A Day in the Life of a Fifth Grader

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A BRIMMER FIFTH G RADER

A GLIMPSE OF EMPOWERED, SELF-DIRECTED LEARNERS IN ACTION

8:00

Greeting Begin Well: Students enjoy greeting their teachers and peers as they enter the classroom. They catch up with friends and check in with their teachers about lingering homework questions. Morning Work typically involves a written reflection that helps them transition their minds. Then it’s Morning Meeting, a time to share the schedule and get excited about the highlights of the day.

8:15

STEAM Renaissance Math, Design, and Engineering: Immersed in the study of the Renaissance, students have read Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions You Can Build Yourself and have discussed innovators and individuals who stood up for what they believed. Incorporating these ideas into their science project, they rotate through stations of the six simple machines to investigate, observe, and explore how they work. Then pairs of students use the design process to collaborate on creating a Rube Goldberg machine that incorporates the da Vinci devices.

9:15

Art Learn from the Masters: In preparation for their trip to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), students practice 3-D drawing techniques invented by artists of the Renaissance period.

Tomorrow in Music class, they’ll learn about Renaissance music and musical instruments.

10:15

Language Arts Language in Literature, Word in Performance: After discussing King of Shadows, a novel set in Shakespeare’s time, students rehearse a children’s version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to perform for parents and peers, including their “Buddies” in Pre-Kindergarten.

(Acting as role models, indeed!) In related work in their Drama class, students will analyze and perform Shakespeare’s sonnets in small groups. In addition to connecting to classroom curriculum, the drama unit prepares students to write an original dramatic poem about their fifth-grade memories, to be performed at closing ceremonies of their Lower School career.

11:15

Mindfulness Self-Awareness: Students pause to focus on their breathing. Brimmer embraces this practice as a means toward greater focus, listening skills, and emotional regulation.

11:30

Lunch and Recess With Privilege Comes Responsibility: As leaders of the Lower School, fifth graders are entrusted with the privilege of partaking of both the salad bar and hot lunch selections in the dining hall.

12:30

Math Measuring a Polyhedron: After a review of recently learned concepts, students focus on calculating the volume of a cube. Using graph paper, they build their own cubes and begin a class discussion of different aspects of the polyhedron before calculating its volume. Working in small groups, students then rotate through a few different activities that help to solidify their understanding of volume. Math class closes with reflection: a quick meeting and then journaling on today’s concepts.

2:00

Social Studies Becoming the Expert Who Shares Knowledge: Fifth graders continue their individual research on Renaissance-related topics they’ve found especially interesting. Each will prepare a research paper and a keynote presentation for peers. Special knowledge is valued in this body of scholars, where teaching classmates and learning from one another is the expectation.

2:45-3:00

End-of-the-Day Meeting Literature Gets the Last Word: One student leads the class in a homework review. Then, in keeping with our school culture of nurturing a community of readers, it’s read-aloud time until dismissal.