Funny Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader

Sam has taught first and second graders and enjoys educational games and trivia.

Trivia quizzes can make learning at home or at school even more fun!

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Are YOU Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? is a pop-quiz-style TV game show that can be integrated into your lesson plan at school or played with your kids at home. It can be challenging, but it can also help children of elementary and middle school ages learn a lot about various general-knowledge topics. It is a great encourage students to work on becoming well-rounded, educated world citizens.

The questions and answers in this article span five educational topics (plus a miscellaneous section for extra fun). Each topic is divided into grade levels—first through fifth—so you can play the game with your class or at home like they do on TV.

Trivia Topics in This Article

• History (Grades 1–5)
• English and Literature (Grades 1–5)
• Geography (Grades 1–5)
• Science (Grades 1–5)
• Math (Grades 1–5)
• Miscellaneous

History Questions and Answers

This section consists of history trivia questions and answers based on standard first through fifth-grade curricula.

First Grade

1. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by Native Americans and what other group of people? Pilgrims
2. From which country did Mexico gain its independence in the 19th century? Spain
3. Who invented the lightbulb in 1879? Thomas Edison
4. Which language is the most widely spoken in South America? Spanish
5. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first two men in the entire world to do what? Walk on the moon

Second Grade

1. What are the three branches of the United States government? Legislative, judicial, and executive
2. Which war was fought between the North and South regions in the United States? The Civil War
3. Italy, Japan, and Germany's alliance was called what during WWII? The Axis of Evil
4. What city in the world was the first to be attacked with an atomic bomb? Hiroshima
5. What are the first 10 amendments to the Constitution called? The Bill of Rights

Third Grade

1. What object, beginning with the letter Q, did people write with during the Middle Ages? Quill
2. Julius Caesar was the emperor of what empire? The Roman Empire
3. What is Rosa Parks most famous for? Refusing to give up her seat in the front of the bus
4. The first fireworks were invented in the 7th century in what country? China
5. Name the American president on the half-dollar coin who was assassinated in 1963. John F. Kennedy

Fourth Grade

1. What ancient civilization built the Machu Picchu complex in Peru? The Incas
2. What was the ancient Egyptian writing system called? Hieroglyphics
3. From whom did the United State buy territory in the Louisiana Purchase? Napoleon/France
4. Who wrote the national anthem of the United States of America? Francis Scott Key
5. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought in which war? The Civil War

Fifth Grade

1. What was the name of the last Queen of France? Marie Antoinette
2. The region known as the "Fertile Crescent" is located in the present-day ____. Middle East
3. The modern-day city of Istanbul was known by what name in the 13th century? Constantinople
4. The French and Indian war, which began in 1754, became the North American theater of what worldwide war that lasted from 1756 to 1763? The Seven Years' War
5. In which decade did Hong Kong revert from British rule? The 1990s (1997)

English and Literature Questions Grades 1–5

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English and Literature Questions and Answers

This section consists of English and literature quiz questions and answers based on standard first through fifth-grade curricula.

First Grade

1. The plural of "moose" is ____. Moose
2. How many letters are there in the English alphabet? 26
3. In the story about the boy who cried wolf, what is the lesson? Always tell the truth
4. What is the term for a word that is similar in meaning to another word? Synonym
5. What type of words should always be capitalized? Proper nouns

Second Grade

1. What type of literature features magical creatures such as giants, gnomes, and goblins? Fairy tales
2. Is "red" an adjective or a noun? Both
3. What is the term for a word that has the opposite meaning of another word? Antonym
4. What are the five interrogative or "question" words? Who, what, when, where, and why
5. What are the comparative and superlative forms of the word "big?" Bigger and biggest

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Third Grade

1. The person in a novel who tells the story from a third-person perspective is called a what? The narrator
2. What is the name of the book about a friendship between a spider and a pig named Wilbur? Charlotte's Web
3. Adding conjunctions such as "and" or "but" turns a simple sentence into what type of sentence? Compound sentence
4. Who is the author of James and the Giant Peach? Roald Dahl
5. The main series of events in a story is called a what? The plot

Fourth Grade

1. What is the main character in a story called? The protagonist
2. What type of word is "truthfully?" Adverb
3. In this title, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, what is the last comma called? The Oxford comma (or serial comma)
4. A story conveying a moral lesson is called what? A Fable
5. What do you call a group of crows? A murder

Fifth Grade

1. Who is the creator of the classic book characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn? Mark Twain
2. The words "the," "an," and "a," are known as what in English grammar? Articles
3. Who is the author of the 1960 novel about social and racial inequality To Kill a Mockingbird? Harper Lee
4. Often seen at the end of a sentence, the three trailing dots that indicate the omission from speech or writing of a word (or words) that is superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues are known as ____. An ellipsis
5. What is the name of the most famous English playwright? William Shakespeare

Geography Questions

This section consists of geography trivia questions and answers based on standard first through fifth-grade curricula.

