Grade 5

Grade 5 marks the entry point into the Middle School at ASL. Students experience a carefully structured transition from the Lower School, designed to provide continuity while fostering independence. With approximately 100 students in the grade, we purposefully divide students into eight advisories and six academic groups. These smaller learning groups ensure a supportive environment that maintains the close-knit feel of the Lower School, while preparing students for the expectations of middle school.

Advisory teachers prioritize building relationships and guiding RULER implementation to create a supportive advisory community centered on emotional intelligence, growth and meaningful connections. We teach the RULER approach through engaging activities and discussions that empower students to recognize, understand and regulate their emotions, fostering a positive and empathetic environment. Students meet in their advisory at the start of each day, then participate in classes with different teachers for humanities, math, science, world languages, music, art, drama, health and PE.

Emphasis is placed on the development of skills needed to become independent, lifelong learners. Teachers strive to stimulate every child's interest and curiosity, while promoting a love of learning and a willingness to take risks. Children’s learning needs are assessed regularly, so teachers can provide experiences at an appropriate level.

Experiences that are new to Grade 5 students include receiving homework, having their own lockers, eating lunch in the cafeteria, playing a musical instrument, and transitioning themselves to their classes and after-school activities. New middle school students embrace their increased sense of independence and responsibility.

Spring overnight trip
Grade 5 students spend four days at Calshot Activities and Environment Centre, which is located on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire. The learning experiences that the children enjoy in going away on a trip of this nature cannot be reproduced in the home or school environment. The program is varied and ranges from experiential-based activities to team-building challenges. These experiences can inspire an enthusiasm for learning, intelligent risk-taking, self-confidence and an awareness about the use of the outdoors, which is of lasting value.

Grade 5 by subject

Art

In Grade 5 art, students explore three key themes throughout the year: me and my world, which focuses on personal identity and what matters to them; understanding our object world through shape and form, which investigates how everyday objects can be transformed through art; and mapping a personal journey, a graphic novel unit where students explore storytelling through visual narrative.

Students engage with a wide range of 2-D and 3-D media, including watercolor, drawing, oil pastels, collage, wire sculpture and clay. They also explore storyboarding, bookmaking and graphic novel layout, developing both technical and storytelling skills.

Using the National Core Arts Standards and assessed through ASL’s Approaches to Learning, students are encouraged to take creative risks, solve problems imaginatively, and reflect meaningfully on their work. They document their artistic process and learning in a process portfolio, which serves as a space for planning, experimentation and self-assessment.

Through this varied and rich curriculum, students build confidence, express their ideas visually, and learn to make connections between art, their personal experiences and the wider world.

Humanities

In Grade 5, English and social studies are taught as part of the humanities program. At times during the year, the teaching of reading and writing is integrated within the social studies curriculum; at other times, the two areas are treated as distinct subjects.

Students are encouraged to become lifelong writers. Teachers expose students to a variety of writing styles including realistic fiction, informational, persuasive and poetry. Students are carefully guided through the writing process, and lessons are scaffolded to allow them to build upon strategies and skills learned throughout the year. Organization of writing is a focus, and students hone their planning techniques, developing effective leads and conclusions, working on paragraphing, and incorporating transition words to organize ideas. Teachers encourage revising and editing, helping students move independently through the writing process. Grammar is taught prescriptively in the context of mini-lessons, one-on-one conferencing, and practice exercises to help our young writers make choices based on their thinking and purpose.

In reading, students focus on developing critical-thinking skills, increasing independence, and the ability to analyze a text. Students are exposed to new novels and encouraged to read for deeper understanding through discussion groups, book clubs and independent work. We reinforce active reading strategies, with a specific focus on making inferences and summarizing. Independent reading is a critical component of being a successful reader, and this is heavily emphasized. As students progress through Grade 5, they become comfortable and adept at thinking, speaking and writing about what they read. Teachers integrate reading and writing skills, enabling students to make valuable connections between these areas.

Students often examine nonfiction reading and writing in the context of social studies. Skills taught include reading for specific information, note-taking, organization, sequencing information, writing paragraphs and editing. Students engage in several self-directed research projects, focusing on building effective research skills, and integrating technology and the resources available in the Mellon Library. An emphasis is placed on how to formulate research questions, evaluate and cite sources, and effectively share information with a larger audience in multiple ways. Students also develop their presentation skills, speaking in front of an audience to present with expression and clarity.

In Grade 5, the social studies curriculum explores ancient cultures. Students engage in two units on Mesopotamia and Ancient Greece. In both units, students study the seven characteristics that make up a civilization. They use these characteristics to compare cultures and determine patterns that can be found throughout. Students engage in a self-directed research project, focusing on building effective research skills, including how to formulate research questions, evaluate and cite sources, and effectively share information in multiple formats.

Throughout the year, students develop their independence in their research, study habits and time management. Students often celebrate and reflect on their growth as readers, writers, speakers, listeners and historians through project work, debate and literature study.

