5th Grade Parent Guide

In 5th grade, our focus is on cultivating a balanced approach to literature and informational texts, encouraging children to explore a wide array of topics through activities like read-alouds, discussions, and independent reading. Our goal is to use diverse texts, both printed and visual, to deepen their understanding of how meaning is conveyed through reading and writing, preparing them to engage with more complex material. By the end of the year, students will confidently read and comprehend texts at or above grade level. We acknowledge that complexity varies for each reader, so our educators provide support to ensure access to challenging texts for all. Alongside reading, our curriculum emphasizes writing development, guiding students in employing various strategies to plan, revise, and enhance their writing independently and collaboratively. They will learn to utilize language effectively for different purposes, understanding the nuances between conversational and academic language. As their academic language skills evolve alongside content knowledge, students will further explore digital writing tools to bolster learning and communication, honing both accuracy and speed in keyboarding skills. Our aim is to instill lifelong writing habits from an early age, supporting their growth as confident readers, writers, and communicators.

In fifth grades, our educational approach revolves around a well-rounded integration of literature and informational texts, fostering engagement across diverse subjects through read-aloud sessions, discussions, and independent reading activities. Emphasizing the utilization of both printed and visual texts, we aim to deepen students' understanding of how meaning is conveyed through reading and writing, equipping them to navigate increasingly complex materials effectively. Throughout these years, our overarching goal is to guide students to confidently read and comprehend texts at or above their grade level. Recognizing the individualized challenges posed by varying texts due to students' diverse skills and backgrounds, our educators provide tailored support and scaffolding to ensure access and engagement with complex content. This entails distinguishing between texts designed for fluent reading and those that expand language and knowledge. Moreover, our curriculum in fifth grade specifically emphasizes writing development, teaching strategies for independent and collaborative writing, fostering an understanding of language nuances between conversational and academic styles. As students' academic language skills progress alongside content knowledge, they delve into digital writing tools to bolster learning and communication while refining keyboarding skills. Our ultimate aim is to create an inclusive and supportive learning environment that cultivates each child's growth as skilled readers, writers, and critical thinkers, instilling lifelong writing habits and confident communication abilities from an early stage.

A Parent’s Guide to the NYS Next Generation ELA and Math Learning Standards

NYS English Language Arts Standards

• Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities by Mike Jung
• Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
• Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin
• The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson
• Galaxy Games by Greg Fishbone
• Aquicorn Cove by Katie O’Neill
• Brave by Svetlana Chmakova
• The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag
• The Nine Lives of Jacob Tibbs by Cylin Busby 
• Pennypacker by Sara Pax
• The Remarkable Journey of Charlie Price by Jennifer Maschari
• Gabby Duran: Troll Control by Elise and Daryl Conners
• A Week Without Tuesday by Angelica Banks
• Bad Magic by Pseudonymous Bosch
• Brambleheart: A Story About Finding Treasure and the Unexpected Magic of Friendship by Henry Cole
• Sweet Home Alaska by Carole Estby
• The Adventures of Lettie Peppercorn by Sam Gayton
• The League of Beastly Dreadfuls by Holly Grant
• Jack and Louisa: Act 2 by Andrew and Kate Bolger
• Masterminds: Criminal Destiny by Gordon Korman
• Audacity Jones to the Rescue by Kirby Larson
• The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd
• Just My Luck by Cammie McGovern
• The Hero Two Doors Down: A Story of Friendship Between a Boy and a Baseball Legend. by Sharon Robinson
• The Only Girl in School by Natalie Standiford
• Baker’s Magic by Diane Zahler
• Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
• Timmy Failure by Stephan Pastis
• The Tapper Twins Go to War (With Each Other) by Geoff Rodkey
• The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable by Dan Gutman

Social Studies is intended to promote civic competence through the integrated study of the social science and humanities. The primary purpose of Social Studies is to help young people to develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. Students will explore these six practices via the overarching theme of The Western Hemisphere: The United States, Canada, and Latin America.

As a result of their schooling, students will be able to...

Gathering, Interpreting and Using Evidence

• Identify evidence about topics related to historical events occurring in the Western Hemisphere
• Gather data to support arguments about specific social studies topics
• Use primary and secondary sources such as art, photographs, artifacts, oral histories, maps, and graphs to demonstrate cultural understanding

Chronological Reasoning and Causation

• Identify important turning points in history
• Compare histories of different places in the Western Hemisphere while utilizing timelines
• Recognize and identify patterns and changes in history

Comparison and Contextualization

•  Identify how the relationship among geography, economics, and history affects events in the study of the Western Hemisphere
• Compare and contrast geological resources in the Western Hemisphere

Geographic Reasoning

• Utilize geographic tools and structures to uncover the political and geological changes in the Western Hemisphere
• Begin to understand how specific environments affect human activities and how those human activities affect the physical environment in the Western Hemisphere

Economics and Economic Systems

• Study and develop an understanding of different economic systems in the Western Hemisphere
• Understand the interdependence among different countries in the Western Hemisphere
• Assess how technology has influenced global economies

Civic Participation  

• Develop an awareness of citizenship and the role individuals have within the political systems reflected in the Western Hemisphere
• Demonstrate an understanding of the structures within a society that promote interdependence and the productive debate that lead to development and progress within the Western Hemisphere.

NYSED Social Studies Framework

Mathematics is a language we use to identify, describe, and investigate the patterns and challenges of everyday living. It deals with numbers, quantities, shapes, and data, as well as numerical relationships and operations. Mathematics is a way of approaching new challenges through investigating, reasoning, visualizing, and problem solving with the goal of communicating the relationships observed and problems solved to others.

As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:

Operations and Algebraic Thinking:  

• Write and interpret numerical expressions
• Analyze patterns and relationships
• Number and Operations in Base Ten
• Understand the place value system 
• Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths

Number and Operations – Fractions:

• Use equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and subtract fractions
• Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplications and division to multiply and divide fractions

Measurement and Data:

• Convert like measurement units within a given measurement system
• Represent and interpret data
• Geometric measurement: understand concepts of volume and relate volume to multiplication and addition

Geometry:

• Graph points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world and mathematical problems
• Classify two-dimensional figures into categories based on their properties

A Parent’s Guide to the NYS Next Generation ELA and Math Learning Standards

NYSED Math Standards

In fifth grade, students explore performance expectations that guide them in answering questions related to various scientific concepts. They investigate whether the weight of matter changes during transformations, the distribution of water on Earth, the creation of new substances through the mixing of others, the cycling of matter in ecosystems, and the sources and uses of energy in food. Fifth-grade performance expectations encompass Disciplinary Core Ideas in physical science (PS1, PS2, PS3), life science (LS1, LS2), and earth and space sciences (ESS1, ESS2, ESS3) from the NRC Framework. Students develop models to describe that matter consists of particles too small to be seen and understand the conservation of total weight during changes in matter. They determine whether substance mixing results in new substances and describe interactions among the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere using models. Students analyze and graph data to provide evidence of water distribution on Earth. They also understand that plants primarily obtain materials for growth from air and water, and they describe the movement of matter and energy among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. Fifth-grade students develop an understanding of patterns in daily changes such as shadow length and direction, day and night lengths, and seasonal appearances of stars. Crosscutting concepts such as patterns, cause and effect, scale, proportion, and quantity, energy and matter, and systems and systems models serve as organizing principles. Students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in scientific practices, including developing and using models, planning and conducting investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, using mathematics and computational thinking, engaging in argumentation from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information to showcase their understanding of core scientific ideas.

Matter and Its Interactions

• Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen
• Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.
• Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.
• Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

• Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.

Energy

• Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

• Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.

Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

• Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
• Earth’s Place in the Universe
• Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from Earth.
• Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky

Earth’s Systems

• Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
• Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.

Earth and Human Activity

• Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

Engineering Design

• Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost. Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem. 
• Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
• Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

NYSED Science Standards

Science:

Interactive Simulations 

Interactive Simulations 

Interactive Games 

Clearinghouse of Websites 

Animal Games 

Videos 

Math:

Videos 

Math Fact Fluency 

Math Fact Fluency 

Problem Solving Games 

Special Education Programs

A unique education program means specially designed individualized or group instruction to address student’s academic goals in reading, writing, and math.  The Committee on Special Education will determine appropriate program recommendations based on the continuum of services and students’ progress. 

Related Services

Related services are supportive services required to assist a student with a disability and include speech-language pathology, hearing services, vision services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, counseling services, and parent counseling and training.  A student’s need, identified through an evaluation, will provide the basis for written annual goals and appropriate provision of services. 

Resource Room & Consultant Teacher

Resource Room is a special education program where students require specialized supplementary instruction in a small group setting outside the classroom for a portion of the school day.  Resource Room is capped at five students per group.  Consultant Teacher, another special education program, is for students who require additional specially designed individualized or group instruction within regular education classes.  

Integrated Co-Teaching, or “Inclusion”

Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) is a special education program where students required specially designed instruction in an individualized or small group setting for multiple subjects within regular education classes.  A general education teacher and a special education teacher jointly provide instruction to a class that includes both students with and students without disabilities to meet the diverse learning needs of all students in a class.  ICT is capped at 12 students with a disability.

Special Class

Special Class is a special education program where students with disabilities have been grouped together with similar individual needs and academic goals for the purpose of being provided specially designed instruction in a small-sized class without general education students.  Students in a special class are exposed to the general education curriculum and are on a Regents pathway to graduation.  

Supplementary Aids and Services

Supplementary aids and services are other supports (i.e., additional personnel, assistive technology, instructional modifications) that are provided in regular education classes, Specials, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings to enable students with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled students to the maximum extent appropriate in accordance with the least restrictive environment. 

English as a New Language Services and Programs:

The district offers two programs for eligible and identified English Language Learners (ELLs).

ENL: In an English as a New Language (ENL) program, English Language Arts and content-area instruction are taught in English using specific ENL instructional strategies by a NYS certified ESOL teacher.  This program typically serves ELL students from many different home/primary language backgrounds whose only common language is English and therefore cannot participate in a bilingual program. In an ENL program, there are two components to deliver instructional services, Stand-Alone and Integrated ENL services.  

