Grade Five Curriculum Picks

Note: These Grade Five Picks can be purchased from Homeschool Canada (order using the HCOS Curriculum Order Form). Some options may also be available to borrow from the Learning Commons Search Portal and/or via the OverDrive virtual eBook library.

Vendor websites are pick-and-choose and some optional or alternate suggestions may be listed, so select your items with care.

Overview Of Grade 5 Curriculum Picks

English Language Arts

Mathematics 

OR

Science 

The Elementary Teacher's Big Book of Graphic Organizers OR 3-D Graphic Organizers

Biology

Chemistry

Physics

Earth/Space

Social Studies

Bible/Christian Studies

Optional/Additional Resources (not detailed below)

Detailed Grade 5 Curriculum Picks

English Language Arts

Language Lessons for a Living Education 5 with 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible

Type of Resource: Workbook

Description: students will build on and reinforce essential communication skills as they achieve proficiency in grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, spelling, and written communication. Independent reading and mastery of effective sentences and paragraphs are at the heart of this course.

Students will enjoy poem, hymn, and picture studies as well as faith-growing stories to inspire detailed and descriptive paragraphs while making real-world connections that enhance this fun and engaging story-based approach. Written with a Charlotte Mason influence but designed for modern homeschoolers, activities include book reports, Scripture, creating a dictionary, narration, and critical thinking games to hone and apply their writing and reading skills creatively.

This course is a story-based approach, using Charlotte Mason's ideas for the modern homeschool student with character-building themes. Each quarter has five stories, two picture studies (one of which is biblically-based), and two poems (one of which is a proverb). Using the spelling words and the Dictionary Worksheets, the student will create their very own dictionary as they move week by week through the material. 

This course incorporates picture study, memorization, grammar and punctuation, spelling and vocabulary, observation, and application through creating their own stories through pictures, sentences, paragraphs, poems, proverbs, and letters. This course also develops reading and narration skills. Writing stamina is built up gradually. By the end of the course, students should be able to comfortably write various types of paragraphs.

Scope and sequence, daily course calendar, assessment charts, recommended reading list, spelling practice ideas, and grammar sheets also included.

Website: https://www.masterbooks.com/language-lessons-for-a-living-education-5

Series Overview: https://www.masterbooks.com/language-lessons-for-a-living-education-series 

Placement Guide: https://www.masterbooks.com/mwdownloads/download/link/id/939/

Review: https://cathyduffyreviews.com/homeschool-reviews-core-curricula/composition-and-grammar/graded-language-arts-curricula/language-lessons-for-a-living-education#

Other Optional or Supplementary Resources

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler with Literature Kit by Classroom Complete Press (or alternate)

Type of Resource: fiction novel and workbook

Description: enhance instruction and allow for much deeper conversations to keep students engaged. Imagine who the character of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler will be and what role she will play in the story. Put the Kincaid children's actions in the correct order they occurred as they ran away. Find a simile used to describe how hungry the children are in the book. Invent a character and write a letter similar to what Mrs. Frankweiler does at the beginning of the novel. Draw a map of the children's journey in the style of a plot pyramid. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included.

About the Novel: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is a Newbery Medal-winning story about two young children who run away from home. Twelve-year-old Claudia and nine-year-old Jamie run away to New York using an old unused adult ticket for the train. The pair find themselves living in the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art by hiding in the bathrooms when the Museum closes. While there, they become interested in Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and her recent purchase of the marble statue of an angel on display at the Museum. They use the rest of their money to visit the woman in Connecticut. Their trip leads to them discovering the secret behind the angel statue.

Note from Curriculum Consultant: Any novel can be chosen in place of this one. Other options for novels/novel studies can be found here.

Video Overview: https://youtu.be/4Vgo3w3t77U

Website: https://classroomcompletepress.com/products/ccp2528

Free Bonus Worksheets: https://classroomcompletepress.com/products/cc2528d?_pos=1&_sid=9b5c71877&_ss=r

PDF Samples: available on their website here

Dear Canada: An Ocean Apart: The Gold Mountain Diary of Chin Mei-Ling, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1922

Type of Resource: historical fiction

Description: each fictional diary in the "Dear Canada" series invites readers into the world of a girl living through a particular period in Canada's past. Gillian Chan's latest addition illustrates the effect the Chinese Head Tax has on one young girl and her family. Mei-ling and her father are struggling to pay the head tax that will allow her mother and brother, who are still living in China, to come to Canada. They must have that money before the impending Exclusion Act bars any more Chinese from immigrating. What will happen if they can't come up with enough money in time to reunite their family?

