Grade 5 · Typically 10–11 · Schoolwork and help at home
Using AI honestly
Students learn how to get help with schoolwork and with life at home without letting AI do the work for them.
By the end of Grade 5, a student can write down what AI help is allowed on an assignment, follow a claim to a real source, keep their own words in a draft that used AI, explain an idea without AI, and label a picture as a photo or as something AI made.
Unit 1 · Weeks 1–5
Honest schoolwork
Question for the unit. When is AI help like a calculator, and when is it like copying?
Honesty means the student can say what they were allowed to ask, what they changed, and what they can still explain. Help that is not named becomes cheating a little at a time.
- Past
- Answer keys in the back of the book, older brothers and sisters, and paid tutors are not new. Naming the help is the skill.
- Now
- A finished-sounding paragraph can appear in the same minutes the student was supposed to do the work.
- Future
- Schools will keep changing the rules. Students who can describe what they did will be able to follow the new rules.
The rule. If AI did the thinking, the student doesn't own the knowledge, and putting their name on the paper is a lie. Calculators didn't end math. They changed what the student has to show.
End-of-unit project. My school honesty rules — A signed set of rules, plus a plan for one real upcoming assignment. The student uses the plan again during the year.
Week 1 · Introduction
35% of class doing the work
What kind of help is this?
- Students do
- Students restate the school's honesty rule in their own words. They compare a calculator, a tutor, a copied paragraph, and an essay written by AI.
- Students make
- A four-column chart of kinds of help.
- What can go wrong
- The rule is so strict that nobody can ask for anything, or so loose that anything is allowed. Neither one is the rule.
Week 2 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
Turn a copied assignment into an honest one
- Students do
- Students take a prepared assignment that was done dishonestly and rebuild it as an honest path: think, draft, allowed help, check, and say what AI did.
- Students make
- A before-and-after plan.
- What can go wrong
- This is a design task. It is not a chance to shame a student.
Week 3 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
A real upcoming assignment
- Students do
- Students use Honesty Workflow on a real assignment from another class. They follow that teacher's allowed uses if they know them. If they do not know, they use the stricter default: AI may not write the work.
- Students make
- A one-page plan.
- What can go wrong
- Students invent permission the teacher did not give.
Week 4 · Making
90% of class doing the work
Write the rules
- Students do
- Students draft their own honesty rules. A classmate looks for a loophole, such as 'just this sentence.' Then they sign the rules.
- Students make
- Signed rules.
- What can go wrong
- Rules that only restrict other people. The rules have to restrict the student who signed them.
Week 5 · Presentation
70% of class doing the work
Rules on the wall
- Students do
- Two students read their rules aloud. The class agrees on a shared minimum. Each student keeps their own rules.
- Students make
- A class minimum, plus each student's rules.
- What can go wrong
- A wall of words that nobody uses in week six. The rules have to show up on the next assignment.
Unit 2 · Weeks 6–10
Checking sources
Question for the unit. Who said this, and how would I know if they were wrong?
Search, chat, books, and people do different jobs. A chat window may help a student ask a question. It is not where the answer should come from. A trail of sources is better than a pile of links.
- Past
- Card catalogs, encyclopedias, and a librarian who asked what the student was actually trying to find.
- Now
- A paragraph can include a citation that points nowhere.
- Future
- There will be more made-up sources. Students will need the catalog and a person even more.
The rule. A made-up source fails the work. Passing it on is not a small technical mistake. It is a false report.
End-of-unit project. Short report with a trail of sources — A short report. Each claim has a Source Trail. AI may help the student write questions. AI may not supply the answers.
Week 6 · Introduction
35% of class doing the work
Four ways to look something up
- Students do
- Students take the same question and name four methods: search, chat, a book, and a person. They predict what each method is good for.
- Students make
- A job card for each method.
- What can go wrong
- Students declare one method the winner forever. Each method has a job.
