FIFTH GRADE CENTRAL STUDIES

Course Overview  This course includes social studies, literature, and writing.  It will cover the following:

• organizational and study skills
• responsibility, cooperation, kindness, honesty, and respect
• geography, map, globe, and, and research skills
•  primary and secondary sources, legends, and archaeology
• the history of the English language, etymology, and Latin
•  the Norman Conquest and the feudal system
•  castles and knights, and manor and village life
•  medieval Christianity (monasteries and cathedrals), Islam, and the Crusades
• the growth of towns and trade, fairs and guilds
• the Black Death and the Peasants’ Revolt
• Poetry, short stories, fables, ballads, legends, and historical fiction
• Vocabulary building, using context clues
• the writing process (planning and developing ideas, drafting, revision, editing, and publishing
• special projects, visitors, and field trips
• current events through a weekly news magazine

Books and Materials Social studies books and most literature books are lent to the students from class sets.  (Students may need to purchase a literature paperback book during the year if one is added to the course.)  Students are expected to take care of the books and return them in good condition.

Course expectations and grading  Students are graded in social studies and literature/writing according to their performance on quizzes and tests, the quality and timeliness of their homework assignments and projects, their participation, involvement, and behavior during class, and the organization of their materials.  In writing, students are evaluated according to the effort they put into their work, their use of writing class time, their development and use of the steps of the writing process as they are taught, and their improvement and growth as writers by incorporating writing instructions and techniques into their pieces.  Students will also be expected to meet writing deadlines on time.