Fundamentals of a Good Fifth-Grade Education

“What should my child be learning in school?” If you’ve ever asked that question, this book can help.

What Your Fifth Grader Needs to Know is part of the eight-volume Core Knowledge Series—from What Your Preschooler Needs to Know through What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know. The series offers parents, teachers, and children an  illustrated guide to the essential knowledge outlined in the Core Knowledge Sequence, including beloved stories and poems, familiar sayings, interesting information on history and geography, lively discussions of visual arts and music, and explanations and activities in math and science. Updated editions suggest related readings and resources, as well as age-appropriate questions that stimulate thinking and build vocabulary. The first grade volume also includes a section on how children learn to read.

This edition of What Your Fifth Grader Needs to Know (revised 2006) features:

• Illustrated favorite poems, old and new, by Lewis Carroll, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and more
• Literature from around the world, including Native American and Japanese folktales, an introduction to Sherlock Holmes, and episodes from classic works including Don Quixote, Tom Sawyer, Little Women, The Secret Garden, and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
• Learning About Language, with explanations of literal and figurative language, parts of speech, and more
• Engaging introductions to world and American history and geography, with features on the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations; the Age of Exploration, the Renaissance, and the Reformation; and, the United States during the Civil War and Reconstruction, as well as Native American cultures and conflicts
• Stories of great artists and their works, with a focus on masterworks of the Renaissance
• Introductions to great composers, basic music terms and concepts, and familiar songs to sing
• Concise explanations of math skills and concepts, including percentages, long division, fractions and decimals, ratios, equations, and more
• Opportunities to explore human growth stages, life cycles, cell parts and functions, concepts in chemistry, the periodic table of elements, and more