5th Grade School Projects: Ideas for Parents and Teachers

Getting Ideas for School Projects

As a 5th grade teacher, you probably assign a lot of projects to your students. As a parent, you may find it beneficial to do the same at home. Either way, you can find project ideas by browsing resource books from educational publishers or looking through teacher editions of textbooks. For project ideas, you might find what you're looking for on the Internet. Even as a parent, you can look at bulletin boards and discussion websites for teachers.

In the 5th grade, art, science and English/language arts are the three subjects that are most likely to have projects, even though math and social studies projects can also be helpful. The following are a few ideas to help get you started.

Science Projects

In 5th grade science, it's common for several scientific fields to be covered, from basic chemistry to physics to biology. An example of a chemistry project that you can complete with your class or child is testing the effect that salt has on water's boiling temperature. You'll need distilled water, salt, a cooking pot, a thermometer, a measuring cup and measuring spoons. Measure the temperature at which a certain amount of distilled water boils without salt and record it. Then, try it again with a tablespoon of salt. Keep adding salt to the process and record what happens with your child or students.

Book Reports

A classic way to test a child's reading comprehension, while allowing him or her to improve writing skills, is by assigning a book report. If you're looking for book report project ideas, you can browse online lists, some of which are compiled by 5th grade teachers. It can often help if you allow children to choose books that they are interested in. There are a number of free online book report helpers if needed.

A way to make a book report fun, particularly for artistic kids, can be by adding illustrations. Have your class or child draw pictures of their favorite scenes or characters. For the writing portion, have them divide the report into several sections, such as plot, setting, characters and theme. At the end of a report, have your class or child write their personal opinion of the novel.

Art Projects

Art projects can be a fun and creative outlet for 5th graders. A project that your child or students are likely to enjoy is creating fingerprint portraits. This project is as simple as it sounds. Using non-permanent ink or watercolor, kids create portraits on construction paper using their fingerprints.