Elementary Curriculum

Elementary curriculum emphasizes mastery of foundational skills in reading, math, science, social studies, English Language arts, health, art, music and physical education.

The curriculum is individualized to meet special needs, and lessons are also provided to develop social skills, positive character traits and drug-abuse resistance skills. A specialized curriculum is available for academically gifted students and for those needing special education services.

Middle School Curriculum

High School Curriculum

Parent's Guide: Helping Your Child Learn

Kindergarten

Literacy

Kindergarterners will:

Identify and write all upper and lower case letter.
Identify letter sounds.
Recognize and produce rhyming words.
Segment, delete, and blend syllables and sounds.
Read high frequency words.
Decode simple words.
Read grade level text accurately.
Read independently for sustained periods of time.
Use strategies to comprehend while reading and/or listening to a variety of texts.
Write first and last name.
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose stories, opinion and informational pieces.
Speak and listen in multiple setting.

Ways to Help at Home:

Read with and to your child every day.
Play rhyming games and games that involve identifying letters and letter sounds.
Recite nursery rhymes and sing songs. Encourage your child to identify high frequency words in text.
Encourage your child to retell stories.
Ask questions when reading with your child to support their understanding.
Ask your child to put letters and pictures together to create simple stories.
Encourage your child to draw and write by allowing access to pencils, crayons, markers, chalk and a variety of paper.

Mathematics

Kindergarterners will:

Count to 100 by ones and tens.
Write, identify, and count objects for the numbers 1 to 20.
Work with numbers 11-19 to gain foundations of place value.
Understand addition as putting together or adding to, and understand subtraction as taking apart or taking from.
Reason with shapes and their attributes (number of sides, number of angles, etc.)
Sort and recognize squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, hexagons, cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres by their attributes.
Classify objects into categories and count the number of objects in each category.
Fluently add and subtract within 5.

Ways to Help at Home:

Ask your child questions that encourage them to count up to 20. (How many cans are on the shelf?)
While putting toys into bins, count the number in two bins and ask your child how many more are in one bin than the other.
Play games and create simple addition and subtraction problems for your child using life situations. (If you have five eggs and use two for dinner, ask how many are left in the carton.)
Ask your child about the weight and length of certain objects. (Which is shorter? Which is heavier? How do you know?)
Encourage you child to sort common objects. (coins, buttons, cereal) by attributes such as size, color and shape.

Science

Kindergarterners will:

Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface and design a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.
Describe weather patterns over time.
Observe the physical properties of objects and describe how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
Compare the strengths and weaknesses of objects and describe how each performs.
Compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.
Describe ways to cause an object to go slower, go faster, go farther, change direction, stop.
Use observations to describe what plants and animals need to survive.
Describe how plants and animals can change the environment to meet their needs

Ways to Help at Home:

Share the weather forecast and talk about what to wear.
Share ideas about what to wear based on the season.
Talk about how items at home were designed by someone. Encourage your child to 'invent' new tools (drawings).
Play sports with your child and talk about concepts like speed, force and direction.
Accompany your child outdoors and notice plants and animals, talk about how they survive outside.
Read an age appropriate book about the seasons.

Social Studies

Kindergarterners will:

Engage in the study of themselves, their families, and their schools.
Learn how to participate and use effective citizenship skills.
Explore their families, their classrooms, and their schools through an interdisciplinary approach including history, civics, economics, and geography.
Generate and research compelling questions, such as:
- What is my role in my family and school?
- What is “history'' and how is the past different from the present?
- How do citizens show patriotism?
- How do we use maps and globes to learn about places?
- How do we make choices?

Ways to Help at Home:

Help your child recognize various community member roles and responsibilities (i.e. fire, police, city council, waste management, public works, etc.)
Explain to your child how they are related to other family members.
Share stories about family history, places, and jobs.
Look for opportunities to discuss, explore, and experience different cultures.
Explain to your child where they live - their neighborhood, city, state, etc.
Have conversations with your child about how and why you make decisions - opportunity costs based on decision making.
Discuss your child's goals and ways to reach them.
Have playdates, visit parks, and encourage your child to socialize with peers.
Encourage your child to ask questions and find answers to their questions.

