What does/did your 5th grader's day look like?

[lea1]

I have two rising 5th graders.  Have not finished my detailed planning yet but we sure had a hard time fitting everything in last year (probably need to start at 8am instead of 9am and not read aloud so long).  So I am curious what a school day looks like for others at this level.  If you want to include times, subjects and/or curricula that would be great.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2016 by Lea in OK

[regentrude]

In 5th grade, I required 4 hours seat work per day. 30-45 minutes of math was required daily. For the rest of the time, my kids could work on whatever subject for however long they wanted, with the materials I had selected. Seat work included math, English, history, science, foreign language, geography. I have never used scripted curricula.

In addition, we did PE, art and music informally.

School work started at 8am. All outside activities happened in the late afternoon.

Edited July 28, 2016 by regentrude

[Another Lynn]

My 10yo (almost 11) was 4th/5th last year.  At 9am, he came to morning time for 1 hour.  After that he found a quiet place to do his independent work:  spelling, assigned reading (for Bible, literature, history and science), memory work.  Then he came to me and together we did grammar and writing (completely together) and math (just spent time together on instruction) and then he would finish math on his own.  I think this fall (5th/6th) will be similar except we'll add an introduction to Latin during our time together.  

 

Morning Time

Bible - assigned reading

History - assigned reading

Science - assigned reading

Literature - assigned reading

Grammar - Hake 7

Writing - Thinking in Threes, using topics from History, science and literature

Spelling - Spelling Work Out E

Math - either CLE 600 or 6th grade math text I have on hand

Memory Work - Classical Conversations Cycle 2

Latin - Getting Started With Latin 

Edited July 28, 2016 by Another Lynn

[Momto6inIN]

In 5th my DD did:

 

~45 min of morning meeting and history 3x/week - map and some timeline work 1x/week

~45 min of math 5x/week (some MM and some fun game-type math on Fridays)

~45 min of reading from assigned books 4x/week

~45 min of science 4x/week

~20 min of spelling 4x/week

~10 min of grammar 4x/week

~30 min of writing 4x/week

~20 min of logic 2x/week

~20 min of typing 2x/week

~10 min of vocab 4x/week

~1 hr Art 1x/week

~1 hr PE 1x/week

~30 min piano 5x/week

 

Worked out to ~5 hrs a day 4x/week with significantly less on Friday

 

ETA: We usually work 9am-noon and then take a big break between 12-2 and then work from 2pm til done.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Momto5inIN

[mamamoose]

I have 3 so our schedule fluctuates daily, but in general, my 5th grader works quickly (sometimes too quickly) and can be done with her work in 4 hours. She needs to catch up in math so I am going to require 45 minutes of math for the first time (usually 30 gets it done). She is a very fast reader. We work from 8-noon, with a break, and then back to finish at 1.

[HomeAgain]

5th was when we really had to inject lots of movement into our school time.  Lots of hands on, alternating a sit down, writing type work with get up and move type work.  We schooled from 8-3, though, so it gave us plenty of time.

[Melissa B]

I have a 5th grader this year. Here's the plan.

 

7:30-11:00 English, Math, History

11:00-12:30 Lunch

12:30-3:30 Science, Latin, Art, Literature

+ Reading 3 nights per week before bed

 

One day per week we have co-op all morning.

Every afternoon we have one sport or another.

 

[MinivanMom]

For my 5th grader last year, we would generally get started by 8 am. His basic schedule on Mon-Thur:

 

8 - Singapore Math

9 - ** Break to practice piano

10 - English (MCT Town & extra writing projects)

11 - History & geography (K12 Human Odyssey & MP World Geo)

12 - ** Break to play outside and eat lunch

1 - Galore Park French

2 - Science reading

2:30-ish - Done for the day.

 

Our Fridays were a little different. He would just do Singapore math, and then he would work on logic (Blast off with Logic) and art (Artistic Pursuits). Occasionally we would take a Friday off for a field trip. On those weeks, he would do his logic on Tuesday (because he didn't have any evening activities that day) and he would just skip art for the week.

