Fifth Grade (10/11s)

Program Overview:

The Upper School’s humanities-based curriculum continues to have social studies at its core. For the entire 10/11s year, students focus on China’s geography, culture, and history. The curriculum mirrors students’ development from concrete to more abstract thinkers. We begin with a focus on geography and move progressively towards more abstract ideas of culture and history. The study of China allows 10/11 students to consider a place from multiple angles, exploring how cultures change and remain the same over time.

To prepare for our deep dive into a single country, we begin with a review of the earth’s geography. Students hone their ability to read, analyze, and interpret maps. They learn about landforms and their characteristics by studying the geography of China, and they represent what they have learned by creating a large-scale, three-dimensional topographic map. Students work collaboratively to research, write, and publish online travel guides. They explore the question: How does where you live impact how you live? And they consider the ways people change the land by studying one of the world’s largest construction projects—the Three Gorges Dam.

This exploration of the connection between people and the land where they live allows the class to transition to studying Chinese culture. The class works together to develop our own definition of culture. Field trips to Chinese communities and museums in New York City expose students to Chinese culture today. We focus our study of ancient China around the Han Dynasty. An in-depth study of Chinese culture over time leads to an exploration of the concepts of power and change in the political life of a country, culminating in a debate around Mao Zedong’s leadership and impact on Chinese society.

Helping children develop their sense of identity as individuals and in community is woven throughout the School for Children curriculum. In lessons and discussions tailored to the needs of students, teachers guide students to explore areas critical to this moment of development, including friendships and other relationships, sex and sexuality education, racial identity development, social justice and advocacy, self-awareness, decision making, and issues related to media and technological literacy.

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Language Arts:

Our language arts curriculum is built on the idea that strong readers engage deeply with writing, and strong writers engage deeply with reading.
In reading, we begin the year asking children to reflect on who they are as readers—what kinds of books do I like, what constitutes a “just right book” for me? We begin by reviewing reading strategies such as connecting, questioning, predicting, visualizing, and inferring. As the year continues, students enhance their understanding of the actions and motives of characters.

They also examine the structural elements of stories. They learn close reading of nonfiction texts using such skills as highlighting, annotating, and summarizing. They practice these skills on increasingly complex texts related to our China curriculum. By the end of the year, we read a whole-class novel, Red Scarf Girl. Reading for Current Events allows students to build their skills as critical readers, identifying fact versus opinion and supporting a point of view with evidence.

In writing, students use the writer’s notebook to experiment with and develop a variety of ideas. Once students commit to an idea, they begin the process of drafting, revising, and editing. Students work independently, with writing partners, and with teachers as they develop their writing technique and voice with our first project, a memoir. Students learn to write persuasively about an issue that they feel passionately about as well as to create informational texts, many of which are integrated with the social studies curriculum. They learn to write engaging introductions, paragraphs with clear topic sentences and supporting evidence, and strong conclusions. Students become more critical readers of their own work, improve their proofreading skills, and focus on the standard grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Library:

In their library work, students in the 10/11s and 11/12s participate in the Mock Newbery program. Working with Bank Street’s Center for Children’s Literature, the children’s librarian solicits donations of current books appropriate for 10/11s and 11/12s. Classroom teachers tailor the curriculum to their students’ needs. Students practice and refine their critical thinking and public speaking skills by evaluating and discussing books eligible for Bank Street’s mock Newbery award.

World Languages:

World languages in the Upper School continue to build on the language-learning established in the Lower and Middle Schools: to provide children with positive, enriching experiences that will help them become life-long learners and appreciators of other languages and cultures.

Math:

In mathematics, students continue to be actively involved in hands-on learning. We meet every student where they are, and every student is challenged to grow. Our goal is to build positive attitudes and a sense of competence while achieving academic goals. The curriculum helps students understand how mathematics is both a tool and language that can be applied to the real world. The four math curriculum units in 10/11s are:

• Number Theory: students analyze number patterns, become aware of the special characteristics of numbers, and strengthen their number sense.
• Data and Statistics:  students gather, organize, represent and analyze data through relevant and meaningful explorations that are reinforced and extended in the science curriculum.
• Geometry: students explore the properties of and relationships between polygons; they learn to use a protractor; they study angle sums of polygons; and investigate area and perimeter of quadrilaterals and triangles.
• Rational Numbers: students make sense of fractions, decimals and percentages. They learn how to convert between these three ways of representing rational numbers, using a range of strategies for problem solving. The understanding of all three representations leads to a richer grasp of each and better enable students to choose which is appropriate for computing and communicating their thinking.

