Departmental

Religion
The fifth grade religion curriculum centers around the study of the Old Testament. We will use our text, selected Bible readings, and group projects to become familiar with the Old Testament books. Grades will be based on class participation, homework, tests, Mass participation, and project evaluations.

Another aspect of the class will be to increase the opportunities for prayer in each student's daily life. We will learn and practice several types of prayer throughout the year.

Social Studies
The fifth grade social studies curriculum begins with an overview of the United States of America, how Americans live today and how we use our natural resources. The study of Pre-Columbian civilizations along with an introduction to those of Asia and Africa is followed by the sequential history of European exploration, colonization, independence, expansion, slavery, emancipation, industrial revolution, WWI, great depression, WWII, cold war and its concomitant hot wars, collapse of the U.S.S.R., and ending with the turn of the century. In addition, the curriculum includes a special section on Canada and Latin America.

Active citizenship is taught through skill lessons, interactive activities (such as simulations and "playlets"), and concrete examples. Geography's five fundamental themes are the focus of skill lessons while map skills are systematically developed for use in real life situations. History lessons link the past and present in ways that make sense to the students.

Language Arts
The McGraw-Hill reading series is used in fifth grade. It incorporates reading, writing, listening, speaking, and grammar skills. Every week students read a selection from the reading series. A vocabulary and comprehension quiz is then given. Students are also assigned weekly spelling homework. The homework, which is to complete the spelling chapter, is assigned on Monday and is to be completed by the following Monday. Spelling tests are given on Friday. In fifth grade, the students also participate in the Accelerated Reader program. Each student is expected to read two Accelerated Reader novels each quarter. They will then take a quiz over the story. The two quiz grades will be averaged together to count as one test grade.