Seton Catholic School - Grade 5Thompson at 1740 Summerhill Dr., Lexington, KY 40515 US - Home
Fifth Grade
Meet Our Teachers
Mrs. O’Sullivan is currently in her third year of teaching and her first year at Seton. She attended Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania and earned her BA in Elementary Education (K-6) and Religious Education and Lay Ministry. Prior to teaching at Seton, Mrs. O’Sullivan taught third grade for two years in Dublin, Ohio. She moved to Lexington this past summer after getting married in June. She and her husband are passionate about their Catholic faith and are parishioners at Christ the King Parish in Lexington. Mrs. O’Sullivan loves fostering lifelong learning in her classroom and helping her students grow in their relationships with Christ.
Miss Thompson has been teaching in the Diocese of Lexington for 26 years, the last six being here at Seton Catholic School. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education (1-8) at Brescia College in Owensboro, Kentucky, and her Master of Arts degree in Elementary Education at Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky. She is a certified Catechist and a Kentucky Teacher Internship Program mentor teacher. Miss Thompson is a member of the National Catholic Education Association and Kentucky Science Teachers Association. She nurtures her Catholic faith as a parishioner at Holy Spirit Parish in Lexington, and strives to teach her students to be independent thinkers and learners.
Miss Thompson has been teaching in the Diocese of Lexington for 26 years, the last six being here at Seton Catholic School. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education (1-8) at Brescia College in Owensboro, Kentucky, and her Master of Arts degree in Elementary Education at Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky. She is a certified Catechist and a Kentucky Teacher Internship Program mentor teacher. Miss Thompson is a member of the National Catholic Education Association and Kentucky Science Teachers Association. She nurtures her Catholic faith as a parishioner at Holy Spirit Parish in Lexington, and strives to teach her students to be independent thinkers and learners.
What We Teach
Religion
The spiritual focus in fifth grade is family life, the Trinity, the Church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, the liturgy, sacraments, morality, Catholic Social Teaching, and religious practices. Prayer and scripture are interwoven into our religion class on a daily basis. Our students will also be responsible for planning at least two Masses during the school year.
English
Fifth graders learn and utilize the steps of the writing process and demonstrate this process in their work by having the opportunity to write personal narratives, short stories, poems, research reports, and respond to journal prompts. Part of this includes students taking on the responsibility of editing and revising their own work, as well as setting up personal goals for their writing. The main goal is to write for authentic purposes and audiences, while taking into account and demonstrating the structures and mechanics of the English language.
Reading
In order to cultivate experience and develop a deeper appreciation for a large number of genres and authors, we use a combination of whole literature and our literature-based series from the Houghton Mifflin Textbook. Students participate in “book clubs” and take on different roles in their literature circles. When learning about and building on various strategies, we use an acronym called CAFÉ (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, Expanding vocabulary), which is taken from “The Daily Five Program.” Additionally, students use two of our school wide computer based reading programs: Lexile and Accelerated Reader (A.R.)
Science
The science program for fifth grade focuses on six different categories: physical, life, Earth & space, technology, social perspectives, and the history & nature of science. We use our Houghton Mifflin Textbook, as well as various supplementary materials. The fifth graders have many opportunities for “hands on” experiments in this subject as they learn the importance of designing investigations, making detailed observations, and communicating their discoveries.
Math
We utilize the University of Chicago's Everyday Math program. In this program students use a hands-on, problem-solving approach based on everyday situations, practice basic skills in a variety of engaging ways, and revisit previously learned concepts and repeatedly practice skills encountered earlier. We learn numeration concepts, four basic operations with fractions and integers, geometry, and basic algebra equations.
Social Studies
Utilizing Houghton-Mifflin's Social Studies program, geography concepts and skills are reviewed, and studies continue by exploring the cultures of ancient North and South American Indian tribes, researching explorers to the New World, studying America’s early colonial period, the American and Industrial Revolutions, settlement of the West, and the Civil War and Reconstruction.
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