Literacy concepts assessed in Fifth Grade include:

Reading Literature and Informational texts

Students demonstrate the ability to think about reading by

• Quoting accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
• Determining a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; determining two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarizing the text.
• Comparing and contrasting two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text; explaining the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.
• Describing how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described; analyzing multiple accounts by various cultures of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.
• Comparing and contrasting stories in the same genre on their approaches to similar themes and topics; integrating information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

Reading Foundational

Students demonstrate the mechanical skills of reading by

• Knowing and applying grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
• Reading with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension; accurately reading grade-level text with purpose and understanding, using appropriate rate and expression.

Writing

Students compose ideas in the following genres

• Opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
• Informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
• Narratives and other creative texts to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

Speak, Listen, Language

Students can

• Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• Summarize the points a speaker makes and explain how each claim is supported by reasons and evidence, distinguishing between a speaker’s opinions and verifiable facts.
• Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; avoid plagiarism by identifying sources; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
• Demonstrate command of grade-appropriate conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
• Demonstrate command of grade-appropriate conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation and spelling when writing.
• Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on fifth grade reading and content.