5th Grade

Welcome to 5th Grade!

Miss Cotter is a NYS Certified Elementary School Teacher. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and a Master's Degree in Childhood Education with an Advanced Certificate in Special Education. She has taught in grades 3rd-6th and has enjoyed her time in each grade. As the 4th and 5th grade Math teacher her goal is to continue to design many engaging lessons, hands on activities, as well as lessons that incorporate technology! Using the Common Core Standards set by New York State and the Diocese of Rockville Centre, Miss Cotter will provide a curriculum that offers students an opportunity to learn new skills, gain knowledge and provide challenges that are useful and purposeful. She looks forward to cultivating a positive learning environment and working to instill good values and high expectations for all students.  

Miss. Morringiello teaches Social Studies to 4th and 5th grade this year. This is her fourth year teaching and her second year teaching at Trinity Regional School. Miss Morringiello has a Bachelors Degree in Philosophy and a Masters Degree in Childhood and Special Education. 

Math
Fifth grade math begins the year with a focus on place value of multi-digit numbers. We begin to explore how we can use our knowledge of place value to solve expressions that include both multiplying a multi-digit number by a two-digit number and using exponents and how we can divide multi-digit numbers. We build on that knowledge by beginning to expand our understanding of place value to decimal numbers. We will explore how to add and subtract decimal numbers up to the thousandths place and then advance to being able to multiply and divide decimal numbers. In fifth grade we will investigate how to work with fractions with unlike denominators and mixed numbers. We will learn how to multiply and divide fractions building on our understanding of fractions. Following, we will use both our knowledge of decimals, fractions, and whole numbers and apply this knowledge to learning about different graphing procedures (line plot and line graph). We will also explore different units of measure (capacity, customary, and metric) and we will determine how to convert the different units of measurement. Finally, we will end the year exploring how to solve for the volume of 3-dimensional figures.

Social Studies
Fifth grade Social Studies focuses on the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Throughout the year the students will be learning about the history of each place as well as their geography, history and cultures. The students in fifth grade will be able to relay the information that they learn through different projects and writing assignments.

English Lanuguage Arts
Fifth grade is a year when students are building on their critical and higher order thinking skills. In English Language Arts students are learning skills, such as point of view,  theme, compare and contrast, sequence of events,and many others, as well as applying strategies such as inferring/predicting, summarizing, and visualizing that will help students read with more purpose and become lifelong readers. We follow the standards set forth by New York State and use the Journeys program published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. We also incorporate novel studies throughout the school year. The students are also building on their writing skills, which include narrative, informational, and persuasive writing, while also building on their knowledge of proper sentence structure and paragraph formation.

Science
In fifth grade science students master comprehension of science concepts and apply, analyze, synthesize and evaluate their knowledge. An important component of STEM study is the meaningful understanding of the foundations of technology, engineering, and computer coding. We are learning science concepts and vocabulary, building inquiry, STEM, and 21st Century skills, incorporating math and writing in each science lesson. Each unit is designed to focus on a Big Idea and supporting Essential Questions. As they read, students summarize and organize their science ideas in charts, tables, diagrams, and other graphic organizers. Active reading teaches students to analyze and interact with science concepts. Each inquiry lesson provides an opportunity for students to experience a multimodal approach for learning science concepts and skills. We follow the standards set forth by New York State and use the Science Fusion program published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Students learn concepts of Earth science, Oceanography, Meteorology, and Astronomy. Students have lab experiences that teach them to observe, experiment, record, and analyze. Students learn to hypothesize and make conclusions based on evidence.