5th Grade ELA (Colorado Academic Standards)

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

• RWC.5.1.1 Take part in group discussions with different goals and situations. (being checked)
  • 1. Listen to peers and form your own opinions.
  • 2. Join a range of discussions with different partners, building on others' ideas and sharing your own clearly.
  • 2.a. Prepare by reading or studying material and draw on it in discussion.
  • 2.b. Follow agreed discussion rules and carry out assigned roles.
  • 2.c. Ask and answer focused questions, expanding on others' remarks.
  • 2.d. Sum up key points and draw conclusions from the discussion.
  • 3. Summarize a read-aloud text or information presented in different media. (being checked)
  • 4. Summarize a speaker's points and explain the reasons and evidence for each claim.
• RWC.5.1.2 Give talks that share opinions, persuade or inform. (being checked)
  • 1. Report on a topic or give an opinion in logical order with facts and descriptive details.
  • 2. Make eye contact and speak clearly at an understandable pace.
  • 3. Add graphics, sound or visuals when they help explain main ideas.
  • 4. Adapt speech to different settings and tasks.
  • 5. Match language to the purpose: persuading, explaining or giving an opinion.

Standard 2: Reading for All Purposes

• RWC.5.2.1 Use strategies to interpret and analyze different kinds of literary texts. (being checked)
  • 1. Use pre-reading strategies such as setting a purpose, predicting, previewing and recalling prior knowledge.
  • 2. Key ideas and details
  • 2.a. Quote accurately from the text when explaining what it says and when inferring.
  • 2.b. Use details to find the theme of a story, play or poem and summarize it.
  • 2.c. Compare characters' perspectives, settings or events using specific details.
  • 3. Craft and structure
  • 3.a. Work out word and phrase meanings, including metaphors and similes.
  • 3.b. Explain how chapters, scenes or stanzas fit together to build a text's structure.
  • 3.c. Describe how the narrator's or speaker's viewpoint affects the way events are told.
  • 3.d. Find evidence to back opinions, predictions, inferences and the author's message.
  • 4. Integration of knowledge and ideas
  • 4.a. Analyze how visuals and multimedia add to a text's meaning, tone or beauty.
  • 4.b. Compare stories in the same genre for how they handle similar themes.
  • 4.c. Use literary devices such as imagery, rhythm or foreshadowing to understand texts.
  • 5. Range of reading and text complexity
  • 5.a. By year's end, read literature at the top of the grades 4–5 band independently.
• RWC.5.2.2 Use strategies to interpret and analyze different kinds of informational texts. (being checked)
  • 1. Key ideas and details
  • 1.a. Quote accurately when explaining what a text says and when inferring.
  • 1.b. Find two or more main ideas with supporting details and summarize the text.
  • 1.c. Explain links between people, events, ideas or concepts in informational texts.
  • 1.d. Tell facts from opinions and support judgments with evidence.
  • 2. Craft and structure
  • 2.a. Work out academic and subject-specific words in grade 5 texts.
  • 2.b. Compare text structures such as chronology, comparison and cause/effect across texts.
  • 2.c. Analyze several accounts of one event, noting likenesses and differences in viewpoint.
  • 2.d. Use text features such as headings and glossaries to organize information or answer questions.
  • 3. Integration of knowledge and ideas
  • 3.a. Draw on several print or digital sources to answer a question or solve a problem.
  • 3.b. Explain how an author's reasons and evidence back particular points.
  • 3.c. Combine information from several texts on a topic to write or speak knowledgeably.
  • 4. Range of reading and text complexity
  • 4.a. By year's end, read informational texts at the top of the grades 4–5 band independently.
• RWC.5.2.3 Use word meanings and word relationships to decode and understand new words. (being checked)
  • 1. Use letter-sound patterns, syllables and word parts to read long unfamiliar words.
  • 1.a. Combine letter-sound, syllable and word-part knowledge to read multisyllable words accurately.
  • 2. Read accurately and fluently enough to understand.
  • 2.a. Read on-level text with a purpose and understand it.
  • 2.b. Read grade-level prose and poetry aloud accurately, at a good pace and with expression.
  • 2.c. Use context to check or fix word reading, rereading as needed.
  • 3. Use knowledge of language when writing, speaking, reading and listening.
  • 3.a. Lengthen, join or shorten sentences for meaning, interest and style.
  • 3.b. Compare varieties of English such as dialects and registers in stories, dramas and poems.
  • 4. Work out unknown or multiple-meaning words, choosing strategies flexibly.
  • 4.a. Use context such as cause-effect links or comparisons to infer meaning.
  • 4.b. Use common Greek and Latin word parts (affixes and roots) as meaning clues.
  • 4.c. Use print or digital dictionaries, glossaries or thesauruses for pronunciation and meaning.
  • 5. Read and understand words with advanced prefixes and suffixes.
  • 6. Use derivational suffixes that change a base word's part of speech.
  • 7. Infer meanings from word parts, context and multiple meanings.
  • 8. Read and understand roots and word families whose root sound stays the same.
  • 9. Show understanding of figurative language, word relationships and shades of meaning.
  • 9.a. Interpret similes and metaphors in context.
  • 9.b. Recognize and explain common idioms, adages and proverbs.
  • 9.c. Use synonyms, antonyms and homographs to understand words better.
  • 10. Use academic and subject words accurately, including words that signal contrast and addition.

