What a 5th grader learns in math and reading

5th grade · the Common Core skills, in plain words · updated 2026-11-02

This is the whole list: 26 math skills and 18 reading skills a 5th grader is expected to learn, with the Common Core code next to each one. In math, 5th grade is mostly numbers in base ten, fractions, measurement and data. In reading, the weight is on language and literature.

Math: 5th grade

Operations and algebraic thinking

• What comes first 5.OA.A.1 — Brackets first. Then times, before plus or minus.
• Words to expressions 5.OA.A.2 — The part you do first goes in brackets.
• Two patterns 5.OA.B.3 — How many steps did A take? B takes the same number of steps.

Numbers in base ten

• Ten times, a tenth 5.NBT.A.1 — One place left is ten times. One place right is a tenth.
• Times and divide by 10s 5.NBT.A.2 — Each 10 moves the digits one place. Times goes bigger, divide goes smaller.
• Decimals to thousandths 5.NBT.A.3 — Line up the dots. Compare one place at a time from the left.
• Rounding decimals 5.NBT.A.4 — Find the place. Look one digit to its right.
• Multiplying big numbers 5.NBT.B.5 — Multiply by the ones, then by the tens, then add.
• Dividing by two digits 5.NBT.B.6 — Guess how many times it fits, check by multiplying, adjust.
• Working with decimals 5.NBT.B.7 — Adding or taking away? Line up the dots. Times? Multiply, then count the digits after the dots.

Fractions

• Adding fractions 5.NF.A.1 — You cannot add them until the bottom numbers are the same.
• Fraction stories 5.NF.A.2 — Make the bottoms match first, then add.
• Fractions as division 5.NF.B.3 — 3 ÷ 4 is 3 shared by 4: each gets 3/4.
• Multiplying fractions 5.NF.B.4 — Top times top, bottom times bottom. Then simplify.
• Bigger or smaller 5.NF.B.5 — Times a fraction less than 1 makes it smaller. More than 1 makes it bigger.
• Fraction times stories 5.NF.B.6 — "Of" means times. Half of 3/4 is 3/4 × 1/2.
• Dividing with unit fractions 5.NF.B.7 — How many halves fit in one? Two. So divide by a half means times 2.

Measurement and data

• Metric units 5.MD.A.1 — Meters to cm is times 100. Kilo means 1000.
• Line plots with liters 5.MD.B.2 — Count in quarter liters. Four quarters make a liter.
• Cubic units 5.MD.C.3 — Each cube is one cubic unit. Count a layer, then the layers.
• Counting cubes 5.MD.C.4 — Count one layer. Then count by that number for each layer.
• Volume 5.MD.C.5 — Volume is length times width times height.

Geometry

• The coordinate grid 5.G.A.1 — x goes across, y goes up.
• Points in a story 5.G.A.2 — Find both points on the grid. Count the squares between them.
• What a shape always is 5.G.B.3 — A square has everything a rectangle has, and more.
• Shape families 5.G.B.4 — Check the sides first, then the corners.

Reading: 5th grade

Reading foundations

• Roots in long words RF.5.3a — Latin and Greek roots help you read and understand long words.

Language

• Kinds of joining words L.5.1a — and, but, or join equals. because, although, until join a reason to a sentence.
• Perfect tenses L.5.1b — has walked, had walked, will have walked: an action finished before another time.
• Keeping the tense L.5.1d — Stay in one time. Do not jump from past to present.
• Pairs of joining words L.5.1e — either goes with or. neither goes with nor. both goes with and.
• Commas after openers L.5.2b — A comma goes after an opening word or phrase: After lunch, we played.
• Titles of works L.5.2d — Big works like books get italics or underlining. Small works like poems get quotation marks.
• Context clues L.5.4a — The sentence around the word gives you the meaning.
• Greek and Latin roots L.5.4b — Know the root, know the word.
• Figurative language L.5.5a — What picture is the writer painting with words?
• Idioms and sayings L.5.5b — A saying gives advice in a few words.
• Word relationships L.5.5c — How are the two words related: same, opposite, or part of?

Literature

• Theme and summary RL.5.2 — A summary tells the main events in order. The theme is what they teach.
• Comparing characters RL.5.3 — How are the two characters alike? How are they different?
• Narrator and point of view RL.5.6 — How does who tells the story change what we know?

Informational text

• Main ideas RI.5.2 — A text can have more than one main idea. Find the details that go with each.
• Text structure RI.5.5 — Chronology, comparison, cause and effect, or problem and solution?
• Reasons and evidence RI.5.8 — Which reason does this piece of evidence support?

Reading practice includes 30 short texts at this level, among them 6 science and 6 history passages, with questions that check understanding.

How Teach Me uses this list

The check asks a few questions from this grade and the ones around it to find where your child really is, which is often not the grade on the door. Each day's set then comes from the skills they have not got yet. A skill counts as known when they get it right on their own, more than once. Parents see which skills are open and which are solid, and can point the practice at any topic above.

Teach Me is free. It follows the Common Core State Standards for math and English language arts; high school math follows California's traditional pathway (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Precalculus).

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