This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 5th grade ELA content.

In this lesson, traditional stories of the Native peoples (i.e., narrative text) introduce students to the study of animals in Alaska (i.e., expository text). Students use the Internet to listen to a Yu'pik tale told by John Active, a Native American living in Alaska. They also use online resources to find facts about animals in Alaska. Students compare and contrast the two types of text in terms of fiction and nonfiction. The narrative stories provide students with a context to begin studying a content area topic; this lesson emphasizes the integration of curriculum.

In these audio recordings of actual letters from parties involved in the Civil War, students will see two sides of the Civil War through the eyes of two soliders on the opposing sides. Chapter One: Enlisting shows students letters from a Confederate general, Braxton Bragg as well as the reply from Henry Hunt, Union Chief of Artillery. The audio recordings are accompanied by the letter itself.

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 will analyze primary and secondary sources to compare and contrast conflicting versions of an historical event and increase their understanding of the importance of the Battle of Trenton.

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. 

I created this resource so that I could see the mastery-based proficiency of my 5th-grade students. Please feel free to use, remix or change to meet your students' or class needs. 

Students will view photographs of Haiti to investigate the world beyond the classroom and recognize different perspectives while looking at different photographs. It is expected that student’s perspectives will be limited since they have not been exposed to a lot of information on Haiti. This lesson will be repeated at the end of the unit with different pictures to see how their perspectives have changed from the start of the unit. *This is the first lesson of an 8 lesson unit on non-fiction and Haiti. This lesson can be completed in isolation but it is highly suggested that the rest of the lessons follow, in order for the lesson to have the full effect on students. 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.

Students will view photographs of Haiti to investigate the world beyond the classroom and recognize different perspectives while looking at different photographs. It is expected that student’s perspectives will be limited since they have not been exposed to a lot of information on Haiti. *This lesson is the 7th lesson in an 8 lesson unit on non-fiction texts and Haiti. It requires the completion of the entire lesson in order to make sense. 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.

In this lesson, students read The Houdini Box by Brian Selznick. Students then follow the steps of the writing process to create a new ending for this book. Students gain experience brainstorming, drafting, editing, and polishing their writing. Because their story endings must flow well with the rest of the book, students must understand what the book is about. The goal is for them to understand what they’re reading and to demonstrate their knowledge of the book’s content and their own creativity through a writing piece.

This unit is designed for students to learn to make judgments and decisions based on facts, and to use informational and imaginative speech to present their personal viewpoint and opinion to others. Students experience, first hand, taxation without representation, and will develop a very real sense for the need to preserve the inherent freedoms of man. Using the American flag as a graphic organizer, students will develop a clear understanding of the actions and reactions of the American colonists to British rule and to our most important national holiday, the 4th of July. Historically significant events will be studied and organized through exploration of facts and opinions and interaction with informational text and class discussion.

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

In this lesson, students will examine the concept of Manifest Destiny as it relates to the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition through discussion, reading, and the examination of artwork and maps. Students will demonstrate their understanding of this content in a creative writing assignment in which they assume the persona of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and/or a Native American and create inferred journal entries.

This presentation is a supplemental resource to the lesson "Manifest Destiny and the Lewis and Clark Expedition." In the lesson, students will examine the concept of Manifest Destiny as it relates to the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition through discussion, reading, and the examination of artwork and maps. Students will demonstrate their understanding of this content in a creative writing assignment in which they assume the persona of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and/or a Native American and create inferred journal entries.

In this lesson, students will compare John Smith's account of the Powhatan Indians with other primary source material about the Powhatans. They will then compare ideas and facts from each source to determine similarities and differerences.

Students work collaboratively to transform their experiences and understanding of plastic pollution into a product that encourages other community members to reduce their single plastic usage. Students work together to research the effects of single-use plastic on plants, animals, and the environment. Reading skills are strengthened by reading numerous nonfiction articles and websites about the effects of plastic; students then use these sources to write opinion pieces about plastic use. Students interview staff members, participate in Zero Waste Week, and create a sculpture from discarded materials.

Students are required to act out their favorite character from the book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Students will also develop an opinion of the main character, Hugo Cabret. They must decide if he is a diligent or obsessed person. Students will then create their own Hugo Cabret puppet using a paper plate and cut out body parts. The puppet will convey two reasons why the student felt the way they did about Hugo, as well as two references from the text to support their opinion.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 5th Grade ELA. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 5th Grade English Language Arts. 

This resource accompanies our Rethink 5th Grade ELA course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning.