Reading Skills

• Making Predictions
• Expressing Opinions
• Visualization
• Summarizing
• Text-to-text, Text-to-world, and Text-to-Self Connections
• Making inferences
• Asking Questions
• Fact and opinion
• Author’s viewpoint
• Character Development

Genres

• Non-Fiction
• Biography
• Historical Fiction
• Realistic Fiction
• Poetry
• Graphic Novels

Writing Skills

• Spelling rules (suffixes, prefixes, base words, contractions, compound words)
• Types of sentences
• Punctuating sentences
• Titles and quotation marks
• Compound sentences
• Compound subjects
• Compound predicates
• Conjunctions
• Nouns
• Verbs
• Adjectives
• Adverbs
• Pronouns
• Prepositions
• Subject-Verb Agreement
• Editing/Revising

Styles

• Informational
• Poetry
• Friendly Letter
• Narrative
• Summary
• Creative
• Persuasive 

• Numerical sequence
• Basic addition and subtraction facts
• Multi-digit addition and subtraction
• Detecting obviously wrong answers
• Basic multiplication facts
• Common multiples and common factors
• Multiplying multi-digit numbers
• Basic division facts, including remainders
• Dividing by one and two digit divisors
• Mean, median, mode and range
• Adding and subtracting fractions
• Understanding decimals 
• Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals
• Measuring length, weight, and volume
• Converting metric units
• Perimeter and area
• Lines, angles, quadrilaterals, and other polygons
• Congruence and similarity
• Symmetry
• Calculating area
• Measuring and calculating perimeter
• Problem-solving

The fourth grade curriculum is an inquiry-based science program utilizing varied hands on activities to strengthen the student’s ability to use the scientific process. Students work together in cooperative groups to explore open-ended challenges in developing science knowledge. Projects are assigned to enhance research skills and target the multiple intelligences.

• Force and Motion: exploring Newton’s Laws of Motion, identifying forces on objects, measuring the effects of force
• Rocks and Minerals: classification of rocks and minerals through geological tests
• Earth’s Surface: classifying types of volcanoes, examining earthquakes, comparing the layers of the earth, investigating plate tectonics

• NC Geography
• NC History
• Culture/ Traditions of NC
• The Land and Early People of NC
• Colonial North Carolina
• States, capitals and regions
• Map Skills

Reading/Literature

The fifth grade Language Arts program focuses on building a community of readers. Through teacher-guided read alouds and student-led literature circles, students explore and process the significance of characters’ actions and feelings, relevance of main events, and common themes while applying strategies and skills to make deeper connections through oral and written opportunities. Students master strategies for improving content and learn the mechanics of writing and grammar, as they explore different styles of writing and publish their work.

• Predicting
• Visualizing
• Summarizing
• Sequencing
• Classifying and categorize
• Making connections (text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world)
• Drawing conclusions
• Inferencing
• Comparing and contrasting
• Identifying: 
  • Main ideas and supporting details
  • Cause and effect
  • Author’s purpose
  • Point of view
  • Story elements
• Genres: fiction, fantasy, biographies, historical fiction, non-fiction, myths, legends, fables, poetry
• Reading accuracy, fluency and expression
• Vocabulary

Writing

Conventions:

• phonetic and spelling pattern study
• writing mechanics

Structure:

• Identify audience and purpose
• Personal voice, writer’s viewpoint
• Organizing information
• Effective sentences (opening, closing, combining sentences, sentence variety)
• Elaboration (reasons and details, developing ideas, staying on the topic)
• Paragraphing (topic sentence and details)
• Word choice (vivid words, sensory details, description, figurative language)
• Writing process

Genres:

• Descriptive writing
• Narrative writing
• Expository writing
• Persuasive writing
• Literary Analysis
• Poetry

Grammar

• Parts of Speech: Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, Pronouns, Prepositions
• Suffixes and prefixes
• Analogies
• Contractions
• Compound words
• Singular/Plural
• Subjects and predicates
• Identifying and writing complete sentences
• Punctuation/Capitalization
• Prepositional phrases
• Clauses

 

• Numbers to 10,000,000
• Mental Math and Estimation
• Multiplication up to 4-digit by 2-digit numbers
• Division up to 4-digit by 2-digit numbers
• Fractions:  all operations, mixed numbers and decimal conversions
• Algebra
• Area and Perimeter
• Ratio
• Decimals
• Percents
• Graphs and Probability
• Angles

• Earth’s orbit and rotation
• Moon and its phases
• Sun and other stars
• Chemical and physical changes

• Geography of the United States
• Age of Exploration
• Early English Settlements
• Colonial Williamsburg
• Events leading up to the American Revolution 
• American Revolution
• The Constitution
• The Bill of Rights 

Visual Art

The Lower School Visual Arts program strives to create independent thinking, creativity, resilience, positive self-reflection, fine craftsmanship, and the ability for students to communicate understanding of the world around them through the visual arts. Students are purposefully engaged in an environment that develops visual literacy skills and meaning through interpretation, employing personal response to both historic and contemporary artworks. The curriculum, which emphasizes joyful exploration and discovery, is based on the art elements, principles of design, art history, and aesthetics. Intentionally, the program fosters each student’s sensory, cognitive, emotional, and motor capabilities. Moving intuitively through the stages of the creative process, the teachers challenge students with hands on materials to explore concepts from the concrete to the abstract. Student work is influenced by world cultures, contemporary trends, and common childhood experiences. Fine motor and problem-solving skills are progressed sequentially, encompassing a variety of media and techniques including collage, drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, clay, and fine crafts. Students are encouraged to use their imagination, generate visual ideas, to tell stories, and express thoughts.