Week 7 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
Three sources, one question
- Students do
- Students run the same question through three real sources. They compare them and note where they disagree.
- Students make
- A comparison table.
- What can go wrong
- Students stop at the first paragraph that sounds finished.
Week 8 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
The planted article
- Students do
- Students use Source Trail to hunt for fake citations in a prepared article. A catalog or a librarian confirms whether each source exists.
- Students make
- A hunt log.
- What can go wrong
- Students skip the confirmation because the citation looks like a real academic source.
Week 9 · Making
90% of class doing the work
Questions, not answers
- Students do
- Students write the short report. AI may suggest questions. Answers come from sources they can follow. They write down what they did and what AI did.
- Students make
- A report draft and the trail of sources.
- What can go wrong
- Students paste a literature review that AI wrote.
Week 10 · Review
75% of class doing the work
A partner follows the trail
- Students do
- A partner tries to follow each source. If the trail breaks, the student rebuilds it.
- Students make
- The final report.
- What can go wrong
- A trail that only the author can follow. Someone else has to be able to check it.
Unit 3 · Weeks 11–15
Writing with AI help
Question for the unit. How do I keep my own wording if AI can finish my sentences?
The order is: think, outline, draft, get comments, and rewrite it yourself. The student's own wording is evidence that a person did the work. Reading it aloud is part of the grade.
- Past
- Editors, teachers writing in the margin, and older brothers or sisters who 'fixed it' until it was no longer yours.
- Now
- Many AI tools share a similar wording, and it is tempting to skip the first draft.
- Future
- Readers will get better at hearing that default wording. Writers need to hear it too.
The rule. A draft that used AI is honest only if the student writes down what AI did, and can still say the words out loud. If they can't explain it without AI, they don't own the knowledge.
End-of-unit project. A true story, with a record — A story of a real event. The student writes down each step, compares the wording with their earlier writing, and reads it aloud.
Week 11 · Introduction
35% of class doing the work
Five steps for writing with help
- Students do
- Students walk through brainstorm, outline, draft, comments, and rewrite. They mark where AI may help. AI may comment. AI may not write the first sentences of a personal story.
- Students make
- A bookmark with the five steps.
- What can go wrong
- Students start in the chat box instead of writing the first sentences themselves.
Week 12 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
Three versions, one room
- Students do
- The class reads unlabeled paragraphs: written only by AI, written only by a student, and written by a student with help. They rate whether it sounds like a particular student, not how polished it looks. Then the teacher says which is which.
- Students make
- A ratings sheet.
- What can go wrong
- Students always prefer the most polished paragraph, even when it is not the student's.
Week 13 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
Compare your wording
- Students do
- Students use Voice Meter on a paragraph they already wrote this year and on an AI 'improvement.' They mark where the two sound the same.
- Students make
- The two paragraphs, with the matching parts marked.
- What can go wrong
- Students use the tool to accuse a classmate of cheating. It is a writing tool, not a way to accuse someone.
Week 14 · Making
90% of class doing the work
Write the story
- Students do
- Students write a personal story. The first sentences are theirs. If they use AI, they use it as a critic. They log every pass.
- Students make
- The draft and the log.
- What can go wrong
- A log written after the work is done, instead of while the student is doing it.
Week 15 · Presentation
70% of class doing the work
Read it aloud
- Students do
- Reading aloud is how the student shows the work is theirs. Listeners ask one question about a choice in the story. If the student can't explain it without AI, they don't own the knowledge.
- Students make
- The story, spoken.
- What can go wrong
- Students skip the reading because the page looks finished. The page is not the proof.
Unit 4 · Weeks 16–20
Explaining math and science
Question for the unit. If I can't explain it without AI, do I know it?
In math and science, AI may explain an idea. It may not give the answer for the student to turn in. The test is whether the student can teach the idea without AI. In an investigation, the student collects the data. AI doesn't invent it.
- Past
- Answer keys, worked examples, and a parent who 'just told you.'
