Fifth Grade Language Arts Curriculum



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Fifth Grade Humanities Syllabus 2014-2015

Sandra Washington

sandraw@

425.747.2911 x245

A note for students:

Students, I encourage each of you to be an advocate for your own learning. My door is always open, and I am always willing to consider any concern you may have about your own learning. The best times to speak with me or seek additional help are before school, after school, during break, or during tutorial. Otherwise I am available by appointment.

Academic Integrity:

Academic integrity is integral to our work in fifth-grade humanities. It is essential to be familiar with our school’s academic integrity policy (see below), and the consequences that may ensue for violations of academic integrity. If necessary, consequences will be determined on a case by case basis.

Academic integrity is a significant part of the foundation upon which a school community is built. Cheating and plagiarism are considered extremely serious offenses. Such dishonesty includes: submitting work as your own that has been done in whole or part by another person (including a parent), copying homework, looking at another student’s quiz or test paper while taking the test, or any form of plagiarism. Plagiarism means using another person’s words, ideas, or organization of thoughts and facts in a paper or homework assignment without giving appropriate attribution. Consequences for academic dishonesty may include loss of credit, full disclosure and discussion with the student’s parents, and other possible consequences. As in other academic and behavioral areas, the school will work with students in an age-appropriate manner.

Text Books

• Making Thirteen Colonies by Joy Hakim (Revised Third Edition)

• From Colonies to Country by Joy Hakim (Revised Third Edition)

• Junior Great Books (Series Five, Books One and Two)

• Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop

Other Materials

• Interact’s Discovery Simulation

• PBS Documentary Liberty!

• Primary Source Documents

• The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation

Course Overview

Social Studies

Objective: Students will be able to identify and analyze the connections between key historical events. Students will be able to describe patterns of life over time and the contributions of people from various cultural groups to the development of the United States. Students will be able to explain how an idea has affected the way people live. Students will better understand events, trends, individuals, and movements shaping the United States. Students will be able to describe how the colonies changed as they established themselves as one nation and describe the major conflicts among the colonies as they created one nation. Students will be able to identify the key values and principles of the Constitution - individual human dignity, liberty, justice, equality, and the rule of law - and apply these values and principles to specific situations. Students will be able to analyze the significance of the Bill of Rights. Students will be able to explain the role of the citizen in American democracy. Students will practice the analysis of primary source documents.

• United States Colonization & Settlement (1600-1740)

• American Revolution (1754 – 1787)

• U.S. Constitution

Writing

Objective: Students will be able to identify and describe the Six Traits of Writing. Students will be able to incorporate interesting ideas into their writing. They will be able to write from the heart and use language that is rich, vivid, and varied. Students will be able to write effective expository paragraphs. They will be able to establish and maintain structure in a five-paragraph essay. Students will be able to edit and revise their work to improve its meaning and focus by adding, deleting, consolidating, clarifying, and rearranging words and sentences.

• Six Traits of Writing (Ideas, Voice, Word Choice, Organization, Sentence Fluency and Conventions)

• Five-Paragraph Essay

• English Grammar

• Poetry

Elocution

Objective: Students will become more aware of the attributes which engender strong oration. Students will be able to evaluate their peers, commenting on what they specifically did well and respectfully suggesting what they might do to improve their performance. Students will gain experience speaking extemporaneously and expressing their ideas succinctly.

• Daily In-class Sharing

• Presentations and/or Recitations

Reading

Objective: Students will be able to identify the main problem or conflict of the plot and how it is resolved. Students will be able to support judgments through references to the text. Students will discern main ideas and concepts presented in texts, identifying and assessing evidence that supports those ideas. Students will draw inferences, conclusions, or generalizations about text and support them with textual evidence. Students will be able to generate clarifying questions to enhance understanding of a text.

• Junior Great Books

• Humanities Book Club

Additional Skills

In addition to content, students in fifth grade will focus on the following skills:

• Organization

• Note-taking

• Study habits

• Research skills

• Group work

• Time management

• Self-advocacy

Homework

• Fifth grade students should expect 60 minutes of homework per night, including weekend nights – 30 minutes of this will be Humanities homework.

• Homework assignments and due dates will be posted on My OWS.

• Homework should be completed to the best of the student’s ability and in a timely fashion. If homework is not completed regularly and on time, consequences will follow per the Student/Parent Handbook. Late work, while not encouraged, is eligible for submission for a grade until the date of the unit exam. After the unit exam, assignments for that unit will no longer be eligible for submission and will receive a permanent zero in the gradebook.

• If a student is absent for a Humanities class, it is the student’s responsibility to speak with me about what was missed before school, after school, during break, during tutorial, or via a message on My OWS.

*Parents should be attuned to their student’s homework on My OWS. My recommendation is for parents to check their student’s assignment page daily in the first semester, and once every other day in the second semester. *

Grading

Fifth-grade Humanities is an integrated curriculum, and therefore receives one integrated grade. The overall Humanities grade is based on three categories: Participation, Practice, and Performance.

Participation will comprise 10% of a student’s Humanities grade. Assignments in this category might include:

• In class participation

• In-class writing assignments

• Class discussions

• Book discussions

• Warm-ups or exit tickets

Practice will comprise 30% of a student’s Humanities grade. Assignments in this category might include:

• Weekly reading responses

• Weekly vocabulary assignments

• Reading or writing practice

• Grammar practice

Performance will comprise 60% of a student’s Humanities grade. Assignments in this category might include:

• Exams

• Quizzes

• Projects

• Essays

• Book Discussions

Assignments will be given a point value. When appropriate, the following grading scale will be used:

A 93-100% C 73-76%

A- 90-92% C- 70-72%

B+ 87-89% D+ 67-69%

B 83-86% D 63-66%

B- 80-82% D- 60-62%

C+ 77-79% E Below 60%

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