Fifth Grade

In fifth grade the children begin to study the plant kingdom as well as ancient history and some of its most influential people.  Topics Include:

Language Arts:

    • Ancient Civilizations of India, Persia, Mesopotamia and Egypt
    • Greek Mythology and Ancient Greek History
    • North American Geography and History

Skills:

vocabulary building, parts of speech, subject/predicate/object, prepositional phrases, synonyms/antonyms, homonyms/homophones, direct/indirect speech, passive/active voice, self and peer editing, letter writing, writing reports: research and note taking, poetry: rhythm and meter

Mathematics:

    • Ancient Mathematics of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece
    • Freehand and Compass Geometry
    • Biography of Pythagoras and other mathematicians

Skills:

Number and operations: fractions, decimals, place value, base ten
Measurement: conversions, volume, surface area,
Geometry: lines, angle, coordinates, shapes
Algebra: order of operations, mathematical properties

Science

    • Botany

Skills:

Identification of plants, plant lifecycle, plant habitat

Music:

    • Strings: violin, viola or cello
    • Choir: singing in parts and rounds
    • Flute: playing in parts and rounds
    • Major and minor scale studies

Arts:

    • Arts are interwoven in all above disciplines
    • Painting
    • Clay modeling

MEET THE TEACHER

Daniel Nicholas

Daniel Nicholas is a native of upstate New York and graduated from Eastern University near Philadelphia in 2011 with a degree in philosophy. His teaching career began in 2012 at the college level, both in administration and in the classroom, and since then he has taught in two states, working with students from seemingly every age and background, from retired veterans in Medford to the college prep academies of the affluent suburbs of Dallas, TX to the urban public schools of the greater Austin area. He first learned about Steiner-Waldorf education as parent of a preschooler, and since then his diverse and wide-ranging educational background has stoked an abiding interest in human development, motivating him to begin pursuing his M. Ed. in Waldorf Education through Antioch University- New England in Spring 2020. He is thrilled to be putting roots back down in his beautiful adopted home of the Pacific Northwest by taking on the role of class teacher at Madrone Trail in fall 2021!