- Now
- A worked solution can be wrong in a way that still looks believable.
- Future
- The solvers will get better. The need to check them grows. It does not shrink.
The rule. Turning in an answer you cannot teach is claiming knowledge you do not have.
End-of-unit project. A small investigation — A small science or math investigation. The student collects the data. AI may only be used for background questions. The student explains it at the board without notes from AI.
Week 16 · Introduction
35% of class doing the work
Ask for an explanation, not the answer
- Students do
- Students take the same problem and write two requests: 'what is the answer' and 'what is a way to think about this.' They label which one is allowed.
- Students make
- The two requests, labeled allowed or not allowed.
- What can go wrong
- Students say they are 'just checking' when they are really asking AI for the answer.
Week 17 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
Explain it without AI
- Students do
- Students use Explain-Back. They get an explanation, hide it, and teach it to a classmate. If they can't teach it, they go back and learn it. They do not copy the AI wording.
- Students make
- A recording of the explanation, or a classmate's sign-off.
- What can go wrong
- Students memorize AI's wording instead of understanding the idea.
Week 18 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
It looks finished, and it is wrong
- Students do
- Students hunt for errors in prepared 'solutions' that look complete. They name the clue that showed the error.
- Students make
- An error-hunt sheet.
- What can go wrong
- Students stop looking when the steps look official. Official-looking steps can still be wrong.
Week 19 · Making
90% of class doing the work
Collect the data yourself
- Students do
- Students run a small investigation. They measure, count, or test something real. They may ask AI background questions. They may not ask AI for the data.
- Students make
- An investigation notebook.
- What can go wrong
- Data that AI made up. That is fiction, not an investigation.
Week 20 · Presentation
70% of class doing the work
Explain it at the board
- Students do
- Students explain the investigation without AI. Classmates ask questions. If the student needs a hidden tab, they don't own the knowledge.
- Students make
- A spoken explanation.
- What can go wrong
- Students read AI's summary from a hidden tab.
Unit 5 · Weeks 21–25
Pictures that may not be real
Question for the unit. Why is 'I saw it' no longer enough?
People have edited images for a long time. AI pictures break the old habit of treating a photo as proof. Students make labeled AI pictures so they can ask other people to label theirs.
- Past
- Darkrooms, airbrushing, and photo software. A picture was already something that could be changed.
- Now
- A picture of something that never happened can appear in seconds.
- Future
- Video and voice will join pictures. Students need to ask 'how was this made?' as a habit.
The rule. No unlabeled fakes of real people, especially classmates. Any likeness needs permission.
End-of-unit project. Ask how it was made — A hallway poster, plus a labeled pair: a photo and an AI picture of the same still life. Never a person's face.
Week 21 · Introduction
35% of class doing the work
Pictures used to be treated as proof
- Students do
- Students hear a short history of edited images. They say what a photograph used to be trusted to prove, and why that trust is now a choice.
- Students make
- A timeline: darkroom, photo software, AI picture.
- What can go wrong
- Students either pretend pictures were always perfectly true, or they pretend nothing has changed. Both are wrong. Editing is old. AI pictures are faster and harder to spot.
Week 22 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
The gallery
- Students do
- Students use Real-or-Rendered on a prepared set. They argue, then the teacher reveals the answers. They write down which clues worked.
- Students make
- A notebook of clues.
- What can go wrong
- The class turns it into a trick game and never writes down a method they can use again.
Week 23 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
Make one and label it
- Students do
- Students photograph a still life. They make a clearly labeled AI picture of the same objects. They put the two side by side.
- Students make
- A labeled pair.
- What can go wrong
- Pictures of people. This week is still lifes and objects only.
Week 24 · Making
90% of class doing the work
The poster
- Students do
- Students design a hallway poster: Ask how it was made. The poster has to teach a check. It is not only a warning.
- Students make
- A poster draft.
- What can go wrong
- A scare poster that does not tell the reader what to do.