First Grade

1. How many continents are there? Seven
   
2. What country is Paris the capital of? France
3. In which country are the famous Pyramids of Giza? Egypt
4. In what city is the White House located? Washington, D.C.
5. How many states are in the United States of America? 50

Second Grade

1. Which state is called the Lone Star state? Texas
2. In what state is the Grand Canyon located? Arizona
3. What three countries are located in North America? Canada, the United States, and Mexico
4. To travel from New York to London, one must fly over which ocean? The Atlantic Ocean
5. In what country is the famous Taj Mahal located? India

Third Grade

1. What is the longest river in the world? The Amazon
2. On what continent is the country of Greece located? Europe
3. What is the name for a body of land that is completely surrounded by water? An island
4. What is the capital of New York? Albany
5. How many Great Lakes are there in the United States? Four—Michigan-Huron, Superior, Ontario, and Erie

Fourth Grade

1. Where is the largest desert in the world located? Northern Africa (Sahara)
2. How many kingdoms are part of the United Kingdom? Four—England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales
3. Which country is the largest in size? Russia
4. The United States and Mexico are separated by which river? The Rio Grande
5. What is the southernmost continent called? Antarctica

Fifth Grade

1. What is the main language spoken in the Canadian province of Quebec? French
2. Which country is both an island and a continent? Australia
3. What is the name of the sea bordered by Europe to the north and North Africa to the south? The Mediterranean Sea
4. The mountain range that includes Mount Everest is called ____. The Himalayas
5. Imaginary lines traversing the globe from pole to pole are called ____. Meridians

Science Questions and Answers

This section consists of science quiz questions and answers based on standard first through fifth-grade curricula.

First Grade

1. What causes ocean tides? The moon
2. The south pole of a magnet and the north pole of another magnet do what? Stick together
3. What is the force that causes objects to fall to the ground? Gravity
4. A caterpillar changes and grows into what? A butterfly
5. What is the largest internal organ in the human body? The liver

Second Grade

1. What is H2O also known as? Water
2. What gas is in the air we breathe? Oxygen
3. What gas do plants "breathe in" that humans and animals breathe out? Carbon dioxide
4. Earth is located in what galaxy? The Milky Way
5. Bats are mammals. True or false? True

Third Grade

1. What phenomenon might be felt on the Earth's surface when two tectonic plates rub against each other? An earthquake
2. The hardest naturally occurring mineral is ____. Diamond
3. What is the closest planet to the sun? Mercury
4. The process by which plants "eat" and make energy is called ____. P hotosynthesis
5. Does the sun orbit the Earth? No

Fourth Grade

1. What is the part of the eye that controls how much light enters? The pupil
2. What planet is nicknamed the "Red Planet?" Mars
3. Animals that eat only meat are known as ____. Carnivores
4. How long does it take Earth to orbit once around the sun? 365 days
5. What is the freezing point of water? 32°F or 0°C

Fifth Grade

1. The Earth is at least how many billion years old? 4 billion
2. What are the three states of matter? Solid, liquid, and gas
3. The Earth has four layers, the thickest of which is the mantle. What is the thinnest layer called? The crust
4. Animals without backbones are known as ____. Invertebrates
5. What species can live both in water and on land? Amphibians

Mathematics Questions

This section consists of math quiz questions and answers based on standard first through fifth-grade curricula.

First Grade

1. How many face cards are in a regular deck of playing cards? 12
   
2. The first day of the 20th century was ____. January 1, 1901
3. How many states made up the United States before Alaska and Hawaii joined? 48
4. The largest number that can be pronounced with a single syllable is ____. 12
5. You peer through a window into a classroom and count 20 eyes. If each person has a normal number of eyes, how many people are in the room? 10

Second Grade

1. What is the area of a triangle with a height of 4 and a width of 4? 8
2. Solve the following equation: 3 + 2 / 1 = ____? 5
3. On a class field trip, there are 4 buses taking 36 students to the zoo. Each bus carries the same number of students. How many students are on each bus? 9
4. Two dozen kittens and three dozen puppies get adopted from the shelter. How many animals were adopted? 60
5. What number is the Roman numeral XVI? 16

