Billy Collins, a poignant writer who served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003, has a powerful poem called, “On Turning Ten.” If you haven’t read it, I strongly recommend you do – especially if you’re in the mood for a bit of nostalgia mixed with a sharp wit and a tug at the heartstrings. It captures the transition that many children experience around their fifth grade year as they move from the wonders and fearlessness of childhood to a more mature and nuanced view of the world. It’s a natural phenomenon, and one that fifth grade teachers know so well.
LP fifth grade teacher, Cate Costigan, is now in her second year with us at the school, and it’s both the joy and the complexity of working with this age group that drew her to 5th grade. “I enjoy teaching at the fifth grade level for so many reasons,” Cate says. “I find that fifth graders truly start to develop a greater sense of self that leads to really enriching and more mature learning experiences and discussions. They transition to taking greater ownership of their learning in a variety of contexts and modes throughout the year. From writing detailed five-paragraph essays about personal topics, to creating and recording podcast episodes on a subject of their choice, participating together in book clubs, and working through real-world applications in math blocks, fifth graders are invited to share their authentic selves with our classroom community, which fosters such wonderful relationship development between teachers and peers. It is special to see the growth from the beginning of the year to the end as they evolve tremendously in their perspective-taking skills and problem-solving on their own, while still maintaining their playful personalities and child-like wonder.”
The Learning Project’s ‘upper grade journey’ is intentionally designed to cater to older elementary students, helping them to grow into themselves as they move toward adolescence. Each year of the journey follows a theme: our fourth grade year is all about ‘Exploring’; fifth grade is built around the theme of ‘Adventuring’; and 6th grade is focused on ‘Leading.’ We have selected the theme of Adventuring for fifth grade as this is the year when they are beginning to pull together all that they have learned in their younger years and apply them to new scenarios and novel situations, and doing so as they take steps toward more independence. Not to mention, they literally have a number of adventures – several field trips (7 scheduled so far this year) and their first overnight as a class where they camp out, engage in collaborative games, push their limits on ropes courses and more.
When asked what makes fifth grade so unique at The LP, Cate says, “There are plenty of reasons why this year at LP is so special. Our students begin gaining leadership opportunities, we go on fun and engaging field trips, and students take on more responsibilities, which they are definitely ready for on the Rainbow floor! This is the first year at The LP where students are expected to each take a turn speaking on their own at Monday Morning Assembly in front of our entire community to practice public speaking skills. Fifth graders also get to lead LP spirit days, as well as the highly anticipated LP Olympics in the spring, design their own captain T-shirts, come up with team names, and guide all LP students through a variety of activities and games. Similarly, while all grades at LP perform a play for the school, fifth graders actually get to write their own play. We use Greek myths as the foundation and students work together to create a plot and develop characters. For the first time in their LP careers, students participate in an overnight field trip at Hale Education. Finally, with regard to responsibility, students begin to use planners to write down their short- and long-term homework assignments, and a big step for them is that fifth graders receive grades for the first time. We spend a lot of time in the fall talking about the grading process and what grades ‘mean,’ and getting them for the first time in this supportive environment really helps students to have a healthy perspective on it as they prepare for 6th grade and beyond. All in all, students have a plethora of experiences to look forward to during their fifth grade year as it is truly so unique!”
A week in fifth grade is indeed full of adventure and learning, with each activity thoughtfully planned and designed to engage students of this age group, to build the foundation that they will need beyond The LP, and in a way that is tailored to the developmental stage of our budding adolescents. For a glimpse into just some of the highlights in a given week, see below. These events, while certainly not the sum total of all that occurs between Monday and Friday, provide a sampling of activities that occurred in the week prior to my writing this (November 18th-22nd).
MONDAY
Monday Morning Assembly: As part of the upper grade leadership program, all fifth graders are asked to lead a Monday Morning Assembly in front of the entire community by serving as the master of ceremonies, and by sharing a ‘thought for the day’ related to one of the school’s values. Today, our fifth grader spoke about the power of positivity, and a lesson learned about optimism through sports.
BPL Book Club: On a monthly basis, fifth graders are participating in a lunchtime book club led by BPL librarians. Together with our sixth graders, they discuss Newbery Medal contenders and books that they currently love reading. They’ve learned key principles for talking about books with a group, such as using "I statements" when sharing opinions, engaging in curiosity-driven dialogue, sharing airtime, and how to stay engaged through uncomfortable conversations. On Monday, students got together to discuss what books they had read from the Newbery list. After discussing those books, students voted on new books that they will read for discussion before our final December meeting.