 

I also assigned him a book to read each week. Usually he would read in the evening before bed and on the weekend.

[rutheart]

Last year, each WEEK my 5th grader would:

*read at least 4 chapters of a novel assigned to her for literature and read one short story

*language arts loop: either 1) do a unit of vocabulary and play a word game, or 2) a grammar assignment and Mad Libs

*do a unit of spelling

*composition loop: either 1) write a blog post or 2) do a writing project from Writing Strands

*do 4 lessons in math and a fun number-related activity (i.e. connect the dots, personal finance, etc)

*listen to a chapter of Story of the World, read related encyclopedia pages, read related library books, do the chapter outline, read a current events article, and maybe do mapwork and/or an activity from the activity book

*Chemistry (fall science was astronomy) -read pages in McHenry's The Elements and do related activities, read related books, do a chemistry demonstration or two

*do 2 pages of Logic Countdown, one puzzle each in Mindbenders and Brain Games, work on a programming project in Scratch, and play an online logic game

*read a lesson in Spanish, do oral exercises with me, do related workbook activities and watch an episode of Salsa

*Art loop: 1) read about watercoloring and work on a watercolor project or 2) do a 3D drawing project

*do a multimedia art project, draw something in a doodle book, and color something

*do an exercise video, research a disease online, and maybe do an active video game

*read from Learning to Learn and discuss with me

*work on a life skill, such as cooking or home maintenance

 

How each week's workload would be divided up would depend on what activities were happening each week.

I was also teaching a 1st grader, who took the majority of my attention. Breaks would be taken when she needed, so schoolwork might stretch from 9am to 5pm, but she wasn't continuously working that whole time. If she worked continuously, she would finish in about 5 hours.

 

Some of my 5th grade plans are on my blog:

 

Ruth

[JohannaM]

I'm planning for my 5th grader to work roughly 8am-3pm Mon-Thurs.  This includes:

 

1 hr music practice (piano and band instrument)

30 min free reading

1 hr 30min lunch&breaks

15 min chores

 

45 min writing & spelling

1 hr math & logic

45 min literature class

30 min foreign language (with some English vocab mixed in)

45 min science/history (each 2x/wk)

 

Friday is just art, free reading and music practice. 

 

[ScoutTN]

Last year, my fifth grader did this:

 

M-Th

8:00   piano

8:30   Bible/quiet time

9:00   math, then Latin, writing and reading (lit, science, history) til lunch.

Recess break whenever she feels like it after math.

11:30  Lunch and RA 

12:30  Grammar and spelling

1:15  History, science, typing, literature - whatever needs to be done   

2:00  done for the day

 

About 4 hrs. academics, plus piano, Bible and RA

 

Fri

8:00 piano

8:30  Bible/ quiet time

9:00  leave for tutorial

9:30-12:30  art and drama tutorial

1:30 lunch and RA

Free time for reading, projects, or finishing other work.

 

 

 

[freelylearned]

Last year our schedule looked like this. On Mondays he had class at our charter school and on Tuesday through Thursday, I tried to get all of our formal curriculum done before lunch to allow for free time after lunch.

 

7:30 Breakfast/Chores/Free Time

8:30-10:00 Math, Handwriting, and Writing (Singapore and W&R or Journal Writing)

10-10:30 Snack and Outside Play/PE

10:30-12ish Spelling (Megawords), History Reading (SOTW) and Narration, Science (REAL Science Odyssey Chemistry) or Geography (Trail Guide to World Geography)

12 or 12:30 Lunch and then Free Time

 

After lunch, he would either have an elective at his charter school (1-2 days a week) or free time, which he usually used to read, go outside with the neighborhood kids, play Legos, draw, or write stories or draw. Sometimes he would have to finish his morning work or work on a special project for our charter school. I would also do Bible and read alouds during this time. Once a week we go to the library in the afternoons, too. Time permitting, my kids get an hour of screen time, such as computer games or a TV show, while I make dinner. When the weather is nice, they are usually all outside.

 

He would also do an hour of free reading before bedtime (9:00)