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WELCOMETO FIFTH GRADEA PARENT PREVIEW OF WHAT YOU AND YOUR CHILD CAN EXPECT IN FIFTH GRADE

A WORD ABOUT FIFTH GRADEWhat will your child be learning this year? How can you help your child be successful in school? These are important family questions! This brochure was created to explain the major academic expectation held by our district for students in fifth grade. You’ll also learn more about homework, how Wisconsin and our teachers measure learning progress, home/school communications, common behaviors for 10– and 11-year-olds and much more.

Welcome to Fifth Grade! Together, we can help your child reach their full potential and get the most out of their Fifth Grade experience.

EXPECTATION LIST

5TH

ACADEMIC EXPECTATIONSAs you review this brochure, please note that we can’t include everything your child will be learning due to space limitations. Please contact your child’s teacher at any time during the school year for more information.

YOUR CHILD’S SUCCESSWhile there is a lot of learning going on in school, it is very important for your child to continue the learning process at home. Daily homework deepens your child’s understanding of what is being taught in the classroom and reinforces the study skills needed to really learn the concepts and materials presented by the teacher.

DAILY HOMEWORK EXPECTATIONS:(Please refer to your school’s “Student Handbook” to review the homework guidelines and actions)

Recommended homework time (45-60 minutes): • Daily reading • Daily writing • Daily review of basic facts

STUDY SKILLS EXPECTATIONS • Use of assignment notebook • Completion of assignments in a timely manner

GRADE

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SOME DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS DISPLAYED BY MANY 10 YEAR-OLDS

• Experience an overall feeling of well-being and seem to be at peace with self and the world.

• Have fleeing moments of being angry, depressed, or sad, but usually these times are quickly forgotten.

• Girls are beginning to show physical signs and an awareness of approaching puberty. Boys show few signs and far less concern about physical maturity.

• Appear to be stable with fewer fears and anxieties and have better relations with parents, teachers, and peers than ever before.

• Love family and enjoy family outings and activities.

• Generally like school and are conscientious students.

• Enjoy reading or being read stories of adventure and mystery. Biographies of famous people are a favorite, too.

• Are more interested in learning facts and memorizing than finding explanations.

• Boys’ relationships with friends are fluid and harmonious, while girls’ friendships are more intense with time spent getting mad and making up.

• Love to play! Are partial to outdoor activities such as baseball, bicycling, skating, climbing, and most of all running.

SOME DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS DISPLAYED BY MANY 11 YEAR-OLDS

• Entering the preadolescent stage of development.

• Present a range of behavior from alert, imaginative, outgoing, and energetic to rebellious, quarrelsome, and self-centered.

• Shows increased levels of activity and energy – keeping still is difficult.

• Are argumentative, more emotional, and sensitive. This is due to a faster pace of growth, hormonal changes, and new anxieties and fears about growing up.

• Have larger appetites that may fluctuate between ravenous and poor.

• Appear to have forgotten manners with displays of loud, sometimes rude, behavior.

• Are critical of parenting and challenge their authority. Quarrelling with siblings is at an all-time high.

• Are choosing friends with common interests and temperaments. Boys tend to have a group of friends with one or more best friends, while girls have a small group who are all good friends. Quarrelling is common.

• Are interested (or soon will be) in the opposite sex.

• Like school because their friends are there.

• Enjoy schoolwork where skill at rote learning can be displayed competitively, such as spelling bees.

• Relish a good story and are partial to school- work that involves drawing.

• Tire quickly and may show inconsistent learning patterns – doing well one day and not so well the next.

• Favor gym and sports, including baseball, soccer, kickball, volleyball, and football.

FIFTH GRADE DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS

COMMUNICATION ARTS READING • Determine the meaning of words and

phrases by using context clues, word structures, and word references

• Identify and analyze characters, setting, events, problems, solutions and themes

• Use literal, interpretive and critical thinking to write and discuss literature

• Recognize cause and effect events and predict and draw inferences

• Express and support an opinion after reading

• Recognize similes, alliteration, metaphor, and hyperbole and build word knowledge

• Apply punctuation and voice when reading orally in various forms of print

• Identify characteristics of different genre and features and structures of literary texts

• Make inferences about the author’s tone and style

• Evaluate the author’s word choice, use of language, effectiveness, and purpose

WRITING • Write for a variety of audiences and

purposes • Experience writing personal

narratives, realistic fiction, personal essays, fantasy essays, research essays, and memoirs

• Use new vocabulary in writing • Follow the writing process – plan,

revise, edit, and publish • Spell frequently used fifth grade

words correctly in writing • Apply knowledge of Six Traits to

writing: content ideas, organization, word choice, sentence variety, voice and conventions

WHEN STUDENTS COMPLETE FIFTH GRADE, THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

These excerpts from: Understanding Your Child Birth to Sixteen by David Elkind; and Your Ten-to-Fourteen-Year-Old by Louise Bates Ames and Francis Ilg,Sidney Baker

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SPEAKING AND LISTENING • Listen attentively • Express ideas clearly in speaking • Follow written and oral directionsWORLD LANGUAGE • Participate in world language

instruction • Use simple words and phrases in

conversation

MATHEMATICS & NUMERATION • Identify the greatest common factor,

least common multiple, and prime and composite numbers

• Convert among fractions, decimals, percents, and between mixed and improper fractions

• Add, subtract, multiply, and divide number stories with decimals, fractions, and positive and negative numbers