 

Music and Drama

The Lower School performing arts program is experiential, interactive, and designed to introduce concepts through singing, playing, improvising, listening, moving to music and stories of diverse genres.  Students will study essential concepts, including melody, rhythm, expression, and creative dramatics. Younger students will focus on developing pre-reading skills and internalizing these concepts, while developing fine and gross motor skills for playing and moving. Older students will develop music and drama vocabulary and learn to read musical notation by singing and playing on many types of instruments, including the recorder. Every class includes movement, song, story and instruments.  Emphasis will be placed on integrating concepts across curriculum areas.  Students will participate in age-appropriate performances, from informal informances to full-scale productions.
The Grade 5 music curriculum is a bridge to Middle School Ensembles. All students participate in Chorus and choose a band or string instrument to study. Vocal music focuses on healthy vocal technique, music theory and history, sight­ singing, and the rehearsal of music. Band and Strings courses expose students to a variety of instruments and further develop music notation fluency. The year-end concert showcases the growth of our students.
Grade 4 and 5 students are eligible to participate in the Lower School Musical.  This full-scale, ensemble-based production focuses on building skills and confidence. 

Students have frequent access to a well-cultivated collection of print and digital resources through our Lower School Library.  The library has open circulation throughout the day, providing students with the opportunity to explore the collection based on their personal interests and academic needs. 

Students in grades TK-4 visit the library weekly for regularly scheduled classes.  Fifth grade classes visit the library on a flexible schedule based on the curriculum and research needs of the students.  Library lessons engage students with meaningful, high quality literature and teach them how to effectively and independently use the library.  Students are instructed in the use of credible sources for academic research and taught how to properly give credit. 

The Lower School Physical Education program helps students begin to understand the physical skills necessary to ensure the proper development of their mind, body and spirit. Enjoyment, cooperation, and good sportsmanship are stressed at all grade levels.

The TK-3 curriculum consists of movement exploration and locomotor and non-locomotor skills mixed with play activities. The emphasis is on body control, coordination, cooperative play as well as fitness. Lead-up games and manipulative skills are also a focus in second and third grades. Fourth and fifth graders continue to improve their motor patterns, sports skills, and personal fitness levels during our sports units.

The Lower School science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) lab exposes students to the natural world using age-appropriate activities. In addition to their classroom science program, students come to the STEAM lab weekly. STEAM lab lessons are developed to encourage each child to use creative and higher-level thinking skills to solve real-world problems. Labs are periodically designed to supplement and enhance classroom learning. In addition to numerous science investigations, students explore robotics, learn to code, and work collaboratively to complete several engineering projects throughout the year.  

All students in TK through fifth grade participate in the Lower School Spanish program. In our program, students build their interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational communication skills. Teachers frequently use authentic texts and media, games, songs, and movement to enhance understanding, provide cultural insight, and engage the students in active communication. At the novice level, students are expected to be able to recognize, identify, copy, and speak in simple words and memorized phrases, and much focus is placed on the importance of putting forth their best effort versus seeking grammatical perfection. The use of authentic resources also fosters a better understanding of cultural products, practices, and perspectives of the Spanish-speaking world. 

Technology in the Lower School is integrated within grade level classrooms and special area subjects to engage students in their learning process, enhance their individual development, and extend their learning with life experiences and global connections. Students begin using iPads as early as Kindergarten, and Grades 1-5 are part of Latin’s 1:1 iPad program that extends through Grade 12. Apps and digital platforms are curated by grade level, providing developmentally appropriate tools to find and evaluate information, communicate knowledge, create and explore media, connect and share, design and develop solutions, and pursue individual learning needs and interests. Keyboarding skills are introduced in Grade 3 and steadily developed in Grades 4 and 5 through the use of an online typing program.

Digital Citizenship lessons are taught from Transitional Kindergarten through Grade 5, teaching students strategies to navigate their digital lives. TK through Grade 1 lessons focus on practicing media balance, well being, and safety. Grades 2 through 5 deepen their understanding of those same practices, and extend their learning with lessons focused on digital footprint and identity, relationships and communication, and being an upstander in instances of cyberbullying. The lessons reinforce Latin’s core values of exemplifying Personal Responsibility, Respect for Oneself and Others, and Moral Courage.