First Grade

Literacy

First Graders will:

Manipulate sounds within words.
Use phonics (matching letters and sounds) and word analysis skills to decode words.
Read high frequency words.
Read grade level text accurately.
Read independently for sustained periods of time.
Use background knowledge to understand texts.
Determine what is important when reading.
Use sensory images to comprehend texts.
Write narrative stories that include a beginning, middle, and end along with details related to the story.
Write informative texts that name a topic and supply facts and provides a sense of closure.
Write opinion pieces that name a topic, opinion, reasons for the opinion, and provides a sense of closure.
Apply conventions of standard English grammar and usage in writing.
Speak and listen effectively in multiple settings

Ways to Help at Home:

Read with and to your child every day, listen to audio books.
Recite nursery rhymes and sing together.
Play word games.
Point out interesting and unusual words.
Encourage your child to retell stories.
Ask questions when reading with your child to support their understanding.
Visit the library and check out books regularly.
Encourage your child to draw and write by allowing access to pencils, crayons, markers, chalk and a variety of paper.
Write stories, letters, cards and poems with your child.
Enjoy conversation with your child, talk to them about school, books, friends, interests, sports.

Mathematics

First Graders will:

Read and write numbers to 120.
Understand the place value of 2-digit numbers.
Use greater than >, less than <, and equal = symbols to compare two-digit numbers.
Fluently add and subtract within 10 (know addition and subtraction facts).
Add 2-digit numbers.
Solve word problems by adding or subtracting numbers 1 to 20.
Measure lengths in non-standard units (paper clips, blocks, etc.)
Ask and answer questions about data in graphs and charts.
Tell and write time in hours and half hours.
Reason with shapes and their attributes (Draw a shape that has 4 equal sides and 4 angles.)
Create new shapes by combining other shapes.
Identify and know the value of a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter.

Ways to Help at Home:

Play games and create simple addition and subtraction problems for your child using life situations. (There are 16 cookies in the jar. We just ate 4 cookies. How many cookies are left in the jar?)
Cook with your child.
Build things with blocks or other materials. As you build, have your child count the pieces by tens, add or subtract pieces, and name the different shapes you use.
Encourage you child to sort common objects (coins, buttons, cereal) by attributes such as size, color and shape.

Science

First Graders will:

Define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
Illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
Design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
Make observations that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
Provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound, and that sound can make materials vibrate.
Make observations that objects in darkness can be seen only when illuminated.
Determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.
Use light or sound to solve the problem of communicating over a distance.
Describe the presence of the Sun, Moon, and stars in the sky over time

Ways to Help at Home:

Have your child draw inventions to solve common problems.
Talk to your child about similarities between siblings and differences.
Make string and cup telephones.
Play a game where you only communicate through light.
Go outside to observe plants and animals and talk to them about how they survive.
Use sidewalk chalk to mark your child's shadow at different times of day.
When the moon is half lit ask your child if they can guess where the sun might be.
Have your child draw the moon every night for a month (moon journal).
Read an age appropriate book with them about space.

Social Studies

First Graders will:

Engage in the study of themselves, their families, and their schools.
Learn how to participate and use effective citizenship skills.
Explore their families, their classrooms, and their schools through an interdisciplinary approach including history, civics, economics, and geography.
Generate and research compelling questions such as:
- How do my school and community influence each other?
- Why are symbols important for our community and country?
- How can you use maps and globes to help you find things?
- How do we get things we need or want in our school and community?

Ways to Help at Home:

Share stories about your family and encourage your child to share stories about their lives with others.
Talk about current events in family, community, and country.
Look for opportunities to have your child consider how things in the community and nation impact their lives.
When traveling, give your child a map of where you live and where you are going. Have your child consider different ways to get there.
Talk to your child about how you get the goods and services your family needs.
Point out and have discussions about important symbols in our community and country.
Encourage your child to ask questions and find answers to their questions.

Second Grade

Literacy

Second Graders will:

Apply grade level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
Determine meaning of words and phrases.
Read grade level text with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Use comprehension strategies to understand a variety grade level texts:
- Use background knowledge
- Ask and answer questions
- Determine important ideas
- Make inferences
- Use sensory images
Use the writing process to develop and strengthen writing.
Write narratives that describe actions, thoughts and feelings in a logical order and provides closure.
Write informational texts with a well developed topic, facts and a conclusion.
Write opinion pieces that name a topic, provide an opinion with reasons to support it and includes a sense of closure.
Apply conventions of standard English grammar and usage in writing.
Speak and listen effectively in multiple contexts.