Week 25 · Presentation
70% of class doing the work
Hallway gallery
- Students do
- Students hang the pairs and the posters. Younger students try the gallery with a Grade 5 guide.
- Students make
- A public gallery.
- What can go wrong
- Unlabeled AI pictures leaving the room.
Unit 6 · Weeks 26–30
Using AI at home
Question for the unit. What is a useful set of instructions for my life, without tricking anyone?
Personal use is allowed: practice, organizing, planning, and hobbies. It is not a way around family rules, and it is not a way to fake a message from you.
- Past
- Chore lists, recipe boxes, and a parent's advice on how to practice.
- Now
- A plan can appear in seconds, including a plan that hides what the student was asked to do.
- Future
- More tools will act for a person. The line that says what the instructions must not be used for will matter more.
The rule. Do not use AI to lie to family. In this grade, an adult checks the instructions.
End-of-unit project. One useful set of instructions — One Prompt Recipe Book card for a real task. The student runs it at least twice, improves it after it fails, and an adult checks it.
Week 26 · Introduction
35% of class doing the work
Help, or hide
- Students do
- Students sort personal uses: a practice schedule, a collection catalog, a fake excuse, and a trick message. They mark keep or do not keep.
- Students make
- A keep / do-not-keep chart.
- What can go wrong
- Students treat all home use as harmless. Some of it is a lie.
Week 27 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
Write the instructions
- Students do
- Students write instructions for a real task they have. The card names the purpose, the limits, and what it must not be used for.
- Students make
- Instruction card, version 1.
- What can go wrong
- A task the student does not actually have, invented to please the assignment.
Week 28 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
Run it, then fix what failed
- Students do
- Students run the instructions. They write down what went wrong. They improve the card.
- Students make
- Instruction card, version 2, plus the log.
- What can go wrong
- Students call the first neat plan a success before they have tried it.
Week 29 · Making
90% of class doing the work
An adult checks it
- Students do
- Students take the card to an adult at home or at school. They revise it from the adult's note. They prepare for the fair.
- Students make
- A checked card.
- What can go wrong
- Students skip the adult because the card looks done.
Week 30 · Presentation
70% of class doing the work
Useful instructions fair
- Students do
- Visitors may try a set of instructions on a sample task. The author says out loud what the instructions must not be used for.
- Students make
- A public card.
- What can go wrong
- Instructions that still hide a shortcut.
Unit 7 · Weeks 31–35
Unfair patterns in AI answers
Question for the unit. If AI learned from an unfair set of examples, what does it repeat?
A stereotype is a pattern, not the truth about a person. AI will repeat the average of what it was shown. Students check that pattern, and then ask for a wider range of people.
- Past
- Textbooks, ads, and casting already carried these patterns.
- Now
- Those patterns are repeated so often that they can look like a fact of nature.
- Future
- The checks can get better. The tools will not be perfect. Noticing the pattern is still a person's job.
The rule. We do not publish these checks as a way to mock people. We publish them as evidence about tools.
End-of-unit project. Fairness check — A one-page report: what we asked, what AI repeated, how we changed the request, and what still failed.
Week 31 · Introduction
35% of class doing the work
A pattern is not the truth about a person
- Students do
- Students name a stereotype without aiming it at a classmate. They separate 'what we often see' from 'what is true of a person.'
- Students make
- A two-column chart.
- What can go wrong
- The lesson becomes a fight between children. Keep it on the tool.
Week 32 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
Ask for 'a scientist'
- Students do
- Students use Stereotype Spotlight on prepared requests that are appropriate for this age: scientist, nurse, leader, inventor. They tally the results. They do not generate harmful content.
- Students make
- A tally sheet.
- What can go wrong
- Students treat one output as the final truth about a group of people.
Week 33 · Practice
90% of class doing the work
Ask for a wider range
- Students do
- Students rewrite the request so it asks for a wider range of people. They compare the results and note what still clusters.
- Students make
- A note on the rewritten request.
