Fifth Grade Curriculum

Overview:

Fifth grade and sixth grade feel a little similar. They are two years that can be fairly similar depending on the choices you make. You will see fractions and measurement conversions based on the curriculum you’re using, and decimals and percents for mathematics.

Language Arts:

• Spelling - I like lists from superteacherworksheets.com - it’s a subscription service that is $25 a year. I make crossword puzzles, word searches, and word scrambles from our spelling words using their worksheet generator feature.

• Reading Comprehension work and still reading aloud, with a focus on inflection for the kids

• Mad Libs 5 for grammar additional practice, just for fun

• Writing is interdisciplinary - I like having them write about science, history, and their interests

• Good time to move into unit study based writing, and work on writing structure and brainstorming

Reading:

• Chapter books of child’s choosing for their own readings

• Chapter book read alouds as a family

• This year our read alouds were the same for Grades K5, 3, 5, &7 See readings HERE

• Accessible classics

Math:

• We have used Masterbooks 5 for grade 5 every year (no fifth grader this year)

• Or we have moved to Keys to Fractions once Masterbooks 5 is done or mastered

• Using CTC Math for 2023-2024 for grades below grade 7, but not for 1st grade (will keep written math until 4th grade most likely)

Penmanship/Writing/Grammar:

• This is a good time to introduce research projects. I highly recommend any guided research project unit from WonderhouseCreative, they are excellent unit studies and really have deepened my kids research abilities.

• IEW themed writing is a good option for this age

• Fun writing units from curriculum bundles

History/Social Studies:

• Story of the World 4

• Our co-op has selected Biblioplan for this year 2023-2024

Science:

• Nature Study Club Senior Explorers

• Exploring the World of Chemistry by John Hudson Tiner

Enrichment/Electives/Extracurriculars:

• Tie field trips and activities to learning: I remember this grade being the one with my oldest where I first went out of order in a textbook, and now I do that all the time when a book is just a broad overview. We had an astronomy field trip upcoming so we skipped to the end chapter of his science book and studied it as a family in preparation for our field trip. I was sad I hadn’t attempted this before, because the knowledge being tied to a real life experience is amazing!

• Seek homeschool sports, league sports, or sports through your local schools if that’s your thing

• Fine Arts classes are always lovely!

Fifth Grade: What I wished I would have done & what went well

1. What we did well: We stuck with established rhythms of work and family style learning really well this year (more often than not.).

2. I really wished at this grade I would have started with individual novel studies, but truly, it’s because I am one person that I found that particularly difficult with four children. It took me a few years to piece out why I could teach 30 high schoolers every fifty minutes a novel, but not do that with my children in a separate context. It has a lot to do with the fact that I put a lot of effort into literary study (analysis wise - plot, character, really examining exposition), so doing it collectively just works better.

3. Science collectively has been something we super enjoy as a family!

4. I haven’t mentioned math at this point as a wish or what we did well. We have rocked out at math in our homeschool, largely because since its my weakness, I refused to let it fall to the wayside. And it hasn’t.