Grade 5

Click Here to View WHPS's Specific Curriculum Objectives and Scope & Sequence

This document outlines the Grade 5 curriculum. West Hartford’s comprehensive program is based on standards for teaching and learning adopted by the Connecticut Board of Education/State Department of Education including Connecticut Core Standards, Connecticut Social Studies Frameworks, and Next Generation Science Standards. The West Hartford curriculum also includes integration of state standards for visual and performing arts, physical education, and library media services. These standards guide development of curriculum and instruction to support student learning necessary for success on district and state assessments and for students to have the knowledge, skills and dispositions for future college and career readiness.

Mathematics

This year, your child will develop an understanding of and mastery toward Grade 5 Connecticut Core Standards for Mathematics. Your fifth grader will engage in whole and small group lessons based on what they need. They will participate in weekly Number Talk lessons and routines that focus on mental math strategies, mathematical discourse, and building computational fluency.

Through seven units of study, your child will focus on both the content of Math Standards (WHAT they will learn) and Mathematical Practices (HOW students engage in learning of mathematics) that are both part the CT Core Mathematics Standards for Mathematics.

In Grade 5, instruction focuses on five critical areas of mathematics content learning:

Understanding the place value system and performing operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths (Number & Operations in Base Ten)
Writing and interpreting numerical expressions and analyzing patterns and relationships (Operations & Algebraic Thinking)
Using equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and subtract fractions as well as applying and extending previous understandings of multiplication and division to multiply and divide fractions (Number and Operations - Fractions)
Converting like measurement units within a given measurement system, representing and interpreting data, and understanding concepts of volume and relate volume to multiplication and to addition (Measurement & Data)
Graphing points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world problems and classifying two-dimensional figures into categories based on their properties (Geometry)

Click here for some helpful resources that you can use to gain a better understanding of the elementary math curriculum as well as ways in which you can support your child in math at home.

Science

This year, your child will develop an understanding of and mastery toward the Next Generation Science Standards for Grade 5. Your child will participate in inquiry-based lessons that build science and engineering practices and engage in hands-on experiences that allow students to discover the following Grade 5 core ideas of science:

Patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky
Matter and conservation of matter
The distribution of water on Earth and the ways in which the Earth's geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and/or atmosphere interact
Energy transfer among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment

Your child will demonstrate their understanding of these core ideas by engaging in eight science and engineering practices throughout their science units of study.

Literacy

This year, your child will develop an understanding of and mastery toward Grade 5 Common Core Standards for English-Language Arts. These standards integrate all aspects of Language Arts development and are categorized under reading, language, and speaking & listening. Your child will participate in whole and small group reading lessons to support progress toward mastery of these standards. An outline of the year's units are included below.

Please note that this year, two of the Grade 5 units are newly revised to more strongly align with the Science of Reading.

Unit 1: Investigating Fiction: Mystery, Theme and Perspective

Unit 2: Colonization (Integrating Information from Several Texts on the Same Topic)

Unit 3: The Great Debate (Noting Similarities & Differences in Points of View Represented)

Unit 4: Revolution & Resistance

Click here for some helpful resources that you can use to support your fifth grader with reading at home.

Writing instruction is now embedded into the literacy block. Teachers will use both sentence-level writing routines, as developed through The Writing Revolution, along with a gradual release model for process writing to guide their writing instruction. Students will continue to engage in process writing and complete narrative, informational, and opinion pieces.

Click here for some helpful resources that you can use to support your child with writing at home.

Social-Emotional Learning

Your child will engage in weekly lessons from the Second Step social-emotional learning curriculum as well as a Morning Meeting structure (greeting, sharing, group activities) implemented in all Grade K-5 classrooms provide West Hartford students with a consistent social-emotional learning progression. As part of our WHPS commitment to equity and anti-racism, your child will also engage in supplemental lessons that support Second Step programing as it relates to identity, diversity, justice, and action. Students build the following social-emotional learning (SEL) concepts and skills throughout their WHPS elementary experience:

Self-Awareness: Develop a positive self-concept
Self-Management: Identify, understand, and regulate emotions of self and others
Responsible Decision-Making: Make constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions
Relationship Skills: Develop positive interpersonal relationships
Social Awareness: Develop an understanding of rules and responsibilities within communities

Social Studies

Your child will engage in an integrated social studies curriculum developed with guidance from the Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Standards passed by the State Board of Education in October 2024. The Grade 5 standards, which include Inquiry, History, Geography, Economics and Civics, are embedded into Course Questions and Course Topics.

Course Questions:

What were the economic, political, and social impacts of colonization in the Americas?
How did the American Revolution shape the national identity of the United States?

Course Topics:

Migration and Settlement
The Colonial Era
The American Revolution
The United States Constitution and Civic Participation

As part of the English/Language Arts curriculum, your child will will participate in two integrated Social Studies units.

1. In what ways, and for whom, was America a land of opportunity during the colonial period?

Your child will use primary and secondary sources to determine the similarities and differences between the 13 original colonies. They will explore resources that aim to provide students with a deeper understanding of life in West Hartford and Connecticut during the 1700s and learn how enslavement played a role in our town and state's history.

2. How did people’s backgrounds, experiences, and occupations affect their position in the American Revolution?

Your child will read and analyze historical resources detailing the causes and main events of the American Revolution and the perspectives of different groups concerning independence. Students will understand that different backgrounds and experiences led to different attitudes and support for the war. Students will study the major events of the war, including the taxation of the colonists, the Declaration of Independence, major turning points, and the Treaty of Paris and its impact.

Instruction about Religion:

Discuss how religion shaped the development of the 13 original colonies.

Keyboarding & Handwriting

Keyboarding:

The typing.com program introduces foundational letter and keyboarding skills. Muscle memory of the keyboard is developed with frequently used letter combinations. Your child will learn to type words and sentences using engaging and changing themes.

Click here to learn more about keyboarding practice at WHPS.

Handwriting: Students are introduced to the cursive alphabet in the fall of Grade 3 through Fundations. They continue to learn, review, and practice the cursive alphabet throughout the year.

Special Areas

All elementary students in West Hartford attend art, physical education, music, world language, and library classes each week.

Visual Arts: The visual arts curriculum provides a sequential and meaningful focus on skills and concepts while emphasizing art production, art history, aesthetics and art criticism. Your child will engage in inquiry, exploration and development of visual literacy skills, technique and expression of personal style through child-centered experiences.

Physical Education: The department strives to help children create healthy, active lifestyles through a balance of activities in a positive, responsible and cooperative environment. Your child will engage in activities that include the movement areas of body management, use of manipulatives, educational gymnastics, dance, fitness and adventure/cooperative education.

Music: The study of music fosters artistic development, critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, and the pursuit of life-long learning. Through performing and responding to music, your child will develop individual skills, realize a sense of belonging, and establish connections to the community.

Library-Media: The library-media department provides instruction, resources and services necessary for students to become lifelong learners in a global community. Your child will engage in weekly sessions with the library-media specialist to develop a flexible set of skills throughout their elementary experience to prepare them to be independent knowledge-seekers, critical thinkers, and creative-problem-solvers.

World Language: The world language department enables students to communicate effectively in the target language, and develop an understanding of the cultures of the speakers of that language.