• Follow rules of order of operations • Recognize, extend, describe and

create a variety of patterns • Substitute numbers for variables in a

number sentence and solve • Know and classify types of angles

and triangles • Find perimeter, area, circumference

and radius • Use appropriate units to measure

length, liquid capacity, volume, time, weight/mass and temperature

• Measure angles to the nearest 5 degrees and of intersecting lines

• Use and convert between and within the metric and U.S. system of measurement

• Find and use maximum, minimum, mode, median and mean

• Collect, record, analyze, interpret and display data

• Understand number-word, exponential, standard and scientific notation

• Use and understand the commutative and distributive properties

SCIENCE AND HEALTH • Understand that ecosystems are

intertwined • Investigate the causes and effects

of thunderstorms, earthquakes and volcanic activity

• Understand global heating, the water cycle, plate motion, plate tectonics, magma, ash and effects on the atmosphere

• Examine the sources of light, its

travel in straight lines and shadows • Investigate the reflection of light

from plane and curved mirrors and the refraction through various media

• Investigate mass, volume, density, and heat and how they interrelate

• Exploration of pure substances and mixtures

SOCIAL STUDIES • Construct a map of the U.S. regions

from memory • Know significant events and people

in exploration and the American Revolution

• Demonstrate an understanding of the movement of people, ideas, disease and products during the colonization period

• Understand influences of the past and present in U.S. history

• Understand the meaning of freedom, democracy, equality, and justice

• Find a location using latitude and longitude on a map and globe

• Describe examples of how money and trade influenced decisions during exploration

• Understand supply and demand and the effect on colonist’s lives

• Know the role of family, gender and socioeconomic status of colonists

• List examples of cultural contributions: language, arts, music, and beliefs

• Describe the role of interest groups (patriot, loyalist, neutral)

• Understand the need for laws

TECHNOLOGY • Use the computer properly • Use a word processing program

to create a document with correct formatting, incorporating graphics, and pictures

• Use a spreadsheet program to record data, compile results with the formula function, and display results using the charting function

• Use a presentation program to prepare an electronic presentation

• Use electronic research tools • Use the Internet to obtain research

information • Generate, send and receive electronic

messages

MUSIC • Expand understanding of basic

elements of music: rhythm, melody, harmony, form, tone color, dynamics and tempo

• Continue to acquire music skills: singing, listening, playing instruments, and performing and moving to music

• Expand recorder playing skills • Achieve skills in reading and writing

music • Use creativity and self-expression in

music • Define and use basic music

terminology • Obtain a basic knowledge of music

history and the corresponding music styles

• Reinforce music skills through the use of computer technology

• Develop self-confidence and a positive attitude toward music

ART • Identify basic ways to describe,

interpret, judge art images, and objects from various cultures, artists, and designers

• Develop an understanding of the history of art, artists, and cultures

• Explore concepts associated with images

• Recognize the aesthetic value of art and its relationship to our society

• Understand technological resources available for the creation of art

• Use problem-solving skills that demonstrate flexibility, elaboration, and originality

• Communicate ideas through the creation of products using art forms such as: clay, fibers, drawing, sculpture, prints, etc.

• Distinguish different meanings, forms, functions, and expressive qualities of art and design between cultures/artists

• Develop basic skills to produce quality art

• Develop personal responsibility toward learning and creative processes

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WAYS WE KEEP IN TOUCH

• District Web site— www.oasd.org

• Open House in August • Parent/Teacher Conferences

(fall and spring) • Trimester grade report and use • Parent/Teacher notes,

phone calls, e-mails • Digital school newsletter

• District/school Facebook & Twitter • District school calendar • Field trip notices/permission

forms

WAYS FAMILIES CAN GET INVOLVED • Volunteer in your child’s

classroom and school • Attend conferences • Join your child for lunch

• Share information about your career or hobbies with your child’s classroom

• Volunteer to be a tutor • Join the Parent Teacher

Organization or Association • Monitor your child’s homework • Contact your child’s teachers with

questions or concerns

PHYSICAL EDUCATION • Apply rules, strategies, and

techniques in a variety of individual and team sports

• Develop good sportsmanship and a positive attitude in all game

situations • Continue the development of

physical fitness through activities • Demonstrate leadership abilities

while participating in activities

• Develop a feeling of success and enhance self-concept through physical activities

• Participate in lifetime activities

COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR CHILD’S SCHOOL

HOME/SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS

We welcome your partnership in helping your child achieve success in school. By working and talking together, we can create a very positive learning environment. Each staff member has mail and e-mail. Please feel free to contact your child’s teachers or the office with any questions or concerns.

MAP ASSESSMENT: OASD utilizes the Measure of Academic Progress Assessment for all Fifth Grade students in reading and math. The assessment is given in September, January and May and scores are available for parents following the assessment (viewed within Family Access). The district uses this assessment as one data point to determine if a student is in need of accelerated curriculum or academic support, differentiated within classroom instruction.

STATE ASSESSMENT: Wisconsin is currently using the Wisconsin Forward Exam, which assesses reading and math skills beginning in third grade. Fourth and eighth grade students are also assessed in science and social studies.

FOUNTAS AND PINNELL BENCHMARK READING LEVEL: All fifth grade teachers use the F&P assessment to determine a benchmark reading level for students. This assessment is utilized formally in the spring, as the benchmark reading level is used by district and building leaders to determine fall to spring growth. More importantly, the classroom teacher can use this assessment and corresponding instructional tools at any point throughout the year to better understand a student’s independent and instructional reading level. This level can determine appropriate books to maximize literacy growth throughout the year.

MEASURING YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING PROGRESS

SCHOOL & DISTRICT INFORMATION

Nature Hill Intermediate Grades 5-8 850 Lake Dr. Oconomowoc, WI 53066 262-569-4940

Silver Lake Intermediate Grades 5-8 555 Oconomowoc Parkway Oconomowoc, WI 53066 262-560-4300

District Office W360 N7077 Brown St. Oconomowoc, WI 53066 262-560-1115 www.oasd.org