Fifth and Sixth Grade Program
Overview
In Odyssey's 5th and 6th grade classrooms, our students are immersed in creative learning environments where they have opportunities to reach mastery of their academics through the lens of the arts. Enjoy a glimpse into our school year with examples of arts integration:
Sixth graders discover a deep understanding of our solar system by composing a piece of music using evidence from research to create sounds that symbolize the experience of being on their chosen planet.
Fifth graders create an experiment that isolate one or two variables, designing and building vehicles to test for changes in chemical reactions.
All students work together as a whole, in small groups, and independently.
All have fantastic failures (taking risks!) and wildly successful projects. All grow as a classroom family.
Our Approach
Rights and Responsibilities
Our 5th and 6th grade students have an increasing amount of rights and responsibilities. The classes, with teacher support, design and follow their own set of procedures and expectations that support each other and their school community. This collaborative approach to classroom culture develops student ownership and accountability.
Centering Skills
Students also develop centering skills through various daily practices, including nature walks, mindful meditations, breathing techniques, and individual calming practices, such as reading, drawing and writing.
Developing Leadership
Odyssey 5th and 6th graders embody a special place in our school—that of leading younger students and learning from those who are older. This position as bridge-builders between elementary and middle school gives students the opportunity to both mentor and be mentored, developing empathy and confidence.
Ambassadors
Our students go on more than a dozen field trips annually and they become not only ambassadors for Odyssey School, but for middle schoolers everywhere. Through their behavior and engagement in the wider community, they represent what thoughtful, curious, responsible young people can be.
5th and 6th Grade Curriculum
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This year, students are learning about:
Reading: Variety of fiction and informational texts, determining theme and main idea, making inferences
Vocabulary: Word-attack strategies to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words (morphology, prefix/suffix, Latin/Greek roots)
Writing: Creative/narrative, research/informative (IRP), persuasive
Grammar/Conventions: Spelling, capitalization, and punctuation!
The class novels are:
5th: Holes, The Phantom Tollbooth, and Brown Girl Dreaming
6th: The Westing Game, Brown Girl Dreaming, and The Giver
On the national Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) Assessment, Odyssey students scored at the 80th percentile (5th grade) and 62nd percentile (6th grade) in reading.
Learn more about our ELA program here. -
Fifth grade students learn about: place value & decimal numbers; adding & subtracting fractions & decimals; multiplication & division of fractions & decimals; volume & area; and problem solving with coordinate plane. Sixth grade students learn about whole numbers, fractions, decimals; negative numbers; algebraic expressions, equations, and inequalities; ratios, rates, and percent; area and solids; and statistics and probability.
Students make progress toward mastering these standards using an innovative program that has been adopted at Odyssey for grades 1-6. Math is different from Language Arts in that there is no research-based or evidence-based approach that has broad consensus and adoption. Unlike a book or an article, where the basic elements of reading fluency add up to something enjoyable or informative, there are many more basic math elements and they do not have the same level of "pay-off" when a problem is solved.
Based on our own research, we have selected an approach that balances making math more interesting (the pay-off) with a strategy to teach the basic math elements in a way that works. We use a program called Simple Solutions, which presents new material in small bits and continually calls back problems from previous lessons. No math skill really makes sense in isolation; our tightly spiraled curriculum ensures that every skill and idea is revisited.
On the national Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) Assessment, Odyssey students scored at the 59th percentile (5th grade) and 53rd percentile (6th grade) in math.
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Fifth grade students learn about cells and human body systems; genetics; matter; weather; energy; ecosystems; and force and motion. Sixth grade students learn about atoms and matter; energy; waves; earth systems; plants; ecosystems; and earth in the universe.
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The focus for fifth grade is the United States. The major topics are: geography (the physical and human characteristics of US regions); economics (scarcity and choice, US markets, and personal budget basics); civics (US government and citizenship); and history (through the Civil Rights Era, historical artifacts, fact vs opinion research).
Meet the Fifth and Sixth grade teachers
Maggie Braswell
Carly Penny
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5/6 English Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher
Maggie Braswell grew up in rural eastern North Carolina and possesses an insatiable creative urge. She finds that teaching combines her natural curiosity with her warm personality and the value she places on relationships. Maggie has a BA in English Language and Literature from UNC Wilmington, was a North Carolina Teaching Fellow, and earned an M.Ed. from Seattle University in 2019. She has worked as a teacher since 2017. Her lifelong passion has been writing and storytelling and she loves sharing her enthusiasm with students.
When she is not at work, you can find Maggie listening to podcasts and audiobooks, hosting potlucks with friends, upcycling thrifted art, biking with Mountain Haulers, journaling, working on a crochet project, or hanging out with her big orange cat named Charros. This summer, Maggie has been cooking up loads of ideas for an arts-integrated, project-based curriculum for this upcoming school year!
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5/6 Math and Science Teacher
Carly Penny grew up in Raleigh, surrounded by artists, inventors, craftspeople, and naturalists. She and her spouse made Asheville their home in 2004. Carly holds a degree in education and minors in music and design as well as a license in gifted education. She has over twenty years of experience as an educator.
She attended UNC Asheville, Meredith College, East Carolina University, and Western Carolina University.
Carly believes that an integral and arts-integrated education is imperative for teaching the whole child and making meaning that lasts. She weaves together best practices in education, in-depth curriculum, the arts, and her students’ interests to design units of study for her students.
Outside of school, Carly spends time with her family belly-laughing, reading on the front porch, and creating works of art at their home in the woods—they call it ‘Camp Art Gallery’.
Some 5/6 Class Updates
Curious? Come on a tour and see what sets us apart.
We would love to answer all of your questions and help you learn if Odyssey is right for your family. Fill out our tour inquiry form and we’ll find the time that’s right for you.