Note from Curriculum Consultant: this book addresses standards in Social Studies as well as English Language Arts. There are optional resources listed below to interact with the material, and there may also be suitable pages in The Elementary Teacher's Big Book of Graphic Organizers, part of these grade "picks" lister under the Science section but suitable for all subjects.

Website: http://www.scholastic.ca/books/view/dear-canada-an-ocean-apart

Other Optional or Supplementary Resources

• Teaching With Dear Canada, Volume 3
  

  • Book Map (free)

  • Section by Section Book Summary (free)

• Cultural Representation Reflection by TeachingBooks
• Story Map by TeachingBooks

Table of Contents and Preview: available on Amazon, https://www.amazon.ca/Gillian-Chan/dp/0779113535

No Time to Say Goodbye: Children's Stories of Kupe Island Residential School

Type of Resource: historical fiction

Description: a fictional account of five children sent to aboriginal boarding school, based on the recollections of a number of Tsartlip First Nations people. These unforgettable children are taken by government agents from Tsartlip Day School to live at Kuper Island Residential School. The five are isolated on the small island and life becomes regimented by the strict school routine. They experience the pain of homesickness and confusion while trying to adjust to a world completely different from their own. Their lives are no longer organized by fishing, hunting and family, but by bells, line-ups and chores. In spite of the harsh realities of the residential school, the children find adventure in escape, challenge in competition, and camaraderie with their fellow students. Sometimes sad, sometimes funny, always engrossing, No Time to Say Goodbye is a story that readers of all ages won’t soon forget.

Note from Curriculum Consultant: this book addresses standards in Social Studies as well as English Language Arts. No Time to Say Goodbye is made up of a number of different stories. Not all of them are appropriate for Grade 5, and some refer to sensitive material. Parents should exercise their discretion in assigning stories.

Website: https://sononis.com/product/no-time-to-say-goodbye/

Other Optional or Supplementary Resources: FNESC Indian Residential Schools & Reconciliation Teacher Resource Guide, Gr. 5, pages 29 - 62

Math

Singapore Math Standards Edition edition is not mentioned here because as the grades progress, it is more difficult to "jump in" to this method of learning. It is still a strong option and can be considered for students looking for an academically rigorous curriculum. A placement test is strongly recommended before selecting a level.

Option 1: Math Lessons for a Living Education 5

This engaging, story-based approach puts math into context for your student as they student build connections between mathematical concepts and their own lives—learning both how to do math, and how to apply it to life outside the textbook. A blend of stories, copy-work, oral narration, and hands-on experience brings the concepts to life, invites the student to explore the world around them, and gives this course a Charlotte Mason flavour.

In Math Lessons for a Living Education Level 5 your student will learn:

• Factoring
• 2 Digit Divisors
• Proper & Improper Fractions
• Common Denominators
• Multiplying & Dividing Decimals

Website: https://www.masterbooks.com/math-lessons-for-a-living-education-level-5

Placement Tests: https://www.masterbooks.com/amfile/file/download/file/750/product/2732/

Series Overview Video: https://youtu.be/JHlMs8kFp18

Series Overview Webpage: https://www.masterbooks.com/math-lessons-for-a-living-education-series/

Review: https://cathyduffyreviews.com/homeschool-reviews-core-curricula/math/math-grades-k-6/math-lessons-for-a-living-education

Table of Contents: found on this page under "Description"

PDF Sample Pages: https://www.masterbooks.com/mwdownloads/download/link/id/757/ 

Option 2: Jump Math New Canadian Edition Student Assessment & Practice (AP) Book 5 (Parts 1 and 2) 

Description: in conjunction with the New Canadian Edition of JUMP Math's teacher resources, Student Assessment & Practice (AP) Book 5 is designed to cover the curriculum for Grade 5 mathematics, with units on:

• Number Sense
• Patterns and Algebra
• Geometry
• Measurement
• Probability and Data Management

NOTE: The New Canadian edition of AP Book 5 is printed in two parts, Book 5.1 and Book 5.2. In order to cover the full curriculum, students will need both parts. 

Note from Curriculum Consultant: The multi-modal approaches to solving math problems presented in this resource can be a benefit to some students, but other students may find this approach confusing and would be better served with a program that presents a consistent approach to solving problems.

Website: https://jumpmath.org/jump/en/ap_new_cdn_5

Teacher Resource/Lesson Plans: free when you register online, https://jumpmath.org/jump/en/tr_5_new_Cdn 

Other Optional or Supplementary Resources

• Answer Keys for AP Book 5
• Quizzes and Tests for Grade 5
• Curriculum Guides for Grade 5
• Digital Lesson Slides for Grade 5

Table of Contents here

Sample Pages: 

• Student AP Book 5.1
• Student AP Book 5.2
• Grade 5 Problem-Solving Lessons
• Teacher Resource 5.1
• Teacher Resource 5.2

Science 

Biology

Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Textbook* and Student Notebooking Journal*

*First 8 lessons of 12; lessons 9 and 10 address Grade 6 content standards

Note: This resource will make up half to two-thirds of the student work for Grade 5 science. The other branches of science addressing the other big ideas and content competencies are purposefully not addressed to the same level of depth.

Description: From the brain in your head to the nails on your toes, you and your students will encounter fascinating facts, engaging activities, intriguing experiments, and loads of fun as you learn about the human body and how to keep it working well. Beginning with a brief history of medicine and a peek into cells and DNA, your students will voyage through fourteen lessons covering many subjects, such as the body systems: skeletal, muscular, respiratory, digestive, cardiovascular, nervous and more! They’ll study nutrition and health, how God designed their immune system to protect them, along with embryology and what makes them a unique creation of God.

As they work their way through the course, your students will enjoy adding the organs about which they learn to their own personalized human figure to be placed in their course notebook. In addition to all this exploration, your students will enjoy scientific experiments and projects, such as testing the bacteria content around the house, finding their blood type, creating a cell model from Jello and candy, and even building a stethoscope!

In keeping with the other books in the Apologia elementary science Young Explorer Series, the Charlotte Mason methodology is employed with engaging narratives, narration prompts and notebooking projects, all of which reinforce their learning using proven techniques that strengthen retention.

Website: https://www.apologia.com/product/apologia-advantage-set-anatomy-physiology-with-regular-notebooking-journal/

Review: https://cathyduffyreviews.com/homeschool-reviews-core-curricula/science/science-unit-studies/apologia-s-exploring-creation-series-elementary-grades#

Other Optional or Supplementary Resources

• Anatomy & Physiology MP3 Audio CD
• Anatomy & Physiology MP3 Download/Audiobook
• Anatomy & Physiology Audiobook on Audible™ 
• Anatomy & Physiology Audiobook on iTunes™

Table of Contents and PDF Samples:

• student textbook: https://view.publitas.com/apologia/anatomy-and-physiology-sample-k-6/ 
• notebooking journal: https://view.publitas.com/apologia/anatomy-and-physiology-sample-k-6/ 

Additional Support:

• FAQs video, https://youtu.be/bP9BZPuCedc 
• How to Use Notebooking with Elementary Science in Your Homeschool
• A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Apologia’s Elementary Science Homeschool Curriculum

Chemistry

Mixtures and Solutions by Molly Aloian

Type of Resource: nonfiction book

Description: most of the materials around us contain blends of more than one substance. These are mixtures and solutions. Seawater, for example, is a solution of salt and water. The engaging text and vivid illustrations in this book will help readers understand how mixtures and solutions form and how they apply to everyday life. Topics include:

• the difference between mixtures and solutions
• how solutions may be diluted or concentrated
• how distillation and filtration work
• the principles of osmosis

Website: https://www.crabtreebooks.com/ProductDetail/9780778742500_mixtures-and-solutions-pb

Other Optional or Supplementary Resources

• Teacher's Guide pages 10-13

Physics

Simple Machines! With 25 Science Activities for Kids by Anita Yasuda

Type of Resource: Nonfiction book

Description: You might not think you’re using a simple machine when you zip up your coat, but it’s true! Simple Machines! With 25 Science Projects for Kids introduces readers to the six simple machines recognized as crucial to human civilization: planes, pulleys, screws, wedges, and wheels and axles. Hands-on science projects, essential questions, links to primary sources, and more get kids excited about STEM learning.

This resource dedicates a chapter to each of the six simple machines that were identified centuries ago: levers, inclined planes, pulleys, screws, wedges, and wheels and axles. Kids develop analytical skills as they figure out where force is applied and what kind of work it generates. Essential questions, fascinating facts, and links to online primary sources make student-led learning fun and productive!

Through science-minded STEM projects and investigative engineering experiments, kids develop critical and creative thinking skills about the roles simple machines play in our world and their importance to human civilization.

Try these hands-on engineering projects!

• Make Your Own Movable Pulley
• Design a New Invention
• Make Your Own Helicopter

Website: https://nomadpress.net/nomadpress-books/simple-machines/#bookdetailc

Guide with Essential Questions: https://nomadpress.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Simple_Machines-Classroom-Guide.pdf

Table of Contents and PDF Sample Pages: https://issuu.com/nomadpressvt/docs/explore-simplemachines_salescopy_rd

Earth/Space

Option 1: ScienceWiz Rocks and Geology Book & Kit

Type of Resource: Science Kit with Book

Description: This is the WEIGHTIEST ScienceWiz book sold, as it has lots of good-sized rock samples! Eruptive experiments are used to explore the active geology of planet Earth. Relate rocks to the history of the planet and connect the earth’s crust to real rocks through exciting eruptive experiments to foster comprehension.

20 activities which include:

• Mold and slice open a model of the earth

• Create a lava fountain to explore density

• Spew your own volcano

• Make your own pyroclastic eruptions

• Discover which rocks will float and which will burn

• Identify, break & display volcanic rocks

• Sediment your own sedimentary rocks

• Acid test rocks

• Explore metamorphic rocks

• Form fossils

Website: https://sciencewiz.com/product/rocks-and-geology/

Other Optional or Supplementary Resources: ScienceWiz Portal to Discovery: Rocks and Geology

Option 2: The Geology Book (Wonders of Creation)

Note: only the first 4 of 8 chapters need to be completed to address content standards. This is not a very costly book.

Type of Resource: nonfiction 

Description: rocks firmly anchored to the ground and rocks floating through space fascinate us. Jewellery, houses and roads are just some of the ways we use what has been made from geologic processes to advance civilization. Whether scrambling over a rocky beach or gazing at spectacular meteor showers, we can’t get enough of geology! The Geology Book will teach you: what really carved the Grand Canyon; how thick the earth’s crust is; why the earth is unique for life; the varied features of the earth’s surface—from plains to peaks; how sedimentary deposition occurs through water, wind and ice; effects of erosion; ways in which sediments become sedimentary rock; fossilization and the age of the dinosaurs; the powerful effects of volcanic activity; continental drift theory; radioisotopes and carbon dating; and geological processes of the past.

Website: https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/geology-book/

Other Optional or Supplementary Resources

• The Geology Book Study Guide

PDF Samples available on this page, https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/geology-book/

Science/Social Studies

The Elementary Teacher's Big Book of Graphic Organizers, K-5

Type of Resource: workbook

Description: graphic organizers are a powerful metacognitive teaching and learning tool. These graphic organizers can be used before learning, during learning, or after learning activities. This resource provides tools to help students understand relationships between facts, terms, and ideas.

Note from Curriculum Consultant: this resource can be utilized where resources do not provide a way to interact with the material presented. Teachers and students can pick and choose organizers that appeal to them and are readily adaptable to the material they are learning. It is a recommended pick for grades 2 - 5 and can be used again year after year. 

Website: here 

OR 3-D Graphic Organizers: 20 Easy-to-Make Learning Tools That Reinforce Key Concepts

Type of Resource: workbook

Description: bring a new dimension to graphic organizers-and increase students' ability to learn and remember important content-area information-with these 20 engaging learning tools. Each organizer comes with a ready-to-go template, easy step-by-step directions, and ideas for using it across the curriculum. The finished three-dimensional products serve as powerful reference tools-and make a great classroom display to show off what students have learned. Great for individual, small-group, and whole-class learning!

Note from Curriculum Consultant: this resource can be utilized where resources do not provide a way to interact with the material presented. Teachers and students can pick and choose organizers that appeal to them and are readily adaptable to the material they are learning. It is a recommended pick for grades 3-6 and can be used again year after year. 

Website: here

Social Studies 

Internment Camps (Crabtree Publishing's Series, Uncovering the Past: Analyzing Primary Sources) 

Use of The Elementary Teacher's Big Book of Graphic Organizers or 3-D Graphic Organizers with the resources in the section below is recommended, as the books below provide only a few ways to interact with the content.

