NOTE: This is a compilation of skills and facts a child should be able to complete and understand at the end of fifth grade. The list of skill sets here will be learned during the fifth grade year.

Language Arts

Art

• Study visual arts like painting, ceramics, sculpture and photography
• Learn of different cultures and time periods
• Learn more about famous artists and styles
• Study and create landscapes, portraits, sculptures, and collages
• Explore various art materials like pastels, clay, watercolors, or papier-mâché
• Learn principles of art like color, line, shape, texture, and space

Music

• Learn and develop understanding of pitch, melody and rhythm
• Sing, play instruments, and explore creative movement
• Sing traditional and folk songs from around the world
• Sing rounds, singing partner songs (When the Saints Go Marching In’)
• Continue to learn about famous musicians
• Develop recognition of musical notation
• Practice drawing treble clef symbol, staff and other musical symbols
• Learn about various musical styles like jazz, classical, Caribbean, and Latin, march and a ballad

Reading

• Begins to use direct quotes from texts to explain and prove ideas about the reading
• Reads a variety of genres including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama
• Uses details from the text to summarize it, identify the main idea or theme, compare characters or events, or compare different texts of the same genre
• Interprets and understands metaphors and comparisons made in a text
• Identifies an author or narrator’s point of view and explains how this affects the content of a text
• Compares multiple perspectives on the same event, idea, or theme
• Uses the context of a text to determine the meaning of unknown words
• Uses technology and digital media to further their understanding of a topic and to find answers to their questions
• Gathers information about a topic from multiple sources

Spelling

• Able to spell roots, suffixes, prefixes, contractions, and syllable constructions
• Spell with similar sounds including words with the sounds chur/zhur or ant/ent and r-controlled vowels
• Finding and fixing spelling errors
• Continue to work on challenging words
• Continue to work on phonics and spelling rules learned

Writing & Grammar

• Writes opinion, informational, and narrative pieces
• Plans, revises, and edits, and rewrites their writing
• Thinks about the best way to approach their writing and tries different ways to do so
• Uses technology to publish writing and do research
• Getting better at typing, perhaps able to type a page or two
• Takes notes on information and cites the sources used

Mathematics

Algebra

• Beginning to understand algebraic thinking and processes

Decimals

• Working with decimals and rounding decimals to the thousandths place
• Order decimal numbers from least to greatest
• Can round decimals to the nearest whole number
• Convert decimals to percentages to fractions

Factors

• List factors of a given number
• Find the greatest common factor (GCF) of any two given numbers

Fractions

• Adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers with different denominators
• Multiplying and dividing fractions
• Order a list of fractions with varying denominators from least to greatest
• Round mixed numbers to the nearest whole number
• Can round fractions to the nearest whole number
• Convert fractions to decimals to percentages
• Turn a mixed number into an improper fraction
• Turn an improper fraction into a mixed number
• Reduce fractions to simplest form

Geometry

• Understanding volume and finding the volume of three-dimensional shapes
• Fill in the missing side lengths of a given figure
• Draw an angle given a certain degree and classify it as: acute, obtuse or right
• Given the perimeter of a shape, can find the area
• Find the area and perimeter of an irregular shape

Graphing & Coordinate Plains

• Interpreting data and analyzing relationships, such as speed and distance traveled, by creating simple equations, tables, graphs, and line plots
• Write points on a coordinate plain, given coordinates
• Plot and label points shown on a coordinate plain
• Can rotate and reflect shapes on a coordinate plain

Measurements

• Converting units of measurement within the same system, such as feet and inches, kilometers and meters

Multiples

• List the multiples of any given number

Operations: Distributive Property

• Use the distributive property to solve problems

Operations: Multiplication & Division

• Dividing with two-digit divisors

Operations: Order of Operations

• Understands and uses order of operations to solve equations

Percentages

• Convert percentages to fractions to decimals

Probability

• Can figure basic probability

Rounding

• Working with decimals and rounding decimals to the thousandths place
• Round mixed numbers to the nearest whole number
• Can round decimals to the nearest whole number
• Can round fractions to the nearest whole number

Time

• Understands time zones
• Can figure the elapsed time of a flight departure and arrival in differing time zones

Other Suggested Subjects

Geography & Social Studies

• Learn to explore cause-and-effect relationships
• Compare past and present events
• Make and use timelines, graphs, charts and maps to interpret historical data

History

• Focus is on the United States
• Study Native Americans, 13 colonies, the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the building of a new nation

Science

• Life science- the structure and behavior of living organisms
• Examine cells, perhaps under a microscope, and identify the different parts of the cell
• Systems of the body and how they work together
• Ecosystems and the plants and animals within them
• Food webs- producers, decomposers, consumers, predators, and prey
• Five major kingdoms (plants, animals, fungi, protists, and monerans)
• Continue to study the earth- learn about water cycle with evaporation, precipitation, and condensation
• Solar system continues to be taught with emphasis on the earth’s layers and its changing surface
• Learn about energy and matter
• Continue to learn scientific experiments and investigations

Social Development & Behavior

• Ability to understand others opinions and points of view increase
• Ability to use and understand more complex language
• Influence of peers is higher in this age range
• Able to handle more responsibilities in home, school, and with peers
• More aware of social circles and cliques
• Able to read others facial expressions and body language better
• Able to show empathy better
• Read more about the development of fifth-graders

Additional Resources & Sources:

Check out government standards for your state

TGTB has LA placement and a math placement test. While it does go along with their curriculum, it also can help you identify where your child needs more work. You can also learn more about TGTB.

Sources: Scholastic, Great Schools