Mrs. Drobish and  Mrs. Dwyer

Welcome to 5th Grade at Lake Parsippany School! Fifth grade students are offered many exciting opportunities and privileges. Our focus is to help the 5th graders gain more independence and responsibility for their learning. We also focus on organizational skills to help prepare your child for middle school.

Language Arts

In Language Arts, students work in both large and small groups to read and analyze texts. One main focus is recognizing the point of view of characters and authors. As students delve deeper into more complex texts, they increase their reading stamina and analytic skills. They advance their writing strategies and skills by writing both short and long pieces to develop stronger writing skills. 

Unit 1: Interpretation Book Clubs: Analyzing Themes/The Narrative Craft

Unit 2: Tackling Complexity: Moving Up Levels of Nonfiction/ Journalism

Unit 3: Argument and Advocacy: Researching Debatable Issues/The Research Based Argument Essay

Unit 4: Reading Like a Fan/Literary Essay: Opening Texts and Seeing More

Unit 5: Learning Through Reading/Research Reports

Unit 6: Fantasy Book Clubs: The Magic of Themes and Symbols/ Shaping Texts: From Essay and Narrative to Memoir

Mathematics

In Mathematics, students work hard to master the basic operations addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. As the year progresses, fractions and decimals are embedded within the operations. Our Go Math program uses a word problem approach. Within each lesson, students learn to work with numbers as well as solve both one step and multistep problems.

Unit 1: Fluency with Whole Numbers and Decimals (Chapters 1-5)

Unit 2: Operations with Fractions (Chapters 6-8)

Unit 3: Geometry and Measurement (Chapters 9-11)

Social Studies

Grade 5 Social Studies integrates the study of early American history from its beginnings through the founding of the United States with geography, economics, and civics. This interdisciplinary course further develops students’ reading, writing, and research skills. There is particular emphasis on historical and critical thinking skills including sequencing, distinguishing cause and effect, comparison, and inferential reasoning. Additionally, the Grade 5 Social Studies course fosters an appreciation for diversity in a multicultural society through the exploration of different perspectives.

In Social Studies, students gain an understanding of our democracy as we study the Constitution and government. 

Unit 1: The Beginnings: Native American Migration to North America

Unit 2: Three Worlds Meet: Exploration and Settlement

Unit 3: Colonial America

Unit 4: The Founding of the United States

Unit 5: 21st Century Citizenship

Science

In Science, students engage in various activities. They sort, predict, observe, measure, compare, conclude, explain, infer, design, build and make sense of the science content. They also enjoy online digital lessons that accompany what they’ve read in the text. Students explore technology, engineering, and the importance of innovation.

Unit 1: Earth and Sun

Unit 2: Mixtures and Solutions

Unit 3: Energy and Matter in Organisms/Ecosystems