September/

October

October/

November

November/

December

January/

February

March

April/

May

May/

June

 Up the Ladder Fiction

Fiction unit focuses on instilling strong reading habits and routines in the beginning of the year so that students take charge of their reading lives. The unit moves readers quickly up levels of text complexity and builds upon foundational skills, including, fluency, envisioning, deeper inferencing and finding main ideas. The unit also aims to build capacity for writing about reading through jotting ideas and developing reading notebooks in order to grow deeper thinking about books.

Mentor Texts:Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

Picture books- Hot Day on Abbott Avenue by Karen English and Watercress  by Andrea Wang

 Tackling Complexity

This nonfiction unit exposes students to more complex text through books and articles. Through these texts students identify multiple main ideas and text structures, synthesize and summarize their learning; and learn strategies to make meaning for content specific vocabulary terms.

Mentor Texts: When Lunch Fights Back By  Rebecca L. Johnson

 Interpretation Book Club -Analyzing Themes

This unit develops childrenś interpretive skills as it relates to fiction text. They read a variety of chapter books to explore character development and theme, and comparing and contrasting across text.

Mentor Texts

A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Researching Debatable Issues

Broken into two sections, this unit revisits nonfiction with the purpose of students reading to gain information about a particular topic. Students research a shared topic in order to formulate a fact-based opinion. There is a focus on reading with a critical lens to test the validity and reliability of a source. Students then apply these skills to a topic of their choice. Additionally, students are learning how to identify pertinent facts and information to substantiate their position on a topic.

Reading Across Genres/ Test Prep

Students learn strategies to read and respond to  literature more intently.

Materials:

Released NYS test passages and questions-

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****Civil Rights Research Inquiry

(This mini- unit is a supplemental unit in tandem with Test Prep

This unit gives students the opportunity to revisit their informational reading skills from Unit 2, note taking, main idea, summarizing and synthesis analysis, through a historical lens. Students  read a variety of texts that provide a broad overview of the Civil Rights Movement, in order to build a greater understanding of this period in history.  Possible subtopics include segregation, marches, protests, leaders, freedom riders, and children and teenagers during this time period.  

Mentor Texts: Ron’s Big Mission,  Child of the Civil Rights Movement

Fantasy Book Clubs:

The Fantasy Unit capitalizes on the fifth graders' experiences with fiction. These novels weave complexity through multi-faceted characters, multiple plot lines, shifting timelines, tricky narrative structures, and complicated symbols.It explicitly aims to teach students the tools to embrace these complexities.

Mentor Text:  The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

April/May

Fantasy Writing

Fantasy Narrative

Children revisit narrative writing with a focus on incorporating their understanding of fantasy elements.

Again, children work through the writing process of rehearsing, drafting, revising and editing.  

Mentor Texts: The Thief Of Always By Clive Barker, Merlin and the Dragon by Jane Yolen

The Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch

Be The Change

PBL:

“How can we ignite change as engaged citizens?”

Students engage in a social action project based on research they’ve done on a topic that interests them and they’ve identified as something that is relevant and impacting the world

September/ October

October /November

November/December

January/ February

March

May/

June

Narrative Craft

This writing unit asks children to generate personal narratives, with a focus on a small moment.  Children work through the writing process of rehearsing, drafting, revising and editing.  This unit relies on the use of mentor texts to examine the author's craft with the purpose of emulating literary devices and techniques used when composing their own pieces.

Mentor Texts: Eleven, Screaming Mean Machine, Goosebumps

Journalism

In this unit students become observers of the world around them in order to craft news articles.  They quickly learn the distinction between news and feature articles.  They then choose a topic of interest to write a feature article about.  They learn to write using different  text structures and include text features that enhance the reader's experience.  This writing culminates in a published newspaper.

Literary Essay

This unit is the launch for 5th grade essay writing, which is a primary focus in the ELA curriculum. Students examine a variety of short mentor texts through the lens of making interpretations about the multiple meanings inherent in these stories. Students Identify themes, develop a thesis, and compose a well-structured essay in defense of  a thesis. Their analysis involves identifying key details that support their claim, and explaining how these details support their thinking.

