Reading – Houghton Mifflin Series
• Six compelling themes with excerpts taken from popular children’s literature, focusing on six key strategies for reading
• Vocabulary – recognizing and reading high frequency words, vocabulary expansion, antonyms, synonyms, homophones, multiple-meaning words, compound words, using context, making analogies, understanding idioms, jargon and slang
• Additional Theme Focuses – poetry, speeches and plays
• Novel Study – The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
Literature Circles will explore literary devices, in this tale of drama on the high seas.
English – Houghton Mifflin Series
• Students will engage in the writing process through prewriting, drafting, revision, proofreading, and publishing
• Exploration of the traits of writing to include ideas, organization, word choice, conventions, voice, sentence fluency and presentation, in a variety of experiences for a range of audiences
• Grammar – punctuation, capitalization, complete sentences, types of sentences, parts of speech, plurals, possessives, present, past and future tense, comparisons, prepositional phrases, and conjunctions
• Study skills
• Note-taking strategies
• Visual association techniques
• Use of mnemonic devices
• Multiple intelligence study technique
• Multi-sensory study techniques
• Whole numbers- Students will investigate graphing, place value, arithmetic laws, adding and subtracting
• Multiplication and Division
• Decimals - Students will investigate place value, compare and order, multiplying and dividing and rounding
• Function Rules - Students will investigate function machines and rules, negative numbers, and integers
• Fractions - Students will investigate equivalent fractions, same denominators, comparing fractions, adding and subtracting fractions, mixed numbers and improper fractions, multiplying and dividing fractions, mixed numbers, and improper fractions
• Ratios and Rates
• Mean, Median, Range, and Mode
• Geometry - Students will investigate angles, triangles, congruence and similarity, perpendicular and parallel lines, quadrilaterals, parallelograms, circumference, area, rotation, translation, reflections, and symmetry
• Percents
• Measurement - Students will investigate length, weight, volume, capacity, and time
• Scientific Method and Processes
• 5 Kingdoms - Students will investigate the classification of the animal kingdom.
• Human Body - We will explore the skeletal, nervous, muscular, circulatory, and respiratory systems of the human body.
• Space - As we explore the solar system, we will investigate the moon and eclipses, solstice, equinox, axis, rotation, revolution of the planets, and space exploration. Next we will move into a more detailed exploration of the sun, stars, galaxies, meteoroids, and asteroids.
• Oceans - We will discover information about oceans and seas, including salinity, waves, currents, and tides. Also we will investigate physical features and submersibles.
Scott Foresman Social Studies Text
The focus is on the United States with a theme of Freedom.
• Overview Unit – Symbols of our country, Common beliefs of Americans, Citizenship, Free Enterprise, Regions of the United States, and Resources and the Environment
• Regions of the United States – geography, history, natural resources and cultures of each region of the United States, culminating in the 50 States Test
• State Reports – The Road to Research (Throughout the fall, the library and computer specials teachers will support the introduction and practice of research skills in preparation of our January state report project.)
• Freedom, A History of U.S.
•American Revolution
•Civil War
•Civil Rights Movement