Reading Workshop

These reading units guide fifth graders toward intellectual independence.

In Unit 1 students practice close reading, noting how authors develop themes in fictional works. There is a big emphasis on the literary elements, such as plot, setting, and character development.

Unit 2 deals with higher-level nonfiction and emphasizes strong foundational skills, such as fluency and word solving. In addition, we work to build strong research skills using a variety of resources.

Unit 3 we read complex nonfiction under the umbrella of argument and advocacy. Students will learn through research and debate on issues that they care about.

Unit 4 students explore fantasy bookclubs.

About the Grade 5 Units

Fifth grade is a time for children to hone their intellectual independence. In the first unit, Interpretation Book Clubs: Analyzing Themes, students draw on a repertoire of ways for reading closely, noticing how story elements interact, understanding how different authors develop the same theme, and comparing and contrasting texts that develop a similar theme. In the second unit, Tackling Complexity: Moving Up Levels of Nonfiction, children investigate the ways nonfiction texts are becoming more complex, and they learn strategies to tackle these new challenges. This unit emphasizes the strong foundational skills, such as fluency, orienting to texts, and word solving, that are required to read complex nonfiction. In the third unit, Argument and Advocacy: Researching Debatable Issues, students read complex nonfiction texts to conduct research on a debatable topic, consider perspective and craft, evaluate arguments, and formulate their own evidence-based, ethical positions on issues. In the final unit for fifth grade, Fantasy Book Clubs: The Magic of Themes and Symbols, students work in clubs to become deeply immersed in the fantasy genre and further develop higher-level thinking skills to study how authors develop characters and themes over time. They think metaphorically as well as analytically, explore the quests and themes within and across their novels, and consider the implications of conflicts, themes, and lessons learned.