The School at Columbia University : Fifth Grade

Literacy

The focus of Reading Workshop in the first semester is on developing the habits of a strong reading life, including choosing appropriate “just right” books, reading with stamina, and exploring a variety of genres. In addition to reading in school, students are expected to read at home for a minimum of thirty minutes each evening and to record their reading on book ring cards. Students respond to texts, both in writing and orally, in order to engage with literature in meaningful ways. Responses include making predictions, asking questions, and using evidence from texts to support ideas. Reading aloud is also an important part of the curriculum, including novels, picture books and short stories.

During Writing Workshop, students focus on carrying out the stages of the writing process: planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Through the process of writing personal narratives, students practice aspects of craft, such as generating ideas, writing strong leads, developing characters and plot, revising for clarity, editing with proofreading marks, and developing memorable endings. In addition to Writing Workshop, students continue to develop their abilities to write in the content areas.

A large portion of the work with spelling and vocabulary is incorporated into word study each week. Students are responsible for learning a new Greek or Latin word root each week and five words that incorporate the root. During the week, students learn about the new word family and each Friday students have a word study quiz to review the spellings and definitions of these words.

During the second semester, students continue to develop strong reading habits, as well as extend other aspects of the curriculum through read alouds and daily independent reading. Through partner reading, students learn how to collaborate effectively to enhance important reading skills, including pacing, comprehension, and discussion. During Writing Workshop, students focus on aspects of non-narrative writing. They study a variety of essays, including persuasive, literary, and informational essays. With knowledge of the structure of essays, students plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish personal essays in which their theses are supported with evidence from their own lives. In the second term students also develop research skills by reading and evaluating non-fiction sources for information and presenting their learning in various ways, such as research reports, PowerPoint presentations, skits, and posters.

Mathematics

During the first term, students look at number theory. Students discuss factors, multiples, prime numbers, and square numbers and then look at a variety of applications for these concepts. As a culminating project in the unit, students apply their knowledge to complete an investigation about one particular number and create a digital page or poster about this numeral. Students also engage in a unit about two-dimensional geometry. In this study, students develop multiple ways to classify triangles and quadrilaterals by examining the characteristics of their angles and sides. The coordinate grid is investigated using the computer program Geo-logo. Throughout all of the math work, an emphasis is placed on strategy development and on the ability to explain strategies, both in writing and orally. Individual and collaborative work is valued to problem solve and to generate thoughtful questions about big mathematical ideas.

The second term continues with a great emphasis on making connections and developing strong representation tools in math. Students start with a unit about big number multiplication and division in which they consolidate their thinking about efficiency, flexibility and accuracy when manipulating whole numbers in both of these operations. Students transition from ratio and scale into a study of fractions, decimals, and percents. This unit allows students the opportunity to make strong connections among the three representations. They look closely at models such as the hundreds grid, the bar model, the number line, the clock model, and the ratio table. Students investigate real world contexts for fractions, decimals, and percents, such as fair sharing and dividing distances into fractional parts. They also begin to develop strategies for addition and subtraction with fractions and decimals. Following this unit, students look at one context for fractions and percents by investigating probability. Results are recorded from various investigations by using line plot graphs. Students discuss measure of central tendency including mean, median and mode as well as gaps, ranges, and outliers.

Performing Arts: Dance

In the first term of Dance, students make objective observations of motion, shape, and negative space, improvising solos based on their observations. While studying the craft and purpose of personal narratives in their literacy work, students will draw “Life Maps” in dance and translate them into their own personal “Life Dance Solos.” During the unit on Ancient China, students apply the principles of balance, simplicity, clarity, and discipline, to all of their movement studies. In the extensive unit on yoga as it applies to dance, students learn basic intellectual and physical principles of the practice of yoga. They learn to execute fifty poses in the following categories: standing, seated, inversions, backbends, forward bends, twists, abdominals, and restoratives. During “Silence In Action,” an additional aspect in their movement education, students practice techniques in focus, concentration, intention, alignment, relaxation, and self-reflection. For their digital portfolios, students post photos of themselves with written reflections on the qualities of character development, meaning, and learning that the yoga poses hold for them. During the Ancient China Curriculum Share, students have the opportunity to present what they have learned by performing in an all-grade, synchronized yoga demonstration.

In Dance during the second term, students are challenged to grow in their technical and improvisational skills as well as their conceptual understanding of choreographic principles and application of intellectual ideas to their own work. Students study advanced warm-up techniques, complex movement combinations, African dance, beginning group improvisation, and partner work with weight and balance. They continue their objective observations with the more advanced concept of “time,” and apply their discoveries during group improvisations. During the unit on Ancient Greece, students study the philosophy and history of dance from that time period. They are introduced to basic theatrical and expressive principles, applying these to their own choreography. They study Greek art, choosing artifacts to be the inspiration for their own full-body gesture shapes, and choreograph group dances with apropos titles. These quartets include unison speech fashioned after the Ancient Greek Chorus. Students grow in their understanding of the elements of design, their philosophy of movement, and their appreciation for the value of communication through dance.

