Reading and Oral Comprehension

• Use explicit information to identify the main idea or primary purpose of a text or part of a text.
• Identify explicit details from a passage and provide answers to “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “how” questions about the text.
• Use implicit information from a passage to make inferences about the motives or behaviors of characters.
• Determine whether information included in a passage consists of fact or opinion.
• Use explicit and implicit information to determine the author’s likely intent for writing a passage or for including certain information in a passage.
• Synthesize explicit and implicit information to make predictions, draw conclusions, or formulate hypotheses about a text.
• Describe the main idea of a passage.
• Describe a supporting idea in a passage.
• Compare and contrast elements from two texts.
• Read and discuss various writing genres including diary, articles, autobiography and biography.

Vocabulary

• Identifies the correct definition of a word in the context of a sentence.
• Identifies the synonym of a word or phrase in context of a sentence, phrase or passage.
• Identifies the antonym of a word in context of a sentence, phrase or passage.
• Distinguishes among subtle shades of meaning in choosing an appropriate word or words to fill in blank(s) in a sentence.
• Efficiently use a dictionary for specific word meanings.
• Efficiently use a thesaurus to enhance written assignments.

Phonics and Spelling

The structural conventions of the English language are focused upon. Students examine prefixes, suffixes, inflectional endings, and words that are related by spelling pattern and meaning, thus focusing on comparing words and on discovering structural patterns and relationships among words.

Phonics builds decoding skills which helps students in their reading. Spelling develops encoding skills which helps students in their writing.

Literature

Students read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature. They begin to find ways to clarify ideas and make connections between literary works. Students are encouraged to learn and practice different strategies for getting involved with literature. Active reading strategies include predicting, questioning and visualizing. Students are also expected to circle, highlight, underline and take notes. This is complimented with an extensive independent reading program and with materials from SRA Reading Laboratories. This provides our students with a range of reading levels that enable all students to learn independently and at their own pace.

Writing

Fifth graders write clear, coherent and focused essays. The writing exhibits the student’s awareness of the audience and purpose. Essays contain formal introductions, supporting evidence and purpose. Students progress through The Steps in the Writing Process and demonstrate Traits of Effective Writing.

• The Steps in the Writing Process
  Prewriting.
  Writing the first draft.
  Revising.
  Editing and proofreading.
  Publishing.
• Traits of Effective Writing
  Stimulating ideas.
  Logical organization.
  Personal Voice.
  Original Word Choice.
  Smooth Sentences.
  Correct, accurate copy.

Grammar Skills

• Capitalization of proper nouns.
• Capitalization of the first word of a sentence.
• Capitalization in titles and forms of address.
• The correct use of the comma.
• The correct use of the apostrophe in contractions and possessives.
• Use a colon to separate hours and minutes and to introduce a list.
• Proper punctuation for dialogue and letter writing.
• Correct end punctuation.
• Correct pronoun use, including pronoun-antecedent agreement.
• Correct verb form and tense, including subject-verb agreement.
• Rules of diction.
• Rules of sentence boundaries, including avoiding run-ons and fragments.
  

Science

Science is an integral part of the FASSV curriculum, and is taught in both programs simultaneously. The fifth grade features:

• Environmental Education; Water
  The Water Cycle.
  The main features of a river basin.
  Non Point Source Pollution.
  Creek Exploration.
  Conservation.
• The Living World
  Observation of live animals to illustrate structure, function and adaptation.
  Comparison of major arthropod groups using live mammals and preserved specimens.
  Insect metamorphosis.
  Animals and their Adaptations.
  Insects, Spiders and Other Arthropods.
• The Human Body
  The Digestive system.
  Respiration and Circulation.
  The heart and lungs.
  Basic First Aid.
  Human Reproduction.
• Space
  The Solar System.
  The sun, the moon and moon phases, seasons, day and night.
  Planet Mars.
  Mission preparation.
  Simulated space mission at Chabot Space and Science Center.
• Matter
  What is Air?
  Air Pressure and Barometers.
  Depressions and anticyclones.
  Air Pollution and conservation.
  Wind and Nuclear Energy.