Grade Five

grade five Learning Objectives

Fifth grade is a time of balance between childhood and adolescence, where students start to look outward at the world while becoming more aware of their inner selves. They study Botany by observing and drawing plants in Volunteer Park and on field trips to local parks and gardens.

The curriculum begins with creation myths from ancient cultures like Persia, Mesopotamia, India, and Egypt, leading to Ancient Greece. Students prepare for the Greek Games, a competition with other Waldorf schools, and study North American geography and history.

In Language Arts, students edit their papers for punctuation and spelling, learn about parts of speech, verb tenses, and the active and passive voices of verbs, and start writing letters. They also write about main lesson themes and their own experiences. In Math, they continue working with fractions and are introduced to decimals. Form drawing transitions into freehand geometric drawing as an introduction to geometry.

Students begin woodworking, carving and sanding convex shapes, and become skilled at knitting hand-warmers in Handwork. In music, they start playing violin and cello in small ensembles, and also learn to sing and play recorder in parts to practice balancing individuality and harmony.

Subject Classes

• Japanese

Fifth grade students take on more responsibility for their learning as they prepare for middle school. They apply their creativity to language learning through conversation, songs, poetry, games, and cultural stories. They review previous lessons while learning new content, focusing on grammar, sentence structures, and manipulating verbs and adjectives. The main lesson curriculum is reinforced through Japanese.

• Handwork

In fifth grade, students take on more challenging work, including knitting with multiple needles. They create fitted hand warmers using arithmetic and mathematical progression, and learn knitting terms and abbreviations. This work helps develop foundational skills and habits as they move towards middle school.

• Movement

Fifth graders are at the peak of childhood, with their will connected to their rhythmic system (blood, heart, lungs). Running becomes an important tool for experiencing this system, and their form is naturally perfect. Training for the Greek Games helps refine their movements, teaching them to navigate different spaces and experience power through different forms like vortexes, spirals, and arches. They also participate in cooperative games, games with more complicated rules, and ball throwing and catching activities.

• String Ensemble

The goals for fifth grade Strings class are to develop technical skills, music reading skills, and ensemble playing. Students work on bow and left-hand technique, posture, and comfort with the violin or cello. They also learn to read music and play pieces in two or three parts, with opportunities for performance throughout the year.

• Woodwork

Woodworking lessons promote dexterity, logical thinking, and social awareness. Students start by carving eggs out of soft basswood, which helps them learn to work three-dimensionally and develop a sense of shape. This project also introduces respect for the environment and resourcefulness.

• Environmental Education

Students explore their local environment through Local History and Geography and study the animal kin-dom in Zoology.

• Curriculum Trips

Fifth graders participate in the Greek Games, joining other Waldorf fifth grade students to compete in javelin, discus, relays, wrestling, and long jump.