Congratulations fifth grade teacher! Fifth graders are very independent and curious. They have such fun personalities starting to emerge and are beginning to act like miniature adults. I love their sense of humor!
Now that you know you will be teaching fifth grade, you are probably starting to wonder what resources you might want to have in your classroom.
I have compiled a list of my very favorite resources for fifth grade. I hope it helps!
Books
I’m starting with my book recommendations because I think that books are the most important part of ANY classroom! A good classroom library is a must.
It doesn’t have to cost a fortune though. You can get books from garage sales, used book stores and even from your friends. I highly recommend putting a post on your personal Facebook asking if any of your friends have books that their children have outgrown. It’s a great way to grow your library.
Click HERE to read more about organizing your classroom library.
Chapter Books
Here are some of my favorites:
- Wonder
- Restart
- The Wild Robot
- Harry Potter
- Hatchet
- Bud, Not Buddy
- The Giver
Picture Books
I use these for read alouds and mentor texts during reading or writing.
- The Invisible Boy
- After the Fall
- Rosie Revere Engineer
- Voices in the Park
- Enemy Pie
- The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors
Math Resources for Fifth Grade
Math Centers
Centers and small groups completely changed the way that I taught math. I would NEVER go back to completely teaching in whole group! Math centers and small group instruction make it much easier to differentiate my instruction. Every student doesn’t need the same thing, so why waste time teaching everyone exactly the same way? Plus, math centers are engaging!
If you are looking for more info on how to start and run successful math centers, check out THIS video series that I created.
I highly recommend THESE math centers. They are consistent. The centers will look very similar all year and this means that you don’t have to spend nearly as much time teaching the expectations and directions. Also, you can use the centers in any order that you choose because they aren’t specific to any month or holiday. I love this because we don’t all have the same pacing guide!
Click HERE to read more about these centers.
Interactive Notebooks
Interactive Notebooks are a FUN way to teach and practice math! They are so much better than traditional note-taking, because instead of just copying notes from the teacher, students are interacting with the material, which leads to a deeper understanding.
My Interactive Notebooks involve inserting and moving around flaps, foldables, wheels, charts, and more and students love all of the different visuals. But don’t worry, I designed these for notebooks for busy teachers like you. So the cuts are super-simple, and there’s no unnecessary coloring. Your kids can quickly cut, glue, and go!
This is currently a growing bundle. When complete, this growing bundle will have a total of 10 interactive notebooks to cover all the math skills your fifth grade students need. If you purchase now, you’ll get immediate access to the notebooks currently in the store, and you will be able to download the new notebooks as they are added at no additional cost.
Click HERE to read more about the Math Interactive Notebooks.
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Writing Resources for Fifth Grade
Teaching writing can be one of the toughest subjects. Many teachers don’t teach it at all, or just brush over the standards by giving their students a journal prompt during reading centers. I totally get it! Without great resources and training, I had no idea how to teach writing and it frustrated me.
Writing Professional Development Course
First, if you are really looking to transform your writing instruction, I highly recommend taking my online writing professional development course. This course was specifically created for grades 2-5 teachers and it includes 27 different videos. When you complete the videos, you will feel so much better about teaching writing!
You’ll learn how to:
- Keep your lessons and preparation simple: Using the workshop model will save you time because you’ll have a simple routine with minimal prep.
- Increase your students’ standardized test scores: You’ll be training your students to work independently—so they’ll be able to perform higher on standardized writing assessments.
- Maximize your limited class time: You’ll learn how to implement short mini-lessons so you can spend less time lecturing and presenting to the entire class.
- Skyrocket your confidence as a writing teacher: Once you start using a modern writing workshop, you’ll see student growth—fast.
Taking the Masterclass is easy. The course is entirely online. You take it where you want, when you want. And it is self-paced–you can watch it in a weekend or a week or take your time going through the modules. You get lifetime access to the course, so you return to the lessons over and over again.
Throughout the course, you’ll find ongoing support in a private Facebook group where you can ask questions, find inspiration, and share ideas. Plus, you will get to print a professional development certificate. Yippee!!
Registration for the Not So Wimpy Writing Masterclass is currently closed. Be sure to sign up for the Waitlist so you will be the first to know when we open it again. Sign up now so you don’t miss out!
Free Guide to Writing Lessons
Lots of teachers have told me that they just don’t know what lessons they should teach during writing workshop. I put together THIS free guide to make it easier for you to decide what lessons to include when you are planning your mini lessons. Enjoy!
Year-Long Units
Now that you know what to teach, you are ready to create your writing lesson plans. But that takes time. A lot of time. So I decided to create them for you!
My writing units include lesson plans, mentor text passages, anchor charts, student printables and task cards for the entire year. They are so easy to use that you can leave them for a substitute if you need to!
Click HERE to read more about my fifth grade writing units.
Grammar Resources for Fifth Grade
Grammar is hard! There are so many rules that our students have to memorize and this can make the lessons rather boring.