Performing Arts: Music

Students began the year by reviewing and solidifying skills learned in fourth grade music, with an emphasis on proper technique for the voice and Soprano Recorder. Each student sings with the fifth grade choir which helps to further enrich vocal technique being taught on a yearly basis. Throughout the year, fifth graders will make connections between modern western instruments and the instruments of ancient civilizations. While studying China, students learn Chinese folk songs with orchestrations for Orff instruments. By experiencing songs such as “Mo Li Hua” (Jasmine Flower) the students identify that Eastern music has a different sound from Western music. These songs reinforce rhythmic patterns, melodic contour, organized dance and movement, and proper technique on a variety of percussion instruments. The performance group, Music From China will visit and perform for the students on authentic Chinese instruments.

During the second half of the school year, the fifth graders focus on developing their musicianship. Through the use of ostinati (a constantly repeated rhythmic pattern) the students experience the layering of instruments, which like vocal harmony, sees the students performing independently and holding their own part. In turn, these ostinati help the students sing harmonies in the Fifth Grade Choir. The ostinati also lead to a simplified compositional process. The students will have a chance to compose ostinati. Students continue to practice the recorder, reinforcing excellent technique while learning new notes.

Science

The fifth grade curriculum emphasizes hands-on learning, while attempting to develop students’ ability to think more abstractly. In the fall, students study the unique chemical and physical properties of water as well as learning about concepts of buoyancy and density. Through a variety of experiments students explore the water cycle, water’s polar structure and its critical role in shaping all civilizations. We research water conservation measures and implement ways to reduce our own water use, both individually and as a community. We conclude our water unit by studying how water shapes land, simulating the effects of erosion and deposition by releasing water in controlled amounts over large containers filled with earth materials. In the Kinematics unit students are introduced to the concepts of speed and velocity. Using motion detectors and Go Motion! Logger Lite software, students recreate specific distance/time graphs and record the velocities of toy cars speeding down ramps. In spring students study the life cycle of flowering plants by growing Brassica Rapa plants from seed, caring for them through thinning, fertilizing and harvesting of the final seed pods. Students experiment with changing one variable from the control plants such as the amount of light or fertilizer to determine how plant growth is affected. Throughout the year, students develop the science skills of observing, measuring, recording, analyzing data and communicating their ideas, as well as graphing data, and using science equipment safely and accurately.

Social Emotional Learning

In the Fifth Grade, social and emotional learning skills and objectives are unearthed in the children’s study of history and ancient civilizations. Through lessons that address essential questions involving progress and culture from the evolution of culture the children acquire a deeper understanding of themselves. Working in large and small groups, the children also work toward meeting SEL objectives by becoming aware of the basic rights of people as well as their common need to understand their world, showing a greater understanding of having respect and empathy for others, and developing the ability to evaluate the consequences of their decisions.

During the second term each classroom community development effectively mirrors the development of larger human societies around the world. Class structure allows for individual, partner, small group, and whole class interactions. Following the setting of behavioral guidelines and limits, students are expected to attentively listen to others and respond with relevance. Cooperative activities are balanced with independent work and the development of effective social communications and behaviors is valued alongside the development of autonomy and the ability to independently initiate and carry out a plan of action. Weekly homework packets are designed to foster independence and responsibility, cultivate time management skills, and consolidate the understanding of concepts and topics. The assignments intentionally reflect classroom lessons, topics, and skills, and students are expected to complete the work independently.

The Social and Emotional Learning Liaison (SEL) is a part of the Child Study Team (CST) that is a multidisciplinary team responsible for supporting the academic, social emotional, and physical well being at The School. The SEL is expected to support teachers in a variety of ways to make sure that students learn to the best of their ability and to help students work towards getting along with their classmates and teachers. In general, the SEL's responsibilities are concerned with how the students are learning, feeling, and behaving in the school environment.

Social Sciences

Students begin the year by investigating various methods and tools that historians and scientists use to learn about the past; this includes an in-depth exploration of artifacts. Students create timelines of their lives, which serve as a foundation for their understanding of chronological recording. They discuss the difference between observation and inference as well as of the distinction between subjective and objective conclusions. Students also study physical geography through the use of terrain models and maps and explore how natural landscapes and processes affect both technical progress as well as a civilization’s ability to flourish. The study of ancient China provides an overview of the unification of China under Emperor Qin, a sense of this civilization’s many significant contributions to the progress of modern people, and a sense of the Chinese aesthetic provided by the lenses of poetry, philosophy and religion. An underlying goal throughout the explorations is to not only educate students about people of the past but also to help students find personal significance by locating themselves along a much broader human continuum.

The study of ancient civilizations, as well as the exploration of various methods used to explore human history, bring students to ancient Greece in the second semester. Students are exposed to mythology through both an in-depth look at The Odyssey as well as work with various other classic myths and their major themes. Students delve into the language and intricacies of ancient Greek drama. A look at persuasion and debate allows students to ponder another significant contribution of ancient Greece. A grade-wide Greek-style Olympics is conducted with the Wellness Department. Throughout the year students discuss various elements of culture and which aspects of an ancient civilization inform and contribute to modern life. Students engage in comparing and contrasting elements of ancient Greek culture with those of ancient China and are encouraged to find meaningful connections between ancient Greek culture and current Western culture. Throughout the year the focus on ancient civilizations asks students to use history as a tool for critically examining their own culture, city and world.

Spanish Language/ Literacy

In 5th grade Spanish, students begin the term by investigating the history of the Spanish language while studying what and who affect what is considered history. In order to improve their communication skills, students conduct interviews and continue to use new language to describe themselves. Connecting to the personal narratives they work on in their homerooms, students create family trees and record information about themselves and their families, integrating technology into their language learning. We connect our learning of Ancient China as students use descriptive language to observe and analyze artifacts from Chinese culture. Students create Chinese Zodiac wheels after studying animals and their characteristics. One specific cultural focus to the ancient civilizations of the Spanish-speaking world is our study of the Mayan peoples as we compare their culture to others studied throughout the year. Within these integrated units, students engage in diverse activities ranging from visual or verbal to kinesthetic or musical, appealing to a variety of learners.

In term two we continue to integrate our learning while focusing on the development of students’ skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking in the Spanish language. We combine practical communicative language activities and projects with new grammar and vocabulary along with connecting our language learning to the concepts studied in other disciplines. As we study Greek culture, we compare foods from diverse international cuisines and students work in groups to create their own international restaurants. Finally, students study the Ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses in a project incorporating new grammatical knowledge of verbs as well as descriptive language. In 5th grade Spanish we strive to aid all students in increasing their risk-taking in language learning so as to increase motivation for language learning and continue to develop a balanced set of communicative skills.

Visual Arts

In the art studio students develop their observational and technical skills through drawing with ebony and colored pencil. They observe different “artifacts” in order to see varying shapes, value, positive and negative space and texture with both simple and complex forms. They use this knowledge as well as their own imagination to create personal drawings when our observational skills meet our imagination and we welcome our first look into surrealism. During our study of the history and techniques of Chinese brush painting students apply their knowledge of value, composition and line to create their own artwork with brush and ink. They will learn about Chinese art and how it relates to Western art, how to make their own ink of varying values, as well as how to hold a bamboo brush. Within this study we travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and make our own scroll with poetry and a signature chop.

In the art studio students continue to develop their creative and problem solving skills as they are introduced to new techniques while making historical and personal connections. The semester begins by exploring the nature of printmaking, using natural materials (such as apples and onions) as stamps and later exploring relief prints by carving symbols into a potato. Students are able to use this knowledge, and prior knowledge of positive and negative space to create large relief prints using carving tools, a brayer and ink. Our next unit of study looks closely at the pottery of ancient Greece. We begin by exploring the malleable qualities of clay and how it can be used to create intentional purpose, creating pinch and coil pots with a specific form. Within this study we travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to view the Greek and Roman galleries. We then conduct multiple classes on the potter’s wheel and create a Greek inspired vessel.

Wellness

Wellness is about being physically active and understanding skills and concepts to achieve lifetime fitness. In Wellness we begin the year with cooperative games to build trust, communication, cooperation, and compromise. Fitness components are built into every lesson that target student health and development. Soccer will kick off the second unit of the year where students will work on their foot coordination, having ample practice time with dribbling, passing, and shooting. The first term will continue with a unit in orienteering connected to students’ classroom studies of maps and cardinal directions. A planned trip to Black Rock Forest will give students on opportunity to apply their orienteering skills in an outdoor environment. An enthusiastic and strategic unit of ultimate Frisbee will culminate our term.

In the second term we will begin by working on hand-eye coordination skills in our Lacrosse unit. We will follow up Lacrosse with Basketball as we continue to work on hand-eye coordination and team activity. The students learn the differences between strength and endurance training as they participate in activities with an emphasis on endurance, including the mile run. As we study ancient Greek civilization, the students study the Ancient Olympics, learn and practice the original track & field events and compete in the annual 5th grade Olympics. This includes a mini-unit of wrestling at the Columbia University campus. Finishing our year will be the unique game of pickleball.