Ways to Help at Home:

Read with and to your child every day, listen to audio books.
Visit the library and check out books regularly.
Play word games.
Point out interesting and unusual words.
Share family stories and memories.
Tell jokes and riddles.
Encourage your child to retell stories and facts they've read.
Ask questions when reading with your child to support their understanding.
Encourage all forms of reading; graphic novels, comics, picture books, articles, wordless picture books.
Create a writing toolbox at home.
Fill it with drawing and writing materials.
Write stories, letters, thank you notes, lists, recipes.
Model reading and writing behavior you want to see from your child.
Enjoy conversation with your child, talk to them about school, books, friends, interests, sports.

Mathematics

Second Graders will:

Fluently add and subtract within 20 from memory (know addition and subtraction facts)
Solve word problems by adding or subtracting numbers 1 to 100.
Understand the place value of 3-digit numbers.
Add and subtract 3-digit numbers.
Measure lengths of objects in standard units such as inches or centimeters.
Solve word problems involving length.
Find the value of combinations of dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies.
Tell and write time to the nearest 5 minutes using a.m. and p.m.
Work with equal groups of objects to build a foundation for understanding multiplication.
Solve problems and draw conclusions using line plots, picture graphs, and bar graphs.
Divide shapes into halves, thirds, and fourths, understanding that equal shares may not have the same shape. We only use the fraction words (one-half) in second grade, not the symbols (1/2).

Ways to Help at Home:

Ask your child questions about time.
Encourage your child to use money both at home and in the community.
Play math games:
- I'm thinking of a number. It has 5 tens, 3 hundreds and 4 ones. What's my number?
- Using a deck of cards, deal 2 cards and ask your child to add the numbers as fast as they can.
- Using a deck of cards, identify a target number between 1 and 20, deal a card, and ask your child to either add or subtract to obtain that number.
Create addition and subtraction problems for your child using life situations.
Ask your child to measure the length of certain objects. (Which is shorter? Which is heavier? How do you know?)

Science

Second Graders will:

Show how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
Compare the strength and weaknesses of objects to see how each performs.
Describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.
Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
Provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly.
Compare solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.
Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area and identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.
Plan and conduct investigations on the growth of plants when growing conditions are altered (e.g., dark versus light, water versus no water).
Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

Ways to Help at Home:

Grow plants at home with your child.
Ask your child to draw an invention and explain its structure and function.
Point out items made from different materials and ask why that material was used.
Read an age appropriate book about the Grand Canyon.
Go outside to find seeds like 'whirly birds', dandelions, apple seeds etc... ask them how seeds travel away from their parents and why.
Place a lima bean in a wet paper towel inside a sandwich bag and watch it grow.
Catch bugs and observe them.
Take nature walks and ask questions to inspire curiosity.
Start a bug collection.

Social Studies

Second Graders will:

Engage in the study of geography as it relates to the cultural, economic, and political characteristics of the regions of both Missouri and the United States.
Examine and evaluate multiple sources of information using an inquiry model.
Explore various regions through the disciplines of history, civics, and economics.
Generate and research compelling questions such as:
- What does it mean to act as a responsible citizen in our community and nation?
- What are some inventions that helped change the way people live?
- What are the responsibilities of government leaders?
- How have the lives of Native Americans changed over time?
- How do we describe our region?
- How are community wants and needs met?

Ways to Help at Home:

Have conversations with your child about how what it means to be a responsible and engaged citizen in their community and country.
Look for opportunities to identify and discuss the characteristics and differences between various regions of the state and nation and how these characteristics and differences benefit them - resources, crops, travel, entertainment, outdoor activities, etc.
Talk to your child about how people used to live in the region and compare it to how people live now.
Point out needs in the community and how those needs are met - public services, stores, parks and recreation, etc.
Encourage your child to ask questions and find answers to their questions.

Third Grade

Literacy

Third Graders will:

Apply word analysis skills in decoding words.
Read grade level text with accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Use comprehension strategies to understand a variety grade level texts:
- Ask and answer questions
- Determine important ideas
- Uses text features
- Make inferences
- Use sensory images
Use the writing process to develop and strengthen writing.
Write narratives based on real or imagined experiences/events using descriptive details and structured with a beginning, middle, and end.
Write informational texts with a well developed topic, facts, and a conclusion.
Write opinion pieces that name a topic, provide an opinion with reasons to support it, and include a concluding statement or section.
Apply conventions of standard English grammar and usage in writing.
Speak and listen effectively in multiple contexts.