Grammar Curriculum
I noticed that most curriculum did not include enough engaging materials and did not break down the grammar skills into small enough pieces. Therefore, I decided to create my own grammar curriculum!My grammar units include an activity for every day of the week.
- Monday: PowerPoint to introduce the skill
- Tuesday: Interactive notebook activity
- Wednesday: Writing activity
- Thursday: Task card scoot
- Friday: Assessment
I broke down the language standards into very small pieces that will make it easier for your students to learn all of the skills.I have released a growing bundle grammar set for fifth grade that covers fifth grade standards!
Click HERE to learn more about my fifth grade grammar units.
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Free Grammar Posters
It can be handy to have a resource that students can reference as they learn new skills during the year. You can add a poster to your display each week as you teach the new skills.
Click HERE to grab this freebie!
Reading
Some teachers have a reading curriculum that they love. Many do not. I have created some resources to help you to teach and practice reading skills and standards. I think that the most important aspect of any reading resource is whether or not it helps to increase a student’s love for reading.
Book Clubs
I also love using book clubs. I used book clubs with all of my reading groups. It really helped to increase their love for reading and helped them to choose new books for their independent reading time.
If you want to learn more about how I ran my book clubs, you can watch THIS video.
Click HERE to read more about my book club resource.
Reading Response Menus
These Reading Response Menus will reveal how well your students are comprehending what they read independently. Each question in the menu was designed to encourage students to use those higher-order thinking skills and dig deep into the text for answers—increasing their comprehension and understanding. They also help students practice writing about text and using text evidence—which prepares them for standardized testing. And they allow you to easily assess their comprehension skills—so you can identify areas for improvement.
Each of the 36 printable menus, one for each week of school. includes 9 questions for students to choose from.
Vocabulary Resources for Fifth Grade
Teaching vocabulary is a must! It will improve your students’ reading comprehension, their writing word choice and their standardized testing scores. That’s big!
I found that adding ten minutes of vocabulary to my daily instruction made a huge difference. I love having a routine!
- Monday: introduce word definitions and sentences
- Tuesday: antonyms and synonyms
- Wednesday: roots, prefixes and suffixes
- Thursday: draw pictures to represent the words
- Friday: play a review game and take an assessment.
I put together a resource that includes everything that you will need to teach, practice and assess vocabulary words. I carefully researched and chose tier 2 words that show up often in grade level text and on standardized tests.
Click HERE to read more about my vocabulary resource.
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Facebook Group
Teaching is tough! Don’t do this alone!I have a Facebook group for fifth grade teachers. It is the perfect place to ask for suggestions or tips when you are having a tough day.
Click HERE to join the group.
I have shared so many great resources for fifth grade, but don’t get overwhelmed! Keep in mind that the most important thing that you need in your fifth grade classroom is a positive relationship with your students. You can do that without centers or anchor charts or reading menus. I believe in you!
Have a Not So Wimpy Day,
I also have resource round ups for second grade, third grade, and fourth grade.
I’m new to 5th grade. I was curious if you have any pacing guides for 5th. I’ve purchased your Reading and Math resources, but I wasn’t sure the best order in which to teach them. I would love a pacing guide/scope & sequence of your best recommendations to teach the common core standards. Thank you!
Hello Valuable Resource Provider…Jamie,
I have purchased your Grammar unit for 4/5 grade from Teachers pay Teachers. I have used it for the past two years. I love it and all the well developed lessons. I have created my own material to be able to provide different activities so it is not a repeat of what was covered in fourth grade when the students come to me in fifth grade. All is ready to implement with a simple download which is a dream come true. Jamie, you truly understand how busy teachers are and I so appreciate all the work you have done to make my life a bit easier.
I am have a third grade teacher at my school who raves about your reading bundle and how it parallel’s the reading curriculum. I have seen it and what you have done for the third grade that aligns with the standards and provides everything needed to be successful to teach all the reading standards in third grade.
I am so envious of the easy, yet quality lessons that align to the third grade standards that my school has been using. I am wondering if you plan to create a full year reading bundle that covers all the standards for 5th grade?
In my school fourth and fifth grade has similar yet separate standards and curriculums. It would be important for me to be able to purchase a separate reading year long bundle that would like what you created for 3rd grade but would have different reading mentor texts and lesson from the 4th grade bundle.
Let me know if I am missing any resources that you have for just fifth grade as I have searched your site for these specific resources. Also, let me know if you are planning any reading year long resources that focus on the fifth grade standards. I can wait if you have them in the works.
From a fan who stays tuned into your website and love the funny videos and family pictures. Best wishes to Kyler and looking forward to hearing from you.
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Hi Mariterese,
Thank you for your kind words. We love creating engaging activities that are easy for busy teachers to use. I’m so glad you enjoy the grammar activities and please thank your third grade teacher friend who is a fan of our reading bundle. We understand the importance of having reading units for each grade level’s standards. We recently finished our Reading Unit Year-Long Bundle for 2nd grade and hope to create similar bundles for upper grades in the future.