5th Grade ELA (Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks)

Reading: Literature (RL)

• RL.5.1 Quote or paraphrase accurately to explain what a text says and to support inferences.
• RL.5.2 Work out a theme, including how characters meet challenges or a poem's speaker reflects, and summarize the text.
• RL.5.3 Compare two or more characters, settings or events using specific details, such as how characters interact.
• RL.5.4 Work out word meanings and identify and explain the effects of metaphors and similes.
• RL.5.5 Explain how chapters, scenes or stanzas fit together to give a story, play or poem its structure.
• RL.5.6 Explain how the point of view of a narrator or speaker affects the way events are told.
• RL.5.7 Analyze how visuals and multimedia add to a text's meaning, tone or beauty (graphic novels, multimedia fiction).
• RL.5.9 Compare how stories in the same genre (mysteries, adventures) approach similar themes and topics.
• RL.5.10 Read and understand grade 5 literary texts of many genres, cultures and perspectives on your own.

Reading: Informational Text (RI)

• RI.5.1 Quote or paraphrase accurately to explain what a text says and to support inferences.
• RI.5.2 Find one or more main ideas, explain how key details support them and summarize the text.
• RI.5.3 Explain how two or more people, events or ideas in history, science, math or technical texts relate or interact.
• RI.5.4 Work out the meaning of academic and subject words in a text about a grade 5 topic.
• RI.5.5 Describe how an author organizes information, e.g. by time order, comparison or cause and effect.
• RI.5.6 Analyze several accounts of one event or topic, noting key likenesses and differences in point of view.
• RI.5.7 Use several print or digital sources to find an answer or solve a problem quickly.
• RI.5.8 Explain how an author backs up points with reasons and evidence, matching each piece to its point.
• RI.5.9 Combine information from several texts on one topic to write or speak knowledgeably about it.
• RI.5.10 Read and understand grade 5 informational texts, including history, science, math and technical texts, on your own.

Reading: Foundational Skills (RF)

• RF.5.3 Know and use grade 5 phonics and word analysis to read words.
  • a. Use letter-sound knowledge, syllable patterns and word parts to read unfamiliar long words accurately, in and out of context.
• RF.5.4 Read accurately and fluently enough to understand the text.
  • a. Read grade 5 texts with a purpose and with understanding.
  • b. Read grade 5 prose and poetry aloud accurately, at a suitable pace and with expression over repeated readings.
  • c. Use context to check or self-correct word reading, rereading if needed.

Writing (W)

• W.5.1 Write opinion pieces about topics or texts that back a viewpoint with reasons and information.
  • a. Introduce the topic or text, state the opinion and group ideas logically in paragraphs and sections.
  • b. Give reasons in a logical order backed by facts and details.
  • c. Link opinion and reasons with words and clauses such as consequently and specifically.
  • d. End with a conclusion tied to the opinion.
• W.5.2 Write informative/explanatory texts that examine a topic and share ideas clearly.
  • a. Introduce the topic with a general observation and focus, group information logically and add headings, pictures or multimedia if helpful.
  • b. Build the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotes and examples.
  • c. Link ideas within and across categories with phrases such as in contrast and especially.
  • d. Use exact language and subject vocabulary.
  • e. End with a conclusion about the information.
• W.5.3 Write narratives in prose or poems using literary techniques, description and a clear order of events.
  • a. Set the scene, introduce speaker, narrator or characters and order events sensibly.
  • b. Use dialogue, description and pacing to develop events and show reactions.
  • c. Manage the order of events with varied transitions (words, phrases and clauses).
  • d. Use concrete words and sensory details to show events exactly.
  • e. End in a way that suits the events.
  • f. For prose, model writing on traditional or modern genres (tall tales, myths, mysteries) from many cultures.
  • g. For poems, model writing on traditional forms (ballads, couplets) or free verse from many cultures.
• W.5.4 Produce clear, coherent writing whose development and organization fit the task, purpose and reader.
• W.5.5 Plan, revise, edit, rewrite or try a new approach to strengthen writing.
  • a. Use standard English conventions up to grade 5 Language Standards 1–3.
  • b. Use academic and subject vocabulary well, up to grade 5 Language Standards 4–6.
• W.5.6 Use technology, including web-based platforms, to produce, publish and collaborate; type at least two pages in one sitting.
• W.5.7 Carry out short research projects using several sources to explore different sides of a topic.
• W.5.8 Recall or gather relevant information; summarize or paraphrase it in notes and final work, and list sources.
• W.5.9 Draw on evidence from literary or informational texts in analysis, reflection and research, using grade 5 reading standards.
• W.5.10 Write regularly over long and short time frames for many subject tasks, purposes and readers.

Speaking and Listening (SL)

• SL.5.1 Discuss grade 5 topics and texts well in pairs, groups and class, building on others' ideas and stating your own clearly.
  • a. Come prepared and draw on what you read and know to explore ideas.
  • b. Follow agreed discussion rules and carry out given roles.
  • c. Ask and answer specific questions with comments that add to and build on others' remarks.
  • d. Review key ideas and draw conclusions from what was learned in the discussion.
• SL.5.2 Summarize a text read aloud or information given in different media.
• SL.5.3 Summarize a speaker's points and explain how reasons and evidence support each claim.
• SL.5.4 Report on a topic, text, procedure or math solution, or give an opinion, in a logical order with facts and details, speaking clearly at a good pace.
• SL.5.5 Use multimedia and visuals in presentations when they strengthen main ideas or themes.
• SL.5.6 Adjust speech to the situation and task, using formal English when suitable.

Language (L)

• L.5.1 Use standard English grammar and usage in writing and speaking, keeping earlier skills.
  • a. Use verb tenses to show different times, sequences, states and conditions.
  • b. Spot and fix unwanted shifts in verb tense.
  • c. Use active and passive verbs and choose between them for the meaning.
  • d. Form and use perfect verb tenses.
• L.5.2 Use standard English capitals, punctuation and spelling when writing.
  • a. Write clearly and fluently in print or cursive, and sign your given and family names in cursive.
  • b. Use punctuation to separate items in a list.
  • c. Put a comma after an introductory word or phrase.
  • d. Use commas with yes and no, tag questions and direct address.
  • e. Mark titles of works with underlining, quotation marks or italics.
  • f. Spell grade 5 words correctly, checking references as needed.
• L.5.3 Apply what you know about how language works when you write, speak, read and listen.
  • a. Expand, combine and shorten sentences for meaning, interest and style.
  • b. Compare varieties of English (dialects, registers) used in stories, plays or poems.
• L.5.4 Figure out what unfamiliar words and words with several meanings mean, choosing from a range of strategies.
  • a. Use context such as cause/effect and comparisons as clues.
  • b. Treat Greek and Latin word parts (prefixes, suffixes, roots) as clues to meaning (photograph, photosynthesis).
  • c. Check dictionaries, glossaries and thesauruses, print or digital, for pronunciation and exact meaning.
  • d. Recognize and use common abbreviations, including ones from other languages (lb., oz., etc.).
  • e. Recognize and use common symbols, including ones with more than one meaning (parentheses, °).
• L.5.5 Understand figurative language, word relationships and shades of meaning.
  • a. Interpret similes, metaphors and other figurative language in context.
  • b. Recognize and explain common idioms, adages and proverbs.
  • c. Use synonyms, antonyms and homographs to understand each word better.
• L.5.6 Learn and use grade 5 academic and subject words, including linking words for contrast and addition (however, moreover).