Ways to Help at Home:

Encourage your child to read daily (20+ minutes).
Read to and with your child, listen to audio books.
Visit the library and check out books regularly.
Share family stories and memories.
Encourage your child to retell stories and facts they've read.
Ask questions when reading with your child to support their understanding.
Encourage all forms of reading; graphic novels, comics, picture books, articles, wordless picture books.
Play word games.
Write stories, letters, thank you notes, lists, recipes.
Model reading and writing behavior you want to see from your child.
Enjoy conversation with your child, talk to them about school, books, friends, interests, sports.

Mathematics

Third Graders will:

Understand and explain what it means to multiply or divide numbers, e.g. 3 X 4 means 3 groups of 4.
Understand properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division.
Fluently multiply all 1-digit numbers (know the multiplication facts).
Solve word problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Fluently add and subtract within 1000.
Understand the concepts of area and perimeter.
Relate the measurement of area to multiplicaiton and division.
Understand fractions as numbers.
Compare the size of two fractions.
Tell and write time to the nearest minute.
Solve problems involving time, liquid volumes and the weight of objects.
Represent and interpret data.
Reason with shapes and their attributes.

Ways to Help at Home:

Play math games:
- I'm thinking of a number. It has 5 tens, 3 hundreds and 4 ones. What's my number? Using a deck of cards, deal 2 cards and ask your child to multiply the numbers as fast as they can
Challenge your child to solve problems in everyday situations at home.
Practice telling time and solving problems involving elapsed time:
- What time is it now? What time will it be in 28 minutes?
- Soccer practice starts in 30 minutes. What time does soccer practice start?
- The bus comes at 7:28. It takes me 40 minutes to get ready for school. What time should I get up?
Have your child help with cooking when fractinal measurements are used:
- Measure 1/2 cup of flour. Measure 1/3 cup of sugar. Which is more?

Science

Third Graders will:

Design and fairly test an object to solve a problem under constraints; then redesign the object based on testing outcomes.
Construct scientific arguments to support claims that some characteristics of organisms are inherited from parents and some are influenced by the environment.
Use evidence to explain how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving and finding mates.
Evaluate a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.
Compare and contrast observations on the life cycle of different plants and animals.
Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular ecosystem some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive.
Predict how water will change from a liquid to a solid (freeze), and back again (melt), or from a liquid to a gas (evaporation), and back again (condensation) as the result of temperature changes.
Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.

Ways to Help at Home:

Have your child draw an invention and then change it to make it better.
Go bird watching in your neighborhood and ask how the birds are similar and they are different from each other.
Read an age appropriate book about a specific animal they are interested in.
Talk with your child about animals that live in different parts of the world and how they are different.
Talk with your child about ice, water and steam and how they are all forms of water.
Have a conversation with your child about how water can change to ice and back to water, but you cannot 'unbake' a cake.

Social Studies

Third Graders will:

Engage in a yearlong study of our state of Missouri.
Analyze the impact of geography, economics, and governmental structures to study both the history and contemporary society of Missouri.
Generate and research compelling questions such as:
- How has Missouri changed over time?
- How is Missouri similar to and different from other states?
- How has Missouri impacted the nation?
- How are governmental decisions made at the state level?
- How do Missouri’s resources support the state and national economy?

Ways to Help at Home:

Look for opportunities to share stories of Missouri history and local history with your child.
Take your child to events happening in the community that celebrate Missouri's history and impact on the nation.
Discuss local, state, and national elections and why they matter.
Talk about the importance of voting and compare candidate's stances on issues.
Discuss events and local current news.
Talk about how state and local government impacts your life.
Look for opportunities to show how the local economy impacts your life.
Encourage your child to ask questions and find answers to their questions.

Fourth Grade

Literacy

Fourth Graders will:

Develop vocabulary and determine the meaning of words and phrases in texts.
Read grade level text with accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Use comprehension strategies to understand a variety grade level texts:
- Ask and answer questions
- Determine important ideas
- Analyze text structure
- Make inferences
Use the writing process to develop and strengthen writing.
Write narratives based on real or imagined experiences/events using details to develop the story and provide a conclusion or ending.
Write informational texts that include a well developed topic, groups information logically, uses vocabulary specific to the topic, and a includes a conclusion.
Write opinion pieces supporting a point of view with supporting reasons and evidence, and provide a conclusion.
Apply conventions of standard English grammar and usage in writing.
Speak and listen effectively in multiple contexts.

Ways to Help at Home:

Encourage your child to read daily (30+minutes).
Read to and with your child, listen to audio books.
Visit the library and check out books regularly.
Share family stories and memories.
Encourage your child to retell stories and facts they've read.
Ask questions when reading with your child to support their understanding.
Encourage all forms of reading; graphic novels, comics, picture books, mysteries, articles, biographies, any kind of nonfiction.
Play word games.
Write stories, letters, thank you notes, lists, recipes.
Write letters to a pen pal who lives far away. Keep a journal. (Could be a daily journal or gratitude journal, fitness journal, food journal).
Model reading and writing behavior you want to see from your child.
Enjoy conversation with your child, talk to them about school, books, friends, interests, sports.

Mathematics

Fourth Graders will:

Understand place value for whole numbers up to one million.
Fluently add and subtract whole numbers up to one million.
Solve multi-step word problems, including problems involving time, volume, weight, money, area, perimeter and converting measurements (larger to smaller).,
Multiply and divide multi-digit whole numbers.
Build fractions from smaller fractions (3/4=1/4+1/4+1/4).
Create equivalent fractions.
Add and subtract fractions with the same denominator (digit below the fraction bar).
Connect addition and subtraction of whole numbers to muliplying fractions by whole numbers.
Connect the concepts of fractions and decimals by converting fractions (with denominators of 10 or 100) into decimals and decimals into fractions.
Compare fractions and decimals.
Measure angles and classify shapes using lines and angles.
Represent and analyze data.
Generate and analyze number patterns.

Ways to Help at Home:

Play math games:
- Using a deck of cards, deal 2 cards and ask your child to multiply the numbers as fast as they can.
Challenge your child to solve problems in everyday situations at home.
Practice telling time and solving problems involving elapsed time:
- What time is it now? What time will it be in 28 minutes?
- Soccer practice starts in 30 minutes. What time does soccer practice start?
- The bus comes at 7:28. It takes me 40 minutes to get ready for school. What time should I get up?
Have your child help with cooking when fractinal measurements are used:
- Measure 1/2 cup of flour. Measure 1/3 cup of sugar. Which is more?
- See how many times you have to refill a 1/4 cup measure to make a 1/2 cup measure
- How much is 1/2 cup of flour measured 3 times? (3 x 1/2)

Science

Fourth Graders will:

Design and test an object to solve a problem under constraints. Redesign the object created based on testing outcomes.
Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in the land.
Provide evidence of how weathering and erosion shape Earth’s surface.
Determine how the motion of an object is changed by an applied force or the mass of the object, and provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.
Investigate the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
Compare and contrast the forces required to overcome friction when an object moves over different surfaces.
Explain how the speed of an object relates to the energy of that object.
Construct an explanation of an energy transformation.
Design a device that converts energy from one form to another.
Understand plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior.
Use a model to describe how animals use their senses, process the information, and respond to the information in different ways.
Describe wave patterns in terms of amplitude or wavelength and how waves can cause objects to move.
Show how objects can be seen only when light is reflected off them or when they produce their own light.

Ways to Help at Home:

Have your child draw an invention that would help mankind.
Read an age appropriate book on the history of Earth.
Ask your child to bounce a ball in different directions, then see if they can repeat the last bounce.Use terms like force, speed and direction.
Use a ramp to slide different objects down. Notice the difference between slick and rough objects.
Walk outside and look for plants and animals. Talk about what they do to prepare for the weather.
Play with water waves, talking about the size and speed of the waves.
Point out different kinds of lights at night and how they make objects look different.

Social Studies

Fourth Graders will:

Engage in the study of events early in United States history ranging from indigenous peoples here prior to colonization through the American Revolution.
Analyze and evaluate a variety of documents, sources, and perspectives.
Generate and research compelling questions such as:
- Why do people migrate from one place to another?
- What factors influence conflict past and present?
- How did the founders balance freedom with rule of law?

Ways to Help at Home:

Talk to your child about important historical events and celebrations that are a part of Early American History.
Look for opportunities to highlight the diverse groups of people who have been a part of forming our country.
Discuss with your child why there has been conflict in American History and how those conflicts may or may not have been resolved.
Talk about why people move and what may have caused them to do so.
Discuss how and why we have laws and how these laws protect our freedoms.
Encourage your child to ask questions and find answers to their questions.