- What can go wrong
- Students think a clever request fixes the world. It only changes this answer.
Week 34 · Making
90% of class doing the work
Write the check
- Students do
- Students write the one-page fairness check, including what they will watch for during the rest of the year.
- Students make
- A draft of the check.
- What can go wrong
- A lecture at the reader. The page has to report what the class actually saw.
Week 35 · Review
75% of class doing the work
What we will keep watching
- Students do
- Classmates review the checks. The class adopts a watch-list for later units: images, stories, and ads.
- Students make
- A class watch-list.
- What can go wrong
- A list that never appears again. Post it where later units will see it.
Unit 8 · Weeks 36–40
Teaching a younger student
Question for the unit. Can I teach a younger student how to ask a good question and check the answer?
A skill is real when the student can teach it. Grade 5 students design a ten-minute lesson for a Grade 4 student or a family member. The lesson has a good question, a demonstration, and a check.
- Past
- Apprentices taught the next apprentice.
- Now
- Homework has changed in five years. Students should be able to say how.
- Future
- They will keep teaching people who meet these tools later than they did.
The rule. Do not teach a shortcut you would not use under your own honesty rules.
End-of-unit project. A ten-minute lesson — A lesson the student actually teaches. It includes a required step where the learner checks the answer, a rehearsal, and a written note on how homework changed: past, now, and next.
Week 36 · Introduction
35% of class doing the work
What is worth teaching?
- Students do
- Students pick one Grade 4 skill: checking a guess, spotting private information, or telling a clear instruction from a wish. They write the ten-minute plan.
- Students make
- A lesson outline.
- What can go wrong
- A lecture. The younger student has to do something.
Week 37 · Making
90% of class doing the work
Build the lesson
- Students do
- Students use Lesson Kit: a question, a demonstration, and a check. The materials have to work without the younger student's home account.
- Students make
- Lesson, version 1.
- What can go wrong
- The lesson depends on an open public chatbot. Grade 4 does not use one.
Week 38 · Making
90% of class doing the work
Rehearse
- Students do
- Students teach a classmate who is playing Grade 4. They time it. They check the lesson against their honesty rules.
- Students make
- Lesson, version 2.
- What can go wrong
- The lesson runs long and the student cuts the check. The check stays.
Week 39 · Presentation
90% of class doing the work
Teach it
- Students do
- Students teach Grade 4 students or families. They collect one piece of evidence that the learner checked an answer.
- Students make
- The taught lesson, plus the evidence.
- What can go wrong
- Students perform for the teacher instead of teaching the child.
Week 40 · Review
70% of class doing the work
Homework then, now, and next
- Students do
- Students write how homework changed: past, now, and what may come next. They look at their honesty rules again and change them if they need to.
- Students make
- A year reflection and the updated rules.
- What can go wrong
- A future that only says homework will be 'easier.' Easier is not the goal. The student still has to know the work.
Tools in this year
- Prompt Kitchen
Students turn a vague request into clear instructions: what to include, what steps to follow, what limits to set, and how to check the result.
- Honesty Workflow
Turns an assignment into a path the student is allowed to follow: think, draft, check, and say where a tool helped.
- Source Trail
A research notebook that will not accept a claim unless the student names a source that exists.
- Voice Meter
Compares writing the student has already done with an AI draft, and marks where they sound the same.
- Explain-Back
The student gets an explanation, closes it, and teaches it. The tool stays closed until the student’s own explanation is written.
- Real-or-Rendered
A gallery where students cannot treat a picture as proof, and where they must label any picture they make with AI.
- Prompt Recipe Book
A personal set of useful, honest instructions for real tasks, checked by an adult.
- Stereotype Spotlight
Students check what a tool repeats when they ask for “a scientist,” and then ask it to show a wider range of people.
- Lesson Kit
A builder for a 10-minute lesson: a question, a demonstration, and a check. Grade 5 uses it when they teach Grade 4.