5th Grade Resources

About this Product

This product came as a result of my students’ love of the biography series “Who Was…?” If you have not looked into this series, I recommend that you do! They are a fun, easy read that offers an engaging way for students to learn about historical figures and important people. Although this product is based on this series, this product could be used for any biography book or project. This is a nice way to integrate Reading, Writing, and Social Studies.

🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.

How I Used this Product

In my 3rd Grade classroom, I used multiple copies of the same book or books and paired students in partnerships. In my school, we have a 30 minute Reading Intervention Block. I began this project with students who were not pulled out or working with me in small groups during this time. This was a nice way for students to work independently or in partnerships. It also created an extension for what they could already do as readers. Plus, they had so much fun! I let them work on this project in their partnerships. This held several benefits. Many students who were not pulled out or working in small groups tend to be higher level students OR students who have untapped potential. Allowing them to work on a project like this can extend their learning, as well as find new ways to enjoy reading. While other students had special groups or went to see other teachers, it was nice for these students to have their own project too.

The Poster Page is a template that you could use for students to turn in with the essay or you could use this as a planning page and then have students create a larger poster on their own. I assigned it as homework and was pleasantly surprised at what my students turned in. I saw a wonderful increase in engagement by students who had shown little motivation or enthusiasm for reading. You can see the photos in the preview or in the product itself. Please know I updated the pages after the photos were taken with more detail and provided the poster template. Good luck to you with this project! If you have any questions, please contact me!

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Current Events Writing {What's the Scoop?}

✏️ Get students writing about the newspaper genre with Current Events Summarizing Worksