5th grade Reading/Writing and Math
What should my child know and be able to do at the end of fifth grade?
Importance of Math and Communication Skills
No subjects in school are more important to a student's future success than reading, writing,
and mathematics. Without these skills, students will have a more difficult time learning in the
next grade. They must know how to use reading, writing, and math in all their school subjects,
including art, music, science, social studies, health, and physical education. Our district has
identified the most important for success in the next grade.
This pamphlet describes what we want your child to learn in reading, writing, and math by the
end of the year. It may give you some ideas about specific skills you would like to help your child
practice. As you will see, our expectations are high. There may be content, such as geometry,
that you would not have expected so early in your child's education. There may also be terms
which are unfamiliar to you. If there are parts you are unsure of, please ask your child's teacher
for more information.
One of our goals as a school district is to have as many children as possible reach these
expectations - or learn even more - by the end of each school year.
Communication Skills - Reading/Writing
By the end of fifth grade, a student should:
Develop word knowledge and reading strategies
~ Recognize that words have indirect (connotative) as well as literal meanings.
~ Determine word meaning from a variety of word parts such as word origins, roots,
prefixes, and suffixes.
~ Adjust strategies, that is, change pace, reread, ask self questions, or retell in own words,
as appropriate for type and difficulty of the printed material.
~ Read longer articles and books with ease and accuracy.
Understand the meaning of what is read
~ Question, summarize, and draw conclusions from what is read.
~ Support conclusions and opinions with evidence and examples from the printed material.
~ Recognize themes and compare basic ideas or themes between books.
~ Use headings, diagrams, charts, and maps, to understand main ideas and locate
information.
Build habits of a thoughtful reader
~ Read independently on a daily basis.
~ Read a variety of types of writing, such as fiction, poetry, editorials, and electronic print.
~ Begin to set goals and identify strategies to improve reading.
Write clearly and effectively
~ Choose ideas and supporting information based on understanding of the audience and the
purpose for writing.
~ Organize the writing by time, space, or importance.
~ Create paragraphs that have a sense of completeness; draw conclusions.
~ Vary types and lengths of sentences for interest and smoothness.
~ Understand and apply commonly accepted English grammar rules.
~ Spell words appropriate for fifth grade correctly.
~ Understand and apply punctuation to make reading clear and easy.
~ Write neatly for others to read.
Use processes and habits of a thoughtful writer
~ Choose the most effective order for the ideas and details.
~ Use technology tools that help with the writing process.
~ Revise to make the writing more effective.
~ Use resources such as a computer spellchecker to proofread for accuracy.
~ Share writing with others.
~ Maintain a journal of personal writing, notes, observations, questions, ideas; set own
writing improvement goals.
Mathematics Concepts and Skills
By the end of fifth grade, a student should know the following:
Number Sense and Computation
~ Read, write, and understand meaning of fractions, decimals, and percents.
fractions
fractions, decimals, percents
~ Mentally divide whole numbers into familiar fractions (halves, thirds, fourths, sixths).
learn this skill
~ Make a multiplication problem easier by breaking it down , for example, 4 x 57 = 228 since
its four fifties, or 200, plus four sevens, or 28.
learn this skill
~ Know multiplication facts through 12 x 12.
learn this skill
~ Add and subtract decimals.
learn this skill
Measurement
~ Measure attributes of objects (length, area, volume, weight, time, temperature, and
angles) with standard units and tools.
metric system
metric length
us length
metric mass (weight)
metric volume
measuring angles
measuring time
~ Understand and use formulas to find the perimeter and area of rectangles.
learn area of rectangle
learn perimeter of rectangle
~ Make simple scale drawings and build simple scale models.
one lesson teaching scale
practice with scale drawings
scale related to maps
Geometric Sense
~ Identify and describe properties of geometric figures such as angle, parallel,
perpendicular, similar, and congruent.
learn this skill
learn this skill
~ Describe line (mirror) and rotational (around a point) symmetry.
introduction to symmetry
~ Identify simple transformations using combinations of slides, flips, and turns.
~ Draw views of three-dimensional block structures.
learn this skill
Probability and Statistics
~ Organize data using tables and choose an appropriate way to represent data clearly, such
as a bar graph, line plot, or circle graph.
learn about graphs
~ Compare and analyze data; draw conclusions based on data.
learn this skill
~ Understand fundamental ideas about probability.
Algebraic Sense - (Patterns & Functions)
~ Describe patterns seen and discover the general rule of a simple sequence.
patterns and formulas