Fifth grade is a time marked with responsibility.  Caught between the excitement of being the oldest in the school and the realization that next year it will be the opposite, fifth graders work year-long to gain the independence, organization, and self-motivation that will enable them to confidently stride across that bridge from elementary to middle school. They enter the room in September clearly part of the elementary community, yet by spring are almost too big for the classrooms and hallways. What takes place between those months is the magic that makes them ready to leave one adventure, sufficiently supplied to face the next.

What is the magic?

It’s the combination of content in the History and Science units along with our math concepts that teaches critical thinking and problem solving.  It’s the fantastic children’s literature written for this age group that encourages empathetic thinking and enables the children to understand people both like and unlike themselves.  It is the reading and analyzing of this literature that drives the fifth grade authors’ writing into new directions and dimensions that they might have not deemed themselves capable of doing.  It is the classroom community that is built to foster all of this in a safe environment that allows them to both make and grow from mistakes.  They learn the responsibility of learning about the past and present in order to make informed decisions for the future. Like fledglings flying from the nest, fifth grade students grasp hold of their newly found responsibilities, and soar into new possibilities.

 

- Mrs. Monica Wagner, Fifth Grade Teacher at Easterly Parkway Elementary School

 

 

 

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