5th Grade

download: 5th grade department highlights
visit: 5th grade website

Our 5th grade program takes an integrated, explorative, hands-on approach. We teach the skills that will allow students to think and effectively communicate in a world that may be quite different from the one in which we live today.

The 5th grade curriculum coordinates across disciplines to help students understand the importance of reading, writing, speaking and listening in all that they do. Literature is integrated with social studies whenever possible. Composition is integrated into science and math as students explain their solutions. Mathematics reinforces computational skills and conceptual understanding of numbers. We introduce the scientific method, which teaches students to look for patterns, relationships and connections to other subjects. Technology, on laptops or the Internet, enhances the curriculum.

Art, drama, Latin and physical education are required courses in 5th grade.

• The arts build creativity.
• Latin is taught in a natural context and students learn the basic parts of speech, reinforcing their own English language skills.
• Physical education is essential, and students participate in a broad range of traditional and non-traditional activities to allow for the physical, social, emotional and intellectual growth of each student.

Learn more about Overlake's 5th Grade program in the department highlights and the curriculum map.