Enduring Understandings - important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the instruction received this year.

• Different strategies and skills are required to understand a variety of materials.

• People apply critical thinking skills when reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.

• People access, read, evaluate, and use a variety of resources to get information.

Essential Questions - most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer after completing learning activities.

• What does it mean to "understand"? Why do we need to understand what we read or hear?

• How do we use strategies and skills to understand a variety of materials?

• What is critical thinking? Why is critical thinking important? How do we apply critical thinking skills?

• Why do I need a variety of resources? How do I access information and use it responsibly? How do I evaluate resources?

CSAP Tested Standards
Highest Frequency High Frequency Other Standards & E-skills

Reading
Fluency: Use word recognition skills, strategies (e.g., predict) and resources (e.g., context clues, phonemic awareness, and structural analysis) to decode. Apply word attack to read new and unfamiliar words.

Standard 1: Comprehension Students read and understand a variety of materials.
b. Summarize fiction and non-fiction (for example: tall tales, historical fiction, adventure, procedural text, and informational text).
c. Locate and paraphrase the key/main ideas and supporting details in fiction and non-fiction.
d. Infer using contextual clues.
g. Identify the meaning or unfamiliar words in context using word recognition skills and context clues. 
e. Students will use a range of strategies to build oral and reading vocabulary to include sight words and multi-syllabic words.
f. Fifth grade students will read all Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade, Fourth Grade and Fifth Grade students will read 50 sight words.

Standard 4: Thinking Skills Students apply thinking skills to their reading, speaking, listening, and viewing.
a. Determine author’s purpose.
b. Differentiate fact from opinion.
c. Make predictions and draw conclusions from text in various genre.

Standard 5: Research Students read to locate, select, and make use of relevant information from a variety of media, references, and technological sources.
a. Use organizational features of printed text (for example, page numbering, alphabetizing, glossaries, chapter heading, changes in print, table of contents, indexes, captions) to locate information.
c. Summarize and organize information about a topic in a variety of ways (for example, graphic organizer, Venn diagram, outline, time line) from references, technical sources, and media.

Standard 6: Literature Students read and recognize literature as a record of human experience.
b. Identify characters, setting, problem/conflict, action/plot/events, resolution/solution, theme, and sequence in literature.
c. Use knowledge of literary techniques and terminology (for example, foreshadowing and figurative language) to understand the text.

Writing
Narrative writing sample scored on the D11 rubric.
Expository writing sample scored on the D11 rubric.

State Standards and Frameworks for Writing
Writing Standard 2:
a. Write in a variety of modes such as narrative, expository or descriptive for various audiences and purposes (for example, to entertain or to inform).
b. Organize writing using a logical arrangement of ideas.
c. Select and use clear and precise language.
d. Plan, draft, revise, and edit for a final copy.
e. Use transitions to link ideas.
f. Select and use a variety of sentence structures.

Writing Standard 3:
b. Use correctly subject/verb agreement, nouns, verbs, pronouns, and adjectives.
c. Write in complete sentences.
d. Use conventions correctly (for example, commas, quotation marks in dialogue, end marks, apostrophes in contractions, capitalization, and abbreviations). 
Know and use capitalization and punctuation: in a simple sentence, in a quotation, commas and end punctuation.
e. Identify and use accurate spelling; spelling errors in writing do not impede communication.
Go to 4^th/5^th Grade Rubric

Resources

The Colorado Basic Literacy Act (CBLA) proficiencies at 5^th Grade are the 4^th Grade Reading Standards and Frameworks. Therefore, we no longer see the Five Components of Reading Instruction from the earlier years. However, “Fluency” is still emphasized in every month because of the research showing that Fluency impacts comprehension. In addition, Vocabulary is captured under Standard and framework 1h; the Pacing Guides incorporate the instruction from the D11 Common Word Lists and those expectations in each quarter.  In addition, Vocabulary development is a non-negotiable school-wide effort.

Fluency Suggestions Page:  This page provides seven powerful ways to improve or enhance your child's reading fluency.  Reading research states that slow, word-by-word reading hampers word recognition and all but destroys comprehension.  Practicing these strategies will improve your child's fluency and provide valuable one-on-one time with your child.  
    -Paired Repeated Reading
    -Fluency Intervention

Student Reading Graph:  This page will provide a visual (mathematical) representation of how much your child is reading outside of school.  Students who score in the 90th achievement percentile read approximately 40.4 minutes per day (Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding, 1998).  Your child will enjoy creating their own bar graph using real personal reading time data.

Fiction and Nonfiction Retelling Hands:  When students read it is important that they can retell what they read. It shows they are comprehending the material. These retelling hands will guide your students so that they are sure to include all the important details. Please encourage your child to speak in complete sentences when retelling!
Fiction Retelling Hand:  Fiction selections contain story elements (characters, setting, problem, sequence of events, and solution). When students retell a fiction selection, they should include all the story elements. Instruct your child to begin at the “thumb” and go in order to the “pinky finger”. Doing this will ensure they include all the important details of the story. Make sure your child speaks in complete sentences!
Non Fiction Retelling Hand:  Non-fiction selections can be retold using these simple question words: Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? Not every non-fiction selection incorporates all of these; therefore, encourage your child to answer as many as he/she can. For example, if the book is about reptiles, there probably won’t be a “who” but there will be a “what” to retell.  Encourage your child to speak in complete sentences and use vocabulary from the text when retelling!

Parts of Speech Rap:  This rap will teach your child the names, definitions, and examples of all eight parts of
speech. 

Lessons