Fifth Grade

Literacy

Fifth Graders will:

Develop vocabulary and determine the meaning of words and phrases in texts.
Read grade level text with accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Use comprehension strategies to understand a variety grade level texts:
- Ask and answer questions
- Determine important ideas
- Analyze text structure
- Make inferences
- Synthesize information
Use the writing process to develop and strengthen writing.
Write narratives based on real or imagined events using descriptive details, clear event sequence, transition words, and a clear ending.
Write informational texts about a topic that includes facts and details to convey ideas, linking words, and a concluding statement or section.
Write opinion pieces supporting a point of view with supporting reasons and evidence and providing a conclusion.
Apply conventions of standard English grammar and usage in writing.
Speak and listen effectively in multiple contexts.

Ways to Help at Home:

Encourage your child to read daily (30+minutes).
Read to and with your child, listen to audio books.
Visit the library and check out books regularly.
Share family stories and memories.
Encourage your child to retell stories and facts they've read.
Ask questions when reading with your child to support their understanding.
Encourage all forms of reading; graphic novels, comics, picture books, mysteries, articles, biographies, any kind of nonfiction.
Play word games.
Write stories, letters, thank you notes, lists, recipes.
Write letters to a pen pal who lives far away.
Keep a journal. (Could be a daily journal or gratitude journal, fitness journal, food journal)
Model reading and writing behavior you want to see from your child.
Enjoy conversation with your child, talk to them about school, books, friends, interests, sports.

Mathematics

Fifth Graders will:

Fluently multiply multi-digit numbers.
Divide 4-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers.
Use exponents to express powers of 10.
Understand decimal place value to the thousandths place.
Convert decimals to fractions and fractions to decimals.
Add, subtract, multiply and divide decimals.
Use equivalent fractions to add and subtract any fractions.
Multiply fractions by whole numbers and other fractions.
Divide fractions and whole numbers.
Find the volume of rectangular prisms.
Convert measurements.
Solve multi-step word problems involving variables.
Generate number patterns from rules.
Translate number patterns into ordered pairs and plot the ordered pairs on a coordinate grid.
Create a line plot to represent data.

Ways to Help at Home:

Play math games:
- Using a deck of cards, deal 2 cards and ask your child to multiply the numbers as fast as they can.
Use everyday objects to allow your child to explore the concept of fractions:
- Divide a granola bar equally between 3 people. How much does each person get?
- Divide 2 granola bars equally between 3 people. How much does each person get?
Ask your child to give you a fraction equal to a decimal:
- What are two fractions that are equivalent to 0.6? (6/10, 60/100, 12/20, 3/5, etc.)
Have your child help with cooking when fractinal measurements are used:
- How much is 1/2 of a fourth of a cup of flour?
- How much is 3/4 cup of flour measured 3 times?

Science

Fifth Graders will:

Compare and contrast the major organs/organ systems in different animals.
Show that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air, sun and water.
Describe the movement of energy among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
Describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.
Understand the total weight of matter is conserved when changed by heating, cooling, or mixing substances.
Separate a mixture/solution by physical properties.
Determine whether the combining of two or more substances results in new substances.
Show how the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
Describe the distribution of water on Earth.
Show ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
Describe how the relative distances from Earth affect the apparent brightness of stars.
Understand different seasons have different daylight angles and times.
Investigate the daily changes of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of the stars.
Understand that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed toward the planet's center.
Describe the basic function of the immune system.
Distinguish between a communicable and noncommunicable disease.

Ways to Help at Home:

Have a conversation about the meaning of "You are what you eat."
Look around the outside of your home and discuss how water travels away from your house.
Take a walk outside and look for mushrooms.
Discuss the importance of recycling and conserving water.
Read an age appropriate book about the sun or the stars.
Talk about washing hands and staying safe during flu season.

Social Studies

Fifth Graders will:

Engage in the study of events, documents, movements, and people emphasizing the time period between 1800 and 2000 in America with a focus on inquiry into the continuing development of the United States as a nation.
Generate and research compelling questions such as:
- What were the costs and benefits of territorial expansion? How did wars change the United States?
- How have economic, political, and social rights of individuals and groups changed over time in the United States?
- How did the United States' role in the world change between 1800-2000?
- How have economic factors influenced change in the United States?

Ways to Help at Home:

Talk to your child about important historical events and celebrations that are a part of American History.
Look for opportunities to highlight the diverse groups of people who have been a part of forming our country.
Discuss with your child why there has been conflict in American History and how those conflicts may or may not have been resolved.
Talk about why people move and what may have caused them to do so.
Discuss how and why we have laws and how these laws protect our freedoms and how these have changed over time.
Encourage your child to ask questions and find answers to their questions.