, and examine the use of language and themes. In particular, students analyze figurative language and other literary techniques; make inferences about characters, settings, plot development, and the author’s craft; and interpret multiple-meaning words. 

Writing Focus

Students work on a culminating narrative using the writing tools they have identified and analyzed while reading. Through this assignment, students practice the mechanics and organization of narrative writing, such as introducing characters, the narrator, and the setting; incorporating dialogue; using transitional words and phrases; and writing a strong conclusion. Students practice expanding sentences using conjunctions and incorporating when, where, and why information from the reading.

Overall Learning Outcomes:

• Analyze an author's word choice and language 
• Read, interpret, and use idioms, homophones, multiple-meaning words, and wordplay 
• Analyze and make inferences about character traits 
• Examine the relationship between setting and plot 
• Analyze and apply the use of sensory language 
• Draw evidence from a text to demonstrate comprehension and make inferences 
• Use textual evidence to analyze character and plot development 
• Use context clues to determine the meaning of words and make inferences 
• Compare and contrast narrative elements using textual evidence 
• Examine the use of dialogue in plot development 
• Write a narrative with developed characters and clear plot sequence

Unit 8 - 18 Days (April)

This unit provides broad exposure to Renaissance art and literature through the works of renowned masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Bruegel, Dürer, Van Eyck, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Cervantes, and Shakespeare. Students learn that the Renaissance was a cultural movement that began in Italy, swept through Europe, and resulted in increased trade between European countries. 

Writing Focus

Students use a graphic organizer to plan and gather information in order to write an informative paragraph. Specifically, they use the writing process and at least two sources to craft a multi-paragraph biography about a famous Renaissance artist. Students also expand sentences by adding in information from Read-Alouds, answering questions, and incorporating conjunctions.

Overall Learning Outcomes:

• Develop an understanding of reading for a purpose (e.g., gist, explanation, details, inferences) 
• Write an informational paragraph 
• Review note-taking techniques for informational texts 
• Develop an understanding of prepositional phrases and correlative conjunctions
• Study the root word serv and prefixes im–, ex–, and in– 
• Review past tense verbs and recognize improper use of verb tenses 
• Create a biography about a famous Renaissance artist using at least two sources

Unit 9 - 18 Days (May) 

In the Building Up the World: Global Architecture unit, students explore connections between art and science; learn about architectural design elements such as form and function; and examine the influence of purpose, history, and culture on architectural design. Students read about notable architects, like Antoni Gaudí, Maya Lin, and Zaha Hadid; and innovative structures, such as the Empire State Building, Fallingwater, and the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School. Students enhance their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills throughout the unit. Specifically, they identify the elements of and annotate nonfiction texts, and they draw information from these texts to create infographics. 

Writing Focus

Students draft research questions, conduct research, and write informational texts about a selected architect and structure. They then present their research and a visual component at a class Architecture Fair. Students share their writing with classmates and engage in sentence elaboration activities, like incorporating their partners’ ideas, expanding sentence stems, and using conjunctions.

Overall Learning Outcomes:

• Demonstrate understanding of key vocabulary
• Compare and contrast works of architecture 
• Make text-based inferences and determine key ideas by evaluating text details 
• Review the importance of root words when deciphering the meaning of words 
• Identify, explain the function of, and properly use prepositions in sentences 
• Generate a research question, conduct research, and develop an informational text with the information collected 
• Explain the importance of gathering information and properly citing sources 
• Provide rubric-centered feedback to peers on their writing, visual component, and oral presentation 
• Learn to become producers of informative texts rather than just consumers of information