Teachers: Janice Brehler, Eileen Duncan, Amy Moscato

Fifth graders study science through Foss, Open Court Reading, and the Chabot garden. To show what we've learned, we complete and present Astronomy Reports and Science Fair projects. We also have field trips to Lawrence Hall of Science and Lake Merritt. At Lake Merritt, we participate in Sailing into Science - a four day program full of awesome hands-on science!

To supplement Open Court Reading, we read chapter books as a class. The books we read may include The Giver by Lois Lowry; Dragonwings by Lawrence Yep; The Misfits by James Howe; Number the Stars by Lois Lowry; and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor. As we read, we predict, summarize, visualize, share ideas, and keep reading logs.

Fifth graders study American history, beginning with “The First Americans.” We learn about the Europeans who settled in America, the native people who were here first, how the colonies grew, the creation of the U.S. government, westward expansion, and the U.S. states and capitals. We also read biographies and write about historical figures.

Chabot fifth graders are great at math! We strengthen our understanding of number sense; we learn about algebra, coordinate planes, angles, area, and volume; and we manipulate decimals, fractions, and percentages.

In the fifth grade, every student participates in the Science Fair and the M.L.K. Oratorical Contest. Other fun things fifth graders do include daily Quickwrites; Calendar Math; 100% Club "tests," technology, art, library, and music class; creating class newsletters; and getting in shape for the CA State Fifth Grade Physical Fitness test!