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

• RWC.5.3.1 Write opinion pieces with reasons, facts and techniques suited to the genre. (being checked)
  • 1. Introduce the topic or text, state an opinion and organize ideas logically for the purpose.
  • 2. Give reasons in a logical order, backed by facts and details.
  • 3. Link opinion and reasons with linking words and phrases.
  • 4. Write a concluding statement tied to the opinion.
• RWC.5.3.2 Write informative texts with a clear focus, text features and precise subject language. (being checked)
  • 1. Introduce the topic, group related information and use headings or visuals when helpful.
  • 2. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, details, quotations or examples.
  • 3. Link ideas within and across groups of information with transitions.
  • 4. Use precise words and subject vocabulary to inform or explain.
  • 5. Write a concluding statement or section about the information.
• RWC.5.3.3 Write real or imagined stories using literary techniques, character growth, sensory detail and transitions. (being checked)
  • 1. Set up a situation, introduce the narrator or characters and order events naturally.
  • 2. Use dialogue, description and pacing to develop events and show reactions.
  • 3. Use varied transitions to manage the order of events.
  • 4. Use concrete words and sensory details to convey events precisely.
  • 5. Write a conclusion that follows from the events.
• RWC.5.3.4 Use standard grammar, usage and mechanics to make meaning clear and strengthen style. (being checked)
  • 1. Use standard English grammar in writing and speaking.
  • 1.a. Explain what conjunctions, prepositions and interjections do in sentences.
  • 1.b. Form and use perfect verb tenses.
  • 1.c. Use verb tense to show time, sequence, states and conditions.
  • 1.d. Spot and fix unneeded shifts in verb tense.
  • 1.e. Use correlative conjunctions such as either/or and neither/nor.
  • 1.f. Adjust sentence length and combining to sharpen meaning and style.
  • 2. Use standard capitalization, punctuation and spelling when writing.
  • 2.a. Use punctuation between items in a list.
  • 2.b. Use a comma after an introductory element before the main clause.
  • 2.c. Use commas with yes and no, tag questions and direct address.
  • 2.d. Show titles of works with underlining, quotation marks or italics.
  • 2.e. Spell grade-level words correctly, checking references when unsure.
  • 3. Write clear, coherent pieces with development and organization suited to task and audience.
  • 4. With help from peers and adults, improve writing by planning, revising, editing or trying new approaches.
  • 5. With some adult help, use technology and the internet to produce, publish and collaborate.
  • 6. Write routinely over long and short periods for many tasks, purposes and audiences.

Standard 4: Research Inquiry and Design

• RWC.5.4.1 Research to find, summarize, combine and cite information from print and digital sources, then share findings. (being checked)
  • 1. Do short research projects using several sources to explore different sides of a topic.
  • 1.a. Condense main ideas and back them with support.
  • 1.b. Show understanding through logical, well-supported inferences.
  • 1.c. Create and share a short oral or written report with a clear focus and details.
  • 2. Recall or gather relevant information, paraphrase it in notes and list sources.
  • 2.a. Build helpful visuals such as charts, maps, graphs, photos or models.
  • 2.b. Record sources in a grade-appropriate format.
  • 3. Use evidence from literary and informational texts for analysis, reflection and research.
  • 3.a. Use grade 5 reading skills on literature, e.g. comparing characters, settings or events.
  • 3.b. Use grade 5 reading skills on nonfiction, e.g. tracing a writer's reasons and evidence.