This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 5th grade ELA content. Within the folder you will access Parent Guide PDFs in FIVE Languages: Arabic, English, Hindi, Spanish, and Vietnamese to help on-going communication with caregivers. 

How do cells keep us alive? Through reading and hands-on activities, students learn about parts of a cell, and their functions in carrying out processes for life. Study skills are taught and modeled as students make entries in science notebooks.

This passage about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. includes three higher order thinking questions.

In this unit, students explore Colonial America through the building of timelines and investigating primary and secondary sources. This study of significant events in the colonization of North America and the aspects of everyday life in Colonial America is designed for students to gather, record, and organize their own Colonial Notebook. Students will take on the role of colonist in a given region and work with other 'colonists' of the same region to develop a report and presentation. The study will take students through the life and times of those early settlers and will have them preparing a colonial meal representative of their region of focus

Students read and discuss the Founding Fathers of our country indulgence in gripe sessions. In fact, a list of grievances comprises the longest section of the Declaration of Independence; however, the source of the document's power is its firm philosophic foundation. You can capitalize on the inclination of your students to complain to increase student awareness of the precedents behind the Declaration of Independence. Students will summarize the contributions of the "Founding Fathers" to the development of our county as well as explain how key historical figures exemplified values of American democracy.

This lesson precedes students’ exploration of the US Constitution and gives them a foundation for their study of it. Students begin by discussing some trivia related to the Constitution and then, through Jigsaw grouping, read and summarize three documents that share basic principles with it. Once they have shared and discussed the connections among the three documents, they consider how democratic ideals are addressed in the documents, the Constitution, and everyday life. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

As a way to support teachers with English Language Arts (ELA) instruction during the pandemic, the NCDPI ELA team created choice boards featuring standards-aligned ELA activities.The intended purpose of these choice boards is to provide a way for students to continue standards-based learning while schools are closed. Each activity can be adapted and modified to be completed with or without the use of digital tools. Many activities can also be repeated with different texts. These standards-based activities are meant to be a low-stress approach to reinforcing and enriching the skills learned during the 2019-2020 school year. The choice boards are to be used flexibly by teachers, parents, and students in order to meet the unique needs of each learner.Exploration activities are provided for a more self-directed or guided approach to independent learning for students. These activities and sites should be used as a way to explore concepts, topics, skills, and social and emotional competencies that interest the learner. 

In this lesson, students use comprehension skills to discuss and respond to questions about a text.

This lesson provides an examination of images and the creation of role plays through which students will explore the various perspectives of the Boston Massacre, understanding how this controversial day in history played a part in the outbreak of the American Revolution.

In this lesson, students use comprehension skills to discuss and respond to questions about a text.

In this lesson, students use comprehension skills to discuss and respond to questions about a text.

As students read the Wonders anchor text “The Future of Transportation”, they will be asked to create a podcast and a digital poster to convey their opinion on electric cars and public transportation. Students will use digital graphic organizers to help them complete Activity 1 and allow them to plan their Podcast. Once they have presented their podcast, students will work in small groups and create a digital poster on their viewpoints about electric cars, public transportation, and how technology has changed our world.  The goal of the students’ presentation is to inform and possibly persuade others about technology.

Students will participate in partner and group discussion based of their ideas and thoughts sparked from reading a story about Haiti as well as two thought provoking statements. *This lesson is the 6th lesson of an 8 lesson unit on non-fiction texts as well as Haiti. It can not stand alone and needs to be completed with the unit. This lesson was developed by Kate Quigley as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

During this lesson, students will discover how social media plays a vital part in today's society. This lesson focuses mainly on the usage of cell phones and text messaging used during the Nigerian Riots. Students will discuss how social media has changed over the years, the pros and cons of cell phones, researching the Nigerian Riots, determining how text messages influenced the Nigerian Riots, and will conclude with writing/blogging about how cell phone text messaging influences issues that occur in our everyday lives. This lesson was developed by Christina Hartzell as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

This article starts by explaining that air actually has weight, because it consists of minute particles that are distributed unevenly - especially based on different altitudes. Then the reader learns that changes in air pressure can be felt in the eardrum. As an extension, the article provides the instructions for an experiment with an air filled toothpaste tube that is taken on a mountain top.

This article provides information about the adaptation of cacti to drought and protection, as well as basic facts about age, distribution, and varieties. Pictures support the text that is written for native speakers age 8 and up.

This scientific article explains the features and functions of the human brain. It explains the physical features of the brain and how it is connected to the rest of the nervous system. More information regarding its vegetative functions, the processing speed, and moods provide further information. The text is written for native speakers 9 years and up.

This scientific article highlights a multitude of aspects about the tropical rainforest: global location, ethymology, fauna and flora, famous jungle researchers like Jane Goodall, consequences and reasons for jungle destruction, and suggestions that everybody can do to prevent jungle destruction. A link provides more information about the life and work of Jane Goodall. The text is written in child-friendly language and appropriate for readers age 8 and up.

In this lesson, students use comprehension skills to discuss and respond to questions about a text.

While students are reading and learning about the U.S Constitution (using Wonders Unit 2 Weeks 1 and 2 as well as information learned during their Social Studies curriculum) they will use a digital timeline to create an interactive Makey Makey timeline. Students will work in cooperative groups to create an interactive timeline to share important events in history according to their personal opinion and from information gathered during their readings. After students create the interactive timeline and share they will then work on an individual Journal entry using Book Creator. The journal entry will feature a writing piece on what it was like to live during the times of American colonists. Students will be able to read other classmates’ journal entries and discuss important viewpoints. At the end of the lesson, students will record themselves using Flip Grid to express how the U.S Constitution is relevant to today’s society.