Language Arts

Making Up Late or Missing Work 

• In an effort to build independence, it is the student's responsibility to find out and complete any missed work.

Grade 5 ELA Unit 2

Dear Grade 5 ELA Families, 

Welcome to the second 5th grade unit in English Language Arts! We would like to give you an overview of the unit and what your child will be working on as readers and writers.

In this unit, your child will be reading realistic fiction and writing fictional narratives. 

In reading, your child will be listening to a mentor text (Wonder) and a handful of picture books, watching short video clips, and reading in book clubs.  Through these books, your child will be learning strategies to:

• Make inferences about characters

• Support their thinking with evidence from the text

• Identify perspective and develop alternate perspectives

In writing, your child will be crafting a fictional narrative in which they will develop characters, perspective, events, a problem, and solution.  Students will reflect on the questions, “Why do we tell stories?”  And “What makes a good story?” as they plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish their own piece.

How to help your child at home:

Talk to your child about what he/she is reading! Ask:

• • What are you reading? What is the book about?

  • How would you describe the characters?

  • Why do you think that? What parts of the story make you think that?

  • Who is telling the story?  What do you know about them as a character?

  • Who else could tell the story?  What would their story sound like?

• Have your child share where they are in the writing process and what strategies they are working on as a writer.

We are looking forward to delving into this exciting reading and writing work!

Sincerely,

Grade 5 ELA Teachers 

Grading:

0%- Homework- for recording purposes

40%- Student Work/Classwork

60%- Assessments

• Reading and Writing Assessments

  • Digital Notebook entries

  • Checkpoints throughout unit

  • Performance tasks (essays, etc.)

• Common Rubrics

  • Reading and writing

  • Designed as a progression in meeting a standard on a scale of 1-4

    • 1= beginning understanding 2= approaching proficiency

    • 3= meeting standard 4= exceeding standard

Digital Notebook Expectations

• My notebook is organized. I titled and dated my entries, 

• My charts are organized. 

• I used the strategies taught in class to complete multiple charts.

• I included text evidence or quotes.

• I built my own thoughts or ideas.

• I explained my thinking.

• I starred, circled, or underlined important ideas.

• I revised/expanded my idea.

• I applied the grammar/spelling rules that we are learning in class to my own writing.