Ultimate 5th Grade ESL Teaching Guide & Resources

Things to keep in mind:

• Ensure students have a grasp of the vocabulary and concepts needed to understand the text they are going to read. 
• Summarizing stories can be incredibly difficult for language learners, first because they haven't understood the story well enough, or second because they can't focus on the right details.
• After filling in a main ideas and details graphic organizer, you can model what a good summary would look like and even have students practice your summary until they get their heads around the structure of it.
• Have them try saying a summary of a story using their graphic organizers with a partner. Then have them try writing it.

* If there is time, once students have understood the theme and character responses, you can have them consider how the narrator's or speaker's point of view has influenced how events were described (RL 5.6)

Standards

• Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. (RL 5.1, RI 5.1)
• Determine 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; summarize the text. (RL 5.2)
• Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem. (RL 5.5)
• Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described. (RL 5.6)
• Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. (SL 5.2)
• 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; speak clearly at an understandable pace. (SL 5.4)

Things to keep in mind:

• Have students work through a story to find the characters, settings, and main events on a story map graphic organizer.
• Have students go through a story with a highlighter (make a copy of a page or two from the story if you cannot highlight directly in a book) to find descriptions of 2 characters or 2 settings.
• Discuss with a partner the results of highlighting, organizing the details in a Venn Diagram.
• Write a short essay comparing the 2 characters, settings or events.

Standards

• Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact). (RL 5.3)

Things to keep in mind:

• Ensure students have a grasp of the vocabulary and concepts needed to understand the text they are going to read. 
• Students basically need to be able to summarize what a text says, make inferences about the text, and know the difference between the two.
• Focus on what the text actually says first using a Main Idea and Details graphic organizer. Then discuss what inferences can be made and organize those on a Text Says / I Infer organizer.

Standards

• Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. (RL 5.1, RI 5.1)
• Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text. (RI 5.2)
• Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point(s). (RI 5.8)
• Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. (SL 5.2)
• 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; speak clearly at an understandable pace. (SL 5.4)

Things to keep in mind:

• Read a story aloud as a class or in small groups. Students highlight sentences that show the interaction between 2 individuals, events, etc.
• Write those sentences on a Cause and Effect Matrix. Discuss as a class or in small groups what conclusions you can draw from the interaction between the 2 individuals, events, etc.
• Write a short essay describing the interaction.

Standards

• Explain 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. (RI 5.3)

Things to keep in mind:

• Whereas in previous grade levels, students were working to understand the chronology, cause/effect or problem/solution of a single text, now they are identifying these in multiple texts and analyzing the differences.
• Start by analyzing texts individually for their chronology, cause/effect or problem/solution. Students will start noticing the differences naturally as you analyze the second text.
• As students notice similarities and differences, have them make notes on a Venn Diagram.

Standards

• Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts. (RL 5.5)
• Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent. (RI 5.6)
• Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably. (RL 5.9)

Things to keep in mind:

• Students will need to link opinion and reasons using words and phrases (e.g., for instance, in order to, in addition).

Standards

• Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information. (W 5.1)
  • Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer's purpose.
  • Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.
  • Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically).
  • Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.
• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.) (W 5.4)
• With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 5 here.) (W 5.5)
• With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting. (W 5.6)
• Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources. (W 5.8)
• Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. (W 5.9)

Things to keep in mind:

• Once students have a topic to inform about or explain, they can write it in the main idea of their Main Ideas and Details Web Graphic Organizer. Afterward, they can write out the details they want to include.
• The details may require some brainstorming and categorizing. Sticky Notes can be a fun--although wasteful--way of brainstorming. Students write each idea they come up with on a sticky note. Then they move the sticky notes around grouping them by similar topic. Once they have a few groups, they can label those groups in the details section of their graphic organizer.
• Afterward, they will need to plan out their essay by identifying facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations and other information they want to include for each supporting detail.

Standards

• Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. (W 5.2)
  • Introduce a topic clearly, provide a general observation and focus, and group related information logically; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
  • Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
  • Link ideas within and across categories of information using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., in contrast, especially).
  • Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
  • Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented.
• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.) (W 5.4)
• With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 5 here.) (W 5.5)
• With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting. (W 5.6)
• Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources. (W 5.8)
• Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. (W 5.9)

Things to keep in mind:

• Students can first organize the main flow of their story by filling out the Story Map Graphic Organizer.
• Use the Character Profile Graphic Organizer to fill out details about their characters. Students write down descriptive words and phrases like adjectives, clothing, hair style as well as lots of verbs the student could use to describe major actions that character does in the story. 
• You could have students find a descriptive sentence or two from the beginning of a book they like that introduces a character and model their introduction similarly.

Standards

• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. (W 5.3)
  • Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
  • Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
  • Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events.
  • Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely.
  • Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.
• With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 5 here.) (W 5.5)
• Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources. (W 5.8)

Things to keep in mind:

• Pre-teach vocabulary and provide a word bank relevant to a task for beginners and low-intermediate students. For intermediate to upper-intermediate provide a word bank.
• Students cannot understand a word from context if they cannot understand the context either. Natalie Wexler's book The Knowledge Gap is particularly instructive when it comes to reading comprehension. Background knowledge seriously impacts comprehension. You can build background knowledge by reading to students on a topic, teaching them directly about it and practicing relevant vocabulary before having students read texts themselves on that topic.

Standards

• Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area. (RI 5.4)
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes. (RL 5.4)

Things to Keep in Mind:

Providing students with sentence frames they can use to participate and practicing good examples of sentences using those sentence frames will help build the confidence and fluency students need to be able to use it when they need it.

Standards

• Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly. (SL 5.1)
  • Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
  • Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles.
  • Pose and respond to specific questions by making comments that contribute to the discussion and elaborate on the remarks of others.
  • Review the key ideas expressed and draw conclusions in light of information and knowledge gained from the discussions.
• Summarize the points a speaker makes and explain how each claim is supported by reasons and evidence. (SL 5.3)

Things to Keep in Mind:

There are so many tools that students can use to record, draw or create other types of visuals. This is a great add-on to any of the above standards as a final display of what a student has learned.

Standards

• Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes. (SL 5.5)