Fifth grade students may think 100 books sounds like a lot, but this activity will show them that they've probably already reached -- and surpassed -- this number of books in their lives! Do this activity as a class or have each student cut out their own 100 small paper rectangles. Let them fold each piece of paper in half to resemble a small book and arrange them on a large poster board. Number and title each "book" and share the results.
This is a fun group activity for a classroom. Pick several newspaper articles from the daily paper or an online version and cut the title away from the article itself. Arrange the titles on one side of a large table or desk, and place the articles in random order on the other side. Have the students race against each other to see which group can read through the titles and articles and match them up first.
Fifth grade students may read aloud a lot, but they may be hesitant to practice this skill. In this activity, students will write to convey their emotions and strengthen their public speaking skills. Break students up into pairs or small groups. Give each group 15 to 20 minutes to write a commercial script that revolves around a certain emotion, like excitement, happiness, seriousness or sadness. Invite each group up to act out their script. Perform the activity again, this time choosing a different emotion.
Put a fifth grade twist on a classic party game with this fun activity designed around storybook characters. Write a name of a different classic book character like Harry Potter or Snow White in a stack of sticky notes, and stick one to each student's forehead. Students will then use clues from the story to describe the character on their partner's note to the partner. The game ends when each student has guessed who they are supposed to be.