This is the premise of the popular new Fox show, "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"
If you watch "Fifth Grader," you know the drill: Each week, grown-ups
who ought to know a few things square off with fifth-graders, who smile
sweetly and answer questions and, frequently, help the adults reveal
themselves as less knowledgeable.
It's made stars of fifth-graders, and the people who teach them.
"People call me when the show is on and say, 'Did you get that one?' " says Kaela Zielinski, who teaches fifth grade at Cass Street Elementary School.
And, yup, she usually knows the answers. The next day at school, her kids want to know the answers to the questions they didn't know, and they want to know if she got those right.
"Some kids think it's great that they know more than some adults," she adds.
So. Are you smarter than a fifth-grader? Take our quiz and find out. The questions were compiled by people who ought to know what fifth-graders should know: local fifth-grade teachers!
The Milwaukee Public Schools fifth-grade teachers who came up with questions for this quiz are Kaela Zielinski, who teaches at Cass Street Elementary School, and Liz Schoone, who teaches at Golda Meir School.
1. What is a hyperbole?
2. Which chamber of the heart receives blood from the lungs?
3. Is the equator a line of latitude or longitude?
4. What is a mixed number?
5. What organ in the body produces bile?
6. What kind of a root is a carrot?
7. Nomadic tribes of American Plains Indians lived in what structures?
8. What did American Indians of the Northwest coast use to symbolize their clan and tell family stories?
9. Which is larger: 3/5 or 5/8?
10. What are the three branches of the United States government?
11. What are the names of the five Great Lakes?
12. How many hydrogen atoms are there in a molecule of water?
13. "You are as strong as an ox." Is this statement a simile or metaphor?
14. What part of speech is "after": An adverb, conjunction or preposition?
15. Who invented peanut butter?
16. How many pints are in 2 gallons?
17. How many feet are in 9 yards?
18. What part of speech describes a verb?
19. What is a proper noun?
20. What is something found on a plant cell that is not found on an animal cell?