Stand-Alone: Stand Alone ENL is a separate time devoted to English language acquisition and English language development. The required amount of stand-alone ENL instruction depends on the English proficiency level of each student.

Integrated: In an integrated ENL class, an ESOL certified teacher provides services during the students' content area classes alongside their classroom teacher. Some content area classes that are integrated include English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and/or Mathematics.  Students receive core content area and English language development instruction, including the use of the home/primary language as support as well as appropriate ELL instructional supports to enrich comprehension. 

Transitional Bilingual Education Program: Bilingual education uses the student’s native language (Spanish) as a tool of instruction while they begin learning English. This model is for English language learners who speak the same language.

The language goal of the program is for English language learners to learn English as quickly as possible and achieve success in their current academic placement and in the future. 

For more information on our Bilingual & English as a New Language Related Services please visit our Bilingual, ENL & World Languages Department Webpage.

NYSED Bilingual & English as a New Language Resources

Central Islip Bilingual, ENL and World Language Department

Information literacy is a skill necessary for today’s world of rapidly increasing information. Students will have to assimilate more information than has appeared in the last 150 years.

As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:

Information Literacy

• Continue to search the library computer catalog to identify and locate materials for individual interests and research needs
• Continue exploration of the virtual reference collection. 
• Continue to explore various literary genres within fiction and nonfiction
• Explore chapter books by noted authors, including state and national award nominees and winners
• Introduce the Newbery award
• Discuss elements of a story: characters, plot, setting, and theme.
• Continue to use a simple research process, learn how to evaluate a variety of resources, and summarize findings in students’ own words

Technology: Computers

• Introduce the effects of cyber-bullying
• Demonstrate the ability to use basic operation commands (opening and closing programs, save, log-on)
• Prepare documents that include a variety of media
• Determine correct keywords to use when conducting Internet research
• Work collaboratively with a team using information technology resources
• Adhere to safety and security policies
• Identify personal information that should not be shared. Explain the risks and dangers of sharing personal information

Physical Education Programs offer students the opportunity to enhance their minds and bodies.

As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:

Physical Skills

• Students will continue their refinement of motor skills to enhance sport-related situations and activities. Students will continue to pursue their development of teamwork, sportsmanship, and cooperation in modified competitive activities

Knowledge

• Students will begin to adhere to the understanding of rules within sports as well as develop multiple strategic methods to be successful within the activity.  In addition, students will understand and recognize fitness concepts while developing lifelong healthy habits

Physical Activity

• Students will be able to identify their heart rate during physical fitness activities. Students will also participate in sport-related activities and fitness

Intrinsic Value

• Each student will participate with the desire to succeed with confidence, and ultimately have fun, in a safe and nurturing environment, while developing the love of living a healthy lifestyle

NYSED Physical Education Standards

The elementary art curriculum focuses on integrating aesthetics, studio art, collaboration, connections to literature and art history in an engaging, creative and imaginative environment with an emphasis on the Elements of Art and Principles of Design.

Art skills/fine motor skills are taught as scaffolded skills based on appropriate development of the young artist and accommodations are made for students to reach their individual goals.  

• Exploring Materials: Students will continue to build skills and creatively explore materials in an advanced manner such as: utilizing studio materials to make the illusion of form or actual 3-dimentional forms, applying paint techniques while comparing paint viscosity, transparency and opacity with different kinds of paint and applying materials to create values and textures
• Use of Principles of design and Elements of art: Students will practice using line, shape, pattern, form, color theory, space, value, balance, rhythm, variety, proportion, unity and emphasis. Students will apply these to works of art
• Cultural connections: Students will explore examples of cultures and artists of the world that coincide with the principles and elements studied to create their own art
• Cross curriculum connections: Students will continue to use literature with illustrations to expand their visual literacy while utilizing social studies, science and math skills, at and above grade level to challenge advance learners to create new images in art
• Reflections: Students will continue to understand their own craftsmanship. Students will be able to identify in their own work and others where there are areas of improvement or great accomplishments. Students will be asked to use art vocabulary while commenting on work. Students will also begin to recognize how art creates emotion

NYSED Visual Arts Standards

Our art and music programs help our students build perseverance and achievement, teach responsibility, expose students to history and culture, help improve coordination, reading, math, and social skills, as well as nurture self-expression and creativity.  The arts connect us to the world and open our eyes to new ways of seeing. 

Elementary Music Department Benchmarks & Skills

Music Appreciation

• Students will learn about history and genre throughout their experiences, building knowledge of key musical terms, analyzing melody and harmony, rhythm, and form.  Students will learn to read, write, and compose music as well

Movement

• Reinforcing body awareness with various movement activities

Improvisation

• Exploring creativity through movement, rhythm, and pitch

Performance

• Giving opportunities for students to learn to sing, as well as use the recorder, ukulele, and world drumming, as a foundation to performing within an ensemble

Central Islip K-12 Full Music Curriculum

NYSED Music Standards & Resources

NYSSMA Frequently Asked Questions