5th grade Curriculum
Our Approach
Fifth grade is triumph and exhibition of skills learned, practiced, and mastered at PS 118. Integrating all the prior years of experiences, fifth grade challenges our young Wild Things to take on more responsibility for themselves and their community. Rooted in rigorous academic standards, but guided by social and emotional developments, our fifth graders develop a true sense of accountability, agency, and independence. As the seniors of the school, our fifth graders are asked on a daily basis to show up and lead with integrity and ownership, all in preparation for not only middle school, but their increasingly demanding academic careers.
Reading & Writing
PS 118 is a Teachers College Reading & Writing Project school. We teach in the workshop model, ensuring learning is differentiated for all students. An emphasis is placed on reading and writing across all genres. We begin the year reading and writing fiction, but our robust curriculum spans expository writing, narrative nonfiction, both fiction and nonfiction book clubs, and creative pieces as well. Our goal is to read and write everyday.
Math
Fundamentals before all else is our approach to math in the fifth grade. We use the EngageNY Math curriculum which is aligned to the New York State Common Core Standards. Moving from the concrete to abstract is always the goal and we meet learners where they need the most support. Problem-solving is at the heart of our instruction and is carried throughout the year and units.
5th Grade benchmarks include:
Social Studies
In Social Studies, students study U.S. History from the end of the American Revolution through the Civil Rights Movement. Main units focus on Government, Westward Expansion, The Civil War, Immigration, and the Civil Rights Movement. Our Social Studies curriculum bolsters our nonfiction reading and writing units, and is based on inquiry learning and predominantly project based assessments and group work. Synthesis is the undercurrent of all the units and connections to our world, both past and present are researched, debated, and discussed at length.
Fifth grade is triumph and exhibition of skills learned, practiced, and mastered at PS 118. Integrating all the prior years of experiences, fifth grade challenges our young Wild Things to take on more responsibility for themselves and their community. Rooted in rigorous academic standards, but guided by social and emotional developments, our fifth graders develop a true sense of accountability, agency, and independence. As the seniors of the school, our fifth graders are asked on a daily basis to show up and lead with integrity and ownership, all in preparation for not only middle school, but their increasingly demanding academic careers.
Reading & Writing
PS 118 is a Teachers College Reading & Writing Project school. We teach in the workshop model, ensuring learning is differentiated for all students. An emphasis is placed on reading and writing across all genres. We begin the year reading and writing fiction, but our robust curriculum spans expository writing, narrative nonfiction, both fiction and nonfiction book clubs, and creative pieces as well. Our goal is to read and write everyday.
Math
Fundamentals before all else is our approach to math in the fifth grade. We use the EngageNY Math curriculum which is aligned to the New York State Common Core Standards. Moving from the concrete to abstract is always the goal and we meet learners where they need the most support. Problem-solving is at the heart of our instruction and is carried throughout the year and units.
5th Grade benchmarks include:
- Employing all four standard algorithms (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division)
- Reasoning with place value and exponential notation.
- Employing all four standard operations with fractions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division).
- Understanding equivalence between fractions and decimals.
- Calculating volume.
- Coordinate plane basics.
Social Studies
In Social Studies, students study U.S. History from the end of the American Revolution through the Civil Rights Movement. Main units focus on Government, Westward Expansion, The Civil War, Immigration, and the Civil Rights Movement. Our Social Studies curriculum bolsters our nonfiction reading and writing units, and is based on inquiry learning and predominantly project based assessments and group work. Synthesis is the undercurrent of all the units and connections to our world, both past and present are researched, debated, and discussed at length.