Type of Resource: nonfiction book 

Description: an important addition to any multicultural collection, this title examines the internment of “enemy aliens” in the United States and Canada during the Second World War. With particular emphasis on “yellow peril” and the plight of Japanese-American and Canadian citizens, the book reveals the events, mindsets, and policies leading up to and following the forced removal of thousands of citizens from their homes into internment camps. Using primary sources including real accounts of survivors, the title encourages readers to examine differing perspectives on the events and think critically about the complex relationship between citizenship and diversity in North America. A final chapter considers the lasting effects of internment—and how harmful stereotypes in today’s global climate run the risk of repeating past mistakes.

Note from Curriculum Consultant: Students may wish to expand their learning by completing an inquiry project (see this page for more) where they conduct their own research and reflect/report on Canada’s policies and treatment of minority peoples.

BC Land and People by Apple Press

Type of Resource: consumable workbook

Description: This reproducible activity book is about Canada's Pacific province. Topics include a cross-section of British Columbia, the Cordillera, climate, the Fraser River system, preserving a temperate rainforest, and natural resources, Aboriginal place-names, a traditional winter lodge, the gold rush, fruit growing, copper mining, Pacific Rim National Park, the capital, Victoria and emblems of British Columbia.

This series of reproducible resource books are filled with factual and up-to-date information. The imaginative and self-directing activities in each book focus on a particular province or territory of Canada and are designed to help students acquire a knowledge of the basic geography and social history of Canada. Numerous map activities are a part of each book and develop map skills such as plotting a route, interpreting symbols and using a scale to calculate distance. Pictures and charts are used to clarify and enhance the content. Activities such as crossword puzzles and quizzes are used for review. The answers to the activities as well as outline maps for the teacher or student use are included at the end of each book.

Coming to Canada by Robert Livesy

Type of Resource: student textbook

Description: This textbook of 160 pages contains personal stories of 42 young people aged 8 to 25, who left their native countries to come to Canada. It describes their reasons for leaving, why they, (or their parents) chose Canada, the problems that they encountered on the way here, the immediate culture shock when they arrived, their adjustment to their new environment, the problems and advantages that they discovered and their opinions of Canada today.

Note from Curriculum Consultant: This resource could cross over into some English language arts standards as it includes hundreds of Topics for Discussion and Creative Challenges that will inform students about their new multicultural citizens and the advantages of living in Canada as seen by new Canadians.

Website: http://www.littlebrick.com/shop-online.html#!/Coming-to-Canada/p/122986981/category=30483411

Canadian Government by Classroom Complete Press 

Type of Resource: workbook

Description: travel back to Confederation to see how Canada became a new nation.  This resource breaks down the responsibilities and parts of the federal government. Recognize that Canada is a democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with the head of state being the King or Queen. Read the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, before writing your own Constitution for a new country. Create a presentation on one of the departments the federal government is responsible for, such as national defence or the post office. Understand that Canada is made up of provinces and territories and that each has its own government under the federal system. Jump into the political process to elect the next Prime Minister, and see how a majority of minority government affects his or her leadership. Written to Bloom's Taxonomy. Additional writing tasks, crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. Gr. 5-8; reading level Gr. 3-4.

Video Overview: https://youtu.be/IhE7nL3IpPw

Website: https://classroomcompletepress.com/products/ccp5758

PDF Samples on this page

Bible/Christian Studies

Who Is God? And Can I Really Know Him?

Type of Resource: student textbook

Description: introduces the concept of worldview while laying the foundational truths upon which a biblical Christian worldview is built. Our children are bombarded on a daily basis with competing messages. Every song, movie, book, TV show, blog, and game is full of ideas about truth, morality, beauty, identity, faith, and more. Not all of these ideas are true. Some are wrong, some are deceptive, and some are outright destructive. Young children must be equipped to discern among competing ideas and stand firm in the truth. Concepts covered include:

• God is truth and He reveals His truth to people
• He is the one true and almighty God; He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
• He created everything
• We are God’s children and are made to love and to praise Him
• God meets all of our needs
• Sin separates us from God
• Jesus is the only way to God

Note from Curriculum Consultant: this resource is most suitable for students in Grades 4-8 but could be used for children as young as 6 and as old as 14 in a multi-grade learning environment. This resource could be used for family devotions and discussions.

Website: https://www.apologia.com/product/who-is-god-textbook/

Review: https://cathyduffyreviews.com/homeschool-extras/worldview-curriculum/what-we-believe-series#

Other Optional or Supplementary Resources

• Who Is God? Junior Notebooking Journal
• Who Is God? MP3 Download/Audiobook

Table of Contents and PDF Samples: https://view.publitas.com/apologia/apologia-who-is-god-sample/page/1