Mathematics

The Grade 5 mathematics course is based upon the Common Core State Standards for mathematics. In Grade 5, instructional time focuses on four critical areas: (1) understanding the structure of the base 10 system and the relationships among the places; (2) developing flexibility and fluency with whole number and decimal operations; (3) understanding what fractions represent and how fractions and decimals are related, as well as how to model fractions and decimals when solving problems; and (4) developing estimation skills. Measurement, data, and geometry topics covered include volume, measurement conversions, coordinate plane, data analysis, and classification of polygons. A variety of resources are referred to in Grade 5, including Illustrative Mathematics, Amplify Desmos, and nRich Maths. Students engage in a wide range of tasks and activities that support the focus on rich mathematical conversations.

Throughout the Middle School, there is an emphasis on developing a deeper understanding of concepts and how they are connected. We support problem-based learning; students are encouraged to make sense of situations in order to apply algorithms with understanding. There is an emphasis on explaining mathematical thinking and demonstrating mastery through constructing viable arguments. When computation is not the focus of a task, calculators can be used to support problem solving.

Reporting to parents is made through fall and winter conferences and two report cards. Each student’s report card is informed by formative check-ins, summative assessments, and reflections. Homework completion is noted and considered in the report under Approaches to Learning. All students who have not yet met content area standards are given an opportunity to show their growth by making corrections to their assessments.

Teachers differentiate in order to meet the needs of each student. Instruction is responsive to the individuals, and teachers consistently monitor the level of enrichment and reinforcement needed.

Performing arts

Grade 5 students begin instruction on a band or orchestral instrument in addition to participating in the Grade 5 choir. Each student chooses, with the assistance of the music faculty, an instrument suitable for the individual as well as to balance the instrumentation of the ensembles.

The instrumental program is designed to develop students' understanding of music through ensemble participation. Students learn pieces from music method books, along with age-appropriate concert music, and other scales and exercises. Emphasis is placed on technical development, tone production, good posture, rehearsal etiquette and the importance of regular practice at home.

The choral music classes utilize two-part choral music to introduce the concepts of breathing, tone production, blend, balance and musicianship. Early emphasis is placed on rehearsal skills and group cooperation. Students study a variety of choral literature representing a broad range of time periods and musical styles.

Every grade 5 student participates in drama once a cycle throughout the entire year. Students are introduced to drama as a collaborative art form that focuses on creativity, imagination, communication, commitment, and working together. Through different workshops and in-class projects, grade 5 students explore new ways to utilize their imagination, creativity, and physical storytelling.

Science

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are an integral part of the Grade 5 science program. All domains of science are studied while incorporating engineering practices and Design Thinking across the science areas. Learning is inspired by scientific phenomena, an observable event that is interesting and complex. The focus in Grade 5 science is on reading, writing, investigating and arguing as scientists. Students are encouraged to look at mistakes as opportunities to learn.

The unit names, questions and overviews for the year are:

Patterns of Earth and sky: Students observe and investigate patterns in the sky by day and by night with kinesthetic models, as well as using a digital simulation, and informational text. They learn that stars are all around us in space, develop an understanding of scale and distance in the universe, and discover how the spin and orbit of our planet causes us to observe daily and yearly patterns of stars.
Ecosystem and matter cycling: Students consider how plants are able to grow on nurse logs. They figure out that plants get matter primarily from air and water, and transfer energy from the Sun. Students then wonder how matter and energy are transferred between plants and animals. They model the movement of matter and energy through plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
The Earth system: Students use books, hands-on investigations, simulations, and modeling tools to figure out how water is distributed within the hydrosphere, how water moves between the hydrosphere and the atmosphere to cause rain, how the geosphere can interact with the hydrosphere and atmosphere to create patterns of rain, and how life forms in the biosphere depend on the hydrosphere. Students use their understanding of how parts of the Earth system interact to explain why one side of an island is experiencing a water shortage.
Matter properties: Students analyze and investigate water samples to make their samples healthier. They investigate the evidence for chemical reactions by planning investigations and analyzing data. Students are introduced to the idea that matter is made of particles too small to see and that each different substance is made of molecules that are unique. They develop an understanding of the idea that regardless of the type of change that matter undergoes, the total weight of matter is conserved. Students determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.

The culminating unit incorporates physical, life and earth sciences. The students are challenged with figuring out why an island experiences rainfall on one side, but a water shortage on the other. Students help figure out what is causing the water shortage and engineer possible design solutions.

World languages and cultures

The middle school world languages program offers introductory courses (level Aa) in Chinese, French and Spanish to all Grade 5 students. These courses are designed for true beginners or those who have had minimal exposure to the target language. The Aa Spanish course is suitable for returning ASL students, who have been exposed to Spanish in the Lower School.

The Grade 5 world languages program aims to introduce students to the language and cultures of the Chinese-, French- and Spanish‐speaking worlds.

The program aims to develop students’ ability to communicate about themselves and their immediate environment using simple sentences containing basic vocabulary and language structures. Students practice and develop the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing through a variety of communicative activities.

Note: Grade 5 students already fluent in one of these languages cannot enroll in this language class as it is designed for beginners.