Third Grade

1. When writing out a fraction, the numbers above and below the vinculum are called the ____. Numerator and denominator
2. To the nearest multiple of 10, how many kilograms of cheese are in 110 pounds of cheese? 50
3. If a shopping cart contains 1 apple, 2 bananas, 3 oranges, and 4 hot dogs, what percent of the cart's total contents is fruit? 60%
4. If the first person takes 25% of the cake, and the second person takes 20% of the remainder, how much of the original cake remains? 60%
5. How many grams are in a thousand kilograms? One million

Fourth Grade

1. If a train leaves the station and travels at 60 kilometers per hour, how much time will have passed when it arrives at a station 300 kilometers away? 5 hours (or 300 minutes)
2. The interior angles of a triangle always add up to ____. 180 degrees
3. A farmer notices that every day for the past 10 days, the number of pigeons in his field has doubled. There are 1024 pigeons in the field today, and there were 2 pigeons there the first day. How many pigeons were there yesterday? 512
4. You have 20 pairs of shoes, but there is only room in your closet for 8 shoes. How many shoes do you have to get rid of? 32 shoes (or 16 pairs)
5. Solve the following equation: 5 + 3 * 4 / 2 - 1 = ____? 10

Fifth Grade

1. A hexagon has how many sides? Six
   
2. A father has 7 daughters and 100 dollars. If he wants to give each daughter an equal amount of money, rounding to the nearest dollar, how much much does each daughter get? 14 dollars
3. If a football field is 100 yards long, how many feet long is the football field? 300 feet
4. You collect 48 pieces of Halloween candy. Your parents say you can eat 2 pieces per day, plus an extra piece on Saturdays and Sundays. How many weeks will it take to finish all of your candy? 3 weeks
5. Solve the following equation: (2 * 4)/(5 + 3 - 1)⁰ = ____. 8

Miscellaneous Questions for All Ages and Grades

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Miscellaneous Questions and Answers for All Ages and Grades

1. An insect has six legs. How many legs does a spider have? Eight
   
2. The red-shelled insect often known as a "ladybug" or "ladybird" is in fact a type of ____. Beetle
3. Other than water, the most-consumed beverage in the world is ____. Tea
4. Although it is acceptable to refer to a peanut as a nut, it is more accurately described as a ____. Legume
5. What is the primary difference between ocean water and tap water? Salt
6. Which of the Earth's four layers is liquid? The outer core
7. The most famous fault line in California is the ____. San Andreas
8. A pound cake traditionally contains a pound of which four ingredients? Flour, butter, eggs, and sugar
9. The most important article in a newspaper is usually found above the ____. Fold
10. How many months in the calendar year have exactly 30 days? Four
    
11. Opposite angles in a parallelogram are called ____. Complementary
12. When an item's copyright expires, the right to reproduce it passes into the ____. Public Domain
13. The deepest part of the world's ocean is found in ____. The Mariana Trench
14. a² + b² = c² is known as the ____. Pythagorean Theorem
15. What is the minimum age for a U.S. president? 35
    
16. Mary has to walk 1 mile north to school and 1 mile south back from school. One day, instead of walking home after school, Mary walks 2 miles east and 1 mile south to the store. In which direction does Mary have to walk to get home from the store? West
17. How do you abbreviate pound and pounds? lb. and lbs.
18. What sorts of measurements can be found on a standard American ruler? Feet, inches, centimeters, and millimeters
19. Bricks used as building materials are traditionally made of ____. Clay
20. The energy of a moving object is also called ____. Kinetic energy
21. A gallon of water weighs how many pounds? 8 pounds
22. A machine that could work indefinitely without an energy source would also be known as a ____. Perpetual motion machine
23. Bronze is formed by combining two other metals: copper and tin. Another word for a compound like bronze is ____. Alloy
24. What is the name of the positively charged subatomic particle that appears in the nucleus of all atoms? Proton
25. In Einstein's famous E = MC², what do the letters stand for? E stands for energy, M stands for mass, and C stands for the speed of light

More Fun Quizzes, Games, and Trivia Resources

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This content is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Nancilynn Doner on August 04, 2020:

Yes I smart

Leslie besas on August 01, 2020:

give me a lesson

Olivia M on July 19, 2020:

Smarter than 5th i am fourth

E on July 17, 2020:

I'm so confused for some reason

GLORY on July 12, 2020:

HOW CAN I START THE QUIZ

Reba on July 04, 2020:

The largest desert is in antartica

D.K. on June 11, 2020:

First grade math #5 normal number of eyes. Haha. 3 eyed people.

D.K. on June 11, 2020:

A lot of the info is wrong, but I still enjoyed the questions. Some questions had answers that could be better. Like the Mark Twain one. Samuel Clemens went under the pseudonym Mark Twain. So Samuel Clemens instead of Mark Twain wrote the book. Just sayin'.

ABCD on May 14, 2020:

Great ideas. Thank you for sharing!

TechnoIndia on May 01, 2020:

Nice information.

me on April 20, 2020:

Great trivia up there^^. I LOST THE GAME!

Mike Oxlong on April 19, 2020:

yell my first and last name ill make your day :)

Rachel fox on April 15, 2020:

the longest river is in fact the Nile, NOT THE Amazon.

Stace on April 11, 2020:

I did not finish 5th grade

Brittany Carrigon on April 07, 2020:

The largest organ INSIDE the body people... Not OUTSIDE of your body.

Dave Gonzalez on April 03, 2020:

High school football football game is on my way to work

plushy kitty on March 31, 2020:

i dont know any of this stuff because i did not finish the 5 grade because of the corona virus!!!!!!!!

Ian Kabra on March 24, 2020:

everything right

#genius

Justin on March 02, 2020:

Largest desert is Antarctica

me on February 26, 2020:

really kinda bad, many errors

Laree on February 26, 2020:

Thank you so much for the helpful resource!

Carter on February 25, 2020:

The largest organ in the human body is the skin, not the liver. Pshhhh

Jj on February 08, 2020:

Nice very nice

Lily on February 07, 2020:

I love the show

abby on February 04, 2020:

who else is reading this in VPC at school on Tuesday Feb 4 at 11:22 am for a presentation with your partner who doesn't know what a trivia question is.

Melissa Goh on January 27, 2020:

Largest organ is skin not liver

Lambert on January 24, 2020:

Hi there

Bala boobybaly on January 15, 2020:

Who is reading this in 2020 January

Hi on January 07, 2020:

V good

taty on January 01, 2020:

whos reading at 6:11 AM january 1st in 2020

Amy gunzolas on December 20, 2019:

The first people to come to america were omish, spell, amish poblo indians and the ate corn meal, made with corn salks, ground with bones and a morter.

Pigeon on December 06, 2019:

This isn't even things I learned in elementary

djjdjdjd on November 28, 2019:

Hope your not that smart if you can't spell so

Hope on November 27, 2019:

I an eo smart

Jayce on November 16, 2019:

My grandfather is dummer than a 5th grader

Pakito on November 14, 2019:

antartica is bigger than the sahara

niii on November 14, 2019:

they didn't even teach us this in elementary.lmao

Maya on November 06, 2019:

Who is reading this in 2019

Viv on November 02, 2019:

Yeah... In fact the Nile River was declared longer than the Amazon.... Overall I liked these questions

Librarian on September 21, 2019:

For any wondering, the Axis Powers of WWII were never named the "Axis of Evil."

Amy on September 13, 2019:

In your Pythagorean Theorem question (Potpourri, #14), the 2's should all be raised and written in a smaller font in order to indicate that they are exponents. And, in #5 in the 5th grade math section, doesn't the 0 exponent at the end make the entire mathematical statement undefined?

Joshua on August 02, 2019:

The Nile is longer than the amazon

Mckenna on July 27, 2019:

I am definitely not that smart i dont pay attention in school im going into sixth grade and i didn't learn all that stuff in school.

divya on July 10, 2019:

true or false The Trachea is part of the skeletal system

Hayden on June 29, 2019:

I'm am a 9th grader and I am happy I got them all

madisonpowers on June 24, 2019:

I like to see the show today.

Nahomy on June 13, 2019:

I am a fifth grader and I got all of them correct

MinieAngel on June 04, 2019:

unless there really smart you know your smarter. No a fence.

Megan on May 30, 2019:

I hate 5th grade my mom is smarter than me

David Boaz on May 19, 2019:

Julius Caesar was pronounced Dictator of Rome and was never an Emperor

Edlyn on March 18, 2019:

The earth has lasted for 4 million years

Henritta Gomez on March 11, 2019:

The Earth is at least 5 billion years old...

Isaac Garmo on January 11, 2019:

The largest island is actually Greenland. Australia isn't an island. An island has to be equal to or smaller than a sub-continent.

taeryn hallman on December 18, 2018:

i have thought that for the longest time that the nile was the world's longest river but this quiz that my sister used on me so that i would not see the answers i was proven wrong and educated bruh

sautros on November 11, 2018:

two errors in this quiz:

Which country is both an island and a continent? Australia

incorrect... Australia isn't a continent. Australasia was the previous name of the continent, now Oceania.

And the biggest ordan in the human body isn't the liver. Your skin is an organ and is widely regarded as the largest.

geeiver1990.blogspot.com

Source: https://wehavekids.com/education/are-you-smarter-than-a-fifth-grader-questions

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