Science: Recently in science class, fifth graders have been learning about energy and answering the questions: How does understanding heat help us to find solutions to human needs? What happens to molecules when they are heated? How does heat energy transfer to objects or air? In Monday’s science lesson, students delved deeper into this unit by designing and building thermal cups using a variety of materials and measuring/comparing their effectiveness.
TUESDAY
Community Building Circle: Circles occur weekly within classrooms as part of our Restorative Justice program, and is a time to build a foundation of connection, open communication, and patient, active listening. Participants all face one another without barriers between them, and students and staff are equals. Questions or prompts are provided with the goal of getting to know one another better, having fun and applying critical thinking skills.
This week, fifth graders talked about ‘narrative transportation’ – the phenomenon that occurs when a story engages so many senses that we actually feel transported by our memory back to a moment in time. To students’ delight, Ms. Costigan shared such a story about when she accidentally let a possum into her home! Students then shared their own hilarious stories, experiencing narrative transportation in action, and achieving the goals of laughter and connection to start the day.
Social Studies: In Tuesday’s social studies lesson, students began a two-day inquiry project around the question: Did people in the British colonies believe they were American in 1750? To answer this question, students first brainstormed other questions that could help answer that one, such as: "What were colonists’ origin stories?" Students broke into partners and investigated a different person who was alive during that time by reading a secondary source article. They took the information from the article and created a poster that highlighted different parts of that person's identity. Later, they presented their posters to the class and wrapped up by circling back to the initial inquiry question, concluding that it is likely that most people in the British colonies did not feel like Americans at that point in time.
WEDNESDAY
Writing: In addition to a number of shorter pieces, fifth graders are already crafting their third five-paragraph essay of the school year. On Wednesday, students spent the morning developing first drafts of their persuasive essays after an extensive pre-writing stage where they researched their topics. Powerful papers about such topics as the value of playing video games, how team sports boost mental health, and which dogs are truly the ‘best’ abound!
Field Trip: This week’s adventure was to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, which connects to the fifth grade City Study unit on Government and Civics. Students examined a replica of Kennedy's office and got to look through office materials, letters, speeches, etc. They also got to practice typing on a typewriter – a novel experience for our iPad users! From there, they visited a replica of the Senate chamber and students were able to roleplay as senators to pass a bill that provides assistance and environmental justice for various groups affected by climate change.
THURSDAY
Technology: In their weekly technology class, fifth graders have been learning about expressions and variables in coding, and then using their knowledge to create simple programs and games. Students also engage in ‘unplugged’ activities, and on Thursday, fifth graders learned about the color systems used by programmers to create the images that we see on our screens. Students then completed an activity in which they incorporated HEX color codes into their art work. Additionally, they provided a simple key to help their audience understand the codes they incorporated into their creations.
Thanksgiving Cards: Thursday’s schedule also held time for our fifth graders to create Thanksgiving cards for their Pencil Pals! As is tradition, upper and lower grade buddies create these thoughtful cards for each other and exchange them at The LP’s Thanksgiving Feast, which is prepared by all of the students and enjoyed before Thanksgiving Break.
Music: Like all of our Learning Project students, fifth graders are busy preparing for Winter Concert, which will be performed for friends and family at a local venue. Upper grade chorus’ set this year will include: Time Stand Still by Rush; Can We Fix Our Nation's Broken Heart? by Stevie Wonder; A Little Too Much by Shawn Mendes; and Sing! by Pentatonix.
FRIDAY
Math: In Math, fifth graders explored the coordinate plane and how to most efficiently describe the location of different shapes on a plane. They then played a game of "Ship Shape," a Battleship style game where they had to locate the placement of their partner's shapes on a coordinate plane.
Friday Forage: A fifth grade tradition is that, on each Friday, they dive into a topic of interest, as determined by our fifth graders themselves. This particular Friday Forage, students had a brief glimpse into the science of geology, looking at a day in the life of a geologist studying how the planets in our solar system form. They then investigated the different types of rocks, as well as how and why volcanoes erupt.
Reading: Friday’s reading lesson was about author's craft and narrative devices. At the beginning of class, students reviewed four key narrative devices in a book called Virginia Wolf – show don't tell, sensory details, dialogue, and interesting word choice. Then they spent time finding and taking note of these four narrative devices in their own independent reading books.
Journey Books: The upper grade journey at The Learning Project is full of exciting new opportunities. To document these highlights and memories, LP students in fourth, fifth and sixth grades are each given a Learning Project ‘Journey Book.’ These are designed to be special keepsakes that students will take with them beyond graduation, and are also meant to serve as frequent and regular positive ‘boosts’ related to each child’s personal development and academic growth. For this Journey Book session, fifth graders added a written reflection from their field trip to the EMK Institute. They also recently finished writing their Descriptive Essays in Writer's Workshop and added those to their books as well, helping them to track their growth as writers!