Mentor Texts:  Crow Call, The Stranded Whale, Marble Champ, One Green Apple, When I was Ten, Mr. Peabody’s Apples

Research Based Argument Essay

Building on the learning from the previous essay writing unit, 5th graders have the opportunity to write 2 researched based argument essays.  Students are taught to research both sides of a debatable issue before making a claim.  Then, students craft an essay that applies the skills that they learned in the unit before; making a claim, stating reasons, identifying strong supporting evidence, and explaining how the evidence supports their claim.  This unit ends with students choosing a real world, debatable topic to research and craft an essay that supports their position.

Test Prep

Repertoire

This unit prepares students to write on demand short and extended responses 

Be The Change

PBL:

In this unit students draw on all of their research skills to research and write about a community or world issue.  Through their research and learning they develop  a social action plan.

September/ October

October/

November

November/December

January/ February

March

April/May

May/

June

Whole

Numbers

Place Value, Round, Estimate, Factors/Multiples, Exponents, Multiply by tens, hundreds, thousands, Divide by tens, hundreds, thousands

Calculations with

Whole

Numbers

Order of operations, Distributive Property, Mental math strategies for all operations,, bar models, multiply by 2 digits, estimate quotients, Divide by 2 digit number.  

Fractions

Add/subtract/multiply/divide fractions, add mixed numbers, subtract mixed numbers, product of a fraction and a whole whole number, product of a whole number and a fraction, product of a mixed number and a whole number, word problems with adding and subtracting fractions

Product of fractions, multiply fractions, multiply mixed numbers, word problems, divide a unit fraction by a whole number, divide a fraction by a whole number, divide a whole number by a unit fraction, divide a fraction by a unit fraction, divide a whole number by a fraction, divide a fraction by a fraction

Perimeter and Area

Area of rectangle, composite figures,

Distance around a figure

Decimals

Place Value, Compare/Round decimals, add, subtract, multiply divide decimals, round the quotient, fractions to decimals, multiply/divide by tens, hundreds, thousands,tenths, hundredths, thousandths,

Volume

of a rectangular prism, capacity, of composite solids, volume given the height and base, unknown dimension

Averages

Finding the average of the numerical data,

Finding an average when given the total and the number of items

Graphing/

Measurement

Line plots, coordinate grid, distances on a coordinate grid, graphs, graphs of proportional relationship, line graphs

Geometry

Angles and compass direction, categorize triangles and quadrilaterals,sum of angles of a triangle, exterior angle of triangle , angles of equilateral and isosceles triangles, find unknown angles in a triangle, sum of angles of a quadrilateral, angles and sum of a parallelogram, find unknown angle

Ratio

Percentages

Rate

Compare two quantities using a ratio, equivalent ratios, word problems, comparing three quantities with ratios.

Getting Ready for 6th Grade

Ratios,Rates, Factors, Factor Trees, Integers,

Sept/October

October/November

Dec/January

February/March

May

June

Global Citizenship

“What does it mean to be a global citizen”

Geography

of the Western

Hemisphere

“How does geography affect the way people live?”

Students look at geographical features and how they affected the way a region was settled and developed.

U.S. Constitution

We The People

“How did the Constitution evolve to meet the needs of Americans over time?”

“How must governing documents evolve to meet the needs of students today?”

Students explore current systems that govern their rights at school and think about what protects them, what could better promote their success, and the process for making those changes.

Economy-

Banana Unit

“What is the real cost of Bananas?”

Students explore the concept of wants and needs and economics in the Western hemisphere by focusing on  Banana trade.

Transatlantic Slave Trade/         Ancient Civilization and

Middle Passage-                         European Exploration-

Slavery & Sugar                   Ancient Civilizations

“How did sugar                                “How did exploration affect

feed slavery in the                             settlement and development

Western Hemisphere?”                     in the Western Hemisphere?”

Texts Used:                                           Texts Used:        

Africa is my Home                              Encounter

Monica Edinger                                      Jane Yolen

Students learn about the                   Students learn about

Sugar industry impacted                   European exploration and

The transatlantic slave trade             how exploration affected

Through the middle passage             settlement and development

                                                          In the Western Hemisphere

Be The Change

“How can we ignite change as engaged citizens?”

Students engage in a social action project based on research they’ve done on a topic that interests them and they’ve identified as something that is relevant and impacting the world.

Bronxville Promise Portfolio

“How have we been critical thinkers, innovators, leaders and engaged citizens”

Students create a presentation that reflects the work they have done in 2 of the 4 dispositions of the Bronxville Promise. They  learn skills to help them engage their audience as they present their work.