St. Michael School 5th Grade

Religion The Faith First (Resources for Christian Living) scope and sequence is divided into three parts: Doctrine, Scripture, and Liturgical Seasons. The doctrines in Faith First are drawn from the four pillars of the Catholic Church and are developmentally presented to help students recognize what we believe, how we worship, how we live, and how we pray make a difference in our lives.

Social Studies The Horizons (Harcourt) curriculum begins with a review and study of map and globe skills. It continues with why the study of history, geography, economics, civics/government, and culture/society matter. It then travels into the earliest Americans, exploration, and colonial settlement of America. It follows the American Revolution through the building of a new nation. Daily Geography (McDougal Littell) is used to increase students' knowledge and understanding of physical and political aspects of the world as these relate to geography.

Science Harcourt's Science is used in fifth grade for the study of these themes: Building Blocks of Matter, The Solar System and Beyond, and Variables. FOSS (Full Options Science System) kits are used to provide supplementary lessons and labs to further develop the skills. Students are required to submit a project for the Science Fair in March.

Reading Literature Works (Silver Burdett Ginn) Six universal themes are provided so students may bring their lives to their learning through familiar, relevant themes. Literature resources provide a wide array of award-winning selections that engage students and inspire them to read, to write, and to think. In addition, a literature-based unit is taught on the Holocaust using The Devil's Arithmetic by Yolenand, and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. The Accelerated Reader Program is used utilized by the students, as it is throughout all the grade levels.

Math Progress in Mathematics (Sadlier-Oxford) is an integrated approach to preparing students to succeed in the following strands: building number sense; division with one and two-digit divisors; time, data and graphs; understanding decimals; metric measurement; understanding fractions; perimeter, area, and volume; and ratio, percent and probability. Throughout the strands the students problem solve using reasoning skills and critical thinking.

Language Arts Students are taught language arts through a balanced approach to grammar, spelling, and writing with Language Arts (McGraw Hill). Writing skills and process are developed using "Step up to Writing" and "Six Trait Writing" techniques. Students use the skills learned to write their first complete research paper. Daily Oral Language and Daily Analogies (McDougal Littell) are additional sources for review, new learning, and critical thinking development. Fifth graders are introduced to the world of Shakespeare through immersion in learning about his plays and life. The culminating events are a production of an edited play and a field trip to Ashland, Oregon's Shakespearean Theater to attend plays.