Science:

In 10/11s science, students design and carry out experiments to answer class questions. They complete each investigation by analyzing the data from experiments and making meaningful connections. 10/11s science units include:

• Force and Motion: we investigate force, motion, and simple machines. Students hone scientific skills: observing and inferring, recording data, and making comparisons and generalizations based on observations. Projects explore moving objects, friction, ramps, levers, and pulleys. Students come to understand Newton’s three laws of motion.
• Variables and Designing Experiments: students take a closer look at variables within experiments through a variety of mini physical experiments with pendulums, boats, catapults, and planes. They learn how variables affect outcomes by defining problems and posing questions, identifying variables, conducting controlled experiments, analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and using their conclusions and data to predict future outcomes.
• Science Expo: students design and implement an original scientific experiment over 5–6 weeks. They work in groups to choose a topic, design an experiment, analyze results using statistics and graphing, and draw conclusions based on their analysis. Students present their findings to peers, families, and visitors at the Upper School Science Expo.
• Geology: students continue to develop their observation and inference skills by studying the Earth and the forces that have shaped it. They learn about how the Earth has changed over time: land formations such as continents, mountains, volcanoes, canyons, and islands; weathering and erosion; and the rock cycle

Technology:

The Upper School technology program is developing quickly. The 11/12s classrooms use a range of technology for instruction, documentation, and collaboration.

Art:

The 10/11s art curriculum supports students’ growing interest in representing the human figure. We begin the year by considering how the parts of the body work together to show movement. Students sketch models in a variety of actions and poses. They apply what they have learned to a painting based on their experience of being part of a team. They sculpt a relief in clay showing an active figure in an environment. And they create a collage of a figure wearing special clothing. With each new material, students both strengthen their understanding of how to represent a human figure within an environment and gain confidence in visually representing their personal experiences.

In the spring, 10/11s students work in three main media: printmaking, functional pottery, and three-dimensional construction. Students use these materials to work on three projects involving human and animal faces. Content from the social studies curriculum is integrated with these projects. For example, students may explore Chinese brush painting in conjunction with their study of China.

Shop:

The shop curriculum continues to develop skills and understandings of materials while engaging students’ imaginations, experiences, and feelings. Students begin the year by creating a morphed creature with movable parts—combining forms from at least two different creatures. They draw up plans, create individual shapes, and join them in a variety of ways to reflect reflects the character of the movement. They personalize their sculptures using a variety fabric, paint, or metal.

In the winter, students create drums as both musical instruments and sculptures. They explore design and learn how proportions of the sound box, the material of the membrane, and the type of mallets all affect the sound.

The year concludes with an open choice project that allows students to choose a project and follow through follow through. This gives each child more opportunity for self-expression and self-motivation.

Music:

The Upper School music curriculum has three main parts: music history, music theory, and making music through singing and playing instruments.

Music in the 10/11s, focuses on non-Western music. Students are exposed to music from around the world. We begin with a unit on African music. We also study Latin, Asian, European, Middle Eastern, and Indian music. Students listen to examples of traditional folk music from these cultures as well as their more contemporary popular music. They also learn about instruments of non-Western cultures and many other ways that music is created differently around the world. Weekly keyboard classes emphasize training children to play melodies with their right hand while playing an accompaniment with their left hand.

Extracurricular Musical Groups:

There are two choruses in the Upper School—one for 10/11s and 11/12s and one for 12/13s and 13/14s. Both groups learn a diverse array of music, including classical, spiritual/gospel, folk, and contemporary pieces. Students in chorus work on vocal concepts such as proper breathing, vowel placement, diction, posture, and harmonizing. The choruses perform at the Upper School Winter and Spring Concerts.

In addition, Upper School students can participate in a variety of instrumental music opportunities, including eight rock bands, a string ensemble, and a wind ensemble.

Physical Education:

Students have gym three times per week, for 45 minutes, meeting twice per week in the gym and once on the rooftop play area. The gym program focuses on meeting the interests and capacities of all students. We strive to engage all students in every class and to make this an enjoyable, dynamic, exciting and safe place for all children. We provide broad exposure to a wide range of physical activities to help students develop an enjoyment for movement and games that will evolve into physical activity throughout their lives.

Some of the sports and activities offered include team handball, football, soccer, basketball, badminton, hockey, volleyball, softball, Frisbee, and group games. Stretching, aerobic exercises, and upper body strength activities increase fitness levels. Optional after-school interscholastic sports include soccer, softball, basketball, and track-and-field.

To serve the needs of students with varying degrees of assertiveness and skills development, we focus on making activities accessible to all students. Students have instruction in skills and time during class to practice skills individually or in groups. During competitive games, we take care to match beginners with beginners so students have a chance to succeed and can develop confidence and assertiveness in a non-threatening environment.

Students are given many opportunities to take on responsibilities for their own play. There are team captains, who are responsible for lineups and strategy as well as set-up and clean-up. They learn how to settle differences quickly, fairly, and peacefully. They occasionally officiate the games.