Fifth Grade - Language Arts Indicators

 Acquisition of Vocabulary 

Contextual Understanding
  • Define the meaning of unknown words by using context clues and the author's use of definition, restatement and example.
  • Use context clues to determine the meaning of synonyms, antonyms, homophones, homonyms and homographs.
Conceptual Understanding
  • Identify the connotation and denotation of new words.
  • Identify and understand new uses of words and phrases in text, such as similes and metaphors.
Structural Understanding
  • Use word origins to determine the meaning of unknown words and phrases.
  • Apply the knowledge of prefixes, suffixes and roots and their various inflections to analyze the meaning of words.
  • Identify the meanings of abbreviations.
Tools and Resources Determine the meanings and pronunciations of unknown words by using dictionaries, thesauruses, glossaries. technology and textual features, such as definitional footnotes or sidebars.


Reading Process

Comprehension Strategies
  • Establish and adjust purposes for reading including to find out, to understand, to interpret, to enjoy and to solve problems.
  • Predict and support predictions with specific references to textual examples that may be in widely separated sections of text.
  • Make critical comparisons across texts.
  • Summarize the information in texts, recognizing that there may be several important ideas rather than just one main idea and identifying details that support each.
  • Make inferences based on implicit information in texts, and provide justifications for those inferences.
  • Select, create and use graphic organizers to interpret textual information.
  • Answer literal, inferential and evaluative questions to demonstrate comprehension of grade-appropriate print texts and electronic and visual media.
Self-Monitoring Strategies
  • Monitor own comprehension by adjusting speed to fit the purpose, or by skimming, scanning, reading on, looking back or summarizing what has been read so far in text.
  • List questions and search for answers within the text to construct meaning.
Independent Reading
  • Use criteria to choose independent reading materials (e.g., personal interest, knowledge of authors and genres or recommendations from others).

  • Independently read books for various purposes (e.g., for enjoyment, for literary experience, to gain information or to perform a task).

Reading Applications:  
Informational, Technical and Persuasive Text 

Reading Applications:  
Literary Text 

Writing Processes 

Prewriting
  • Generating writing ideas through discussions with others and from printed material and keep a list of writing ideas.
  • Conduct background reading, interviews or surveys when appropriate.
  • State and develop a clear main idea for writing.
  • Determine a purpose and audience.
  • Use organizational strategies (e.g., rough outlines, diagrams, maps, webs and Venn diagrams) to plan writing.
Drafting, Revising & Editing
  • Organize writing, beginning with an introduction, body and a resolution of plot, followed by a closing statement or a summary of important ideas and details.
  • Vary simple, compound and complex sentence structures.
  • Group related ideas into paragraphs, including topic sentences following paragraph form, and maintain a consistent focus across paragraphs.
  • Vary language and style as appropriate to audience and purpose.
  • Use available technology to compose text.
  • Reread and assess writing for clarity, using a variety of methods (e.g., writer's circle or author's chair).
  • Add and delete information and details to better elaborate on a stated central idea and to more effectively accomplish purpose.
  • Rearrange words, sentences and paragraphs, and add transitional words and phrases to clarify meaning.
  • Use resources and reference materials (e.g., dictionaries and thesauruses) to select more effective vocabulary.
  • Proofread writing, edit to improve conventions, (e.g., grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitalization), and identify and correct fragments and run-ons.
  • Apply tools (e.g., rubric, checklist and feedback) to judge the quality of writing.
Publishing Prepare for publication (e.g., for display or for sharing with others) writing that follows a format appropriate to the purpose, using techniques such as electronic resources and graphics to enhance the final product.

Writing Applications 

Writing Conventions 

Spelling
  • Spell high-frequency words correctly.
  • Spell contractions correctly.
  • Spell roots, suffixes and prefixes correctly.
Punctuation & Capitalization
  • Use commas, end marks, apostrophes and quotation marks correctly.
  • Use correct capitalization.
Grammar and Usage
  • Use various parts of speech such as nouns, pronouns and verbs (e.g., regular and irregular).
  • Use prepositions and prepositional phrases.
  • Use adverbs.
  • Use objective and nominative case pronouns.
  • Use indefinite and relative pronouns.
  • Use conjunctions and interjections.

Research 

Communication:  Oral and Visual 

Listening and Viewing
  • Demonstrate active listening strategies (e.g., asking focused questions, responding to cues, making visual contact).
  • Interpret the main idea and draw conclusions from oral presentations and visual media.
  • Identify the speaker's purpose in presentations and visual media (e.g., to inform, to entertain, to persuade).
  • Discuss how facts and opinion are used to shape the opinions of listeners and viewers.
Speaking Skills & Strategies
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the rules of the English language and select language appropriate to purpose and audience.
  • Use clear diction, pitch, tempo and tone, and adjust volume and tempo to stress important ideas.
  • Adjust speaking content according to the needs of the situation, setting and audience.
Speaking Applications
  • Deliver informational presentations (e.g., expository, research) that:
    a.  demonstrate an understanding of the topic and present events or ideas in a logical sequence.
    b.  support the main idea with relevant facts, details, examples, quotations, statistics, stories and anecdotes;
    c.  organize information, including a clear introduction, body and conclusion and follow common organizational structures when appropriate (e.g., cause-effect, compare-contrast);
    d.  use appropriate visual materials (e.g., diagrams, charts, illustrations) and available technology, and
    e.  draw from several sources and identify sources used.
  • Deliver formal and informal descriptive presentations recalling an event or personal experience that convey relevant information and descriptive details.
  • Deliver persuasive presentations that:
    a.  establish a clear position;
    b.  include relevant evidence to support a position and to address potential concerns of listeners; and
    c.  follow common organizational structures when appropriate (e.g., cause-effect, compare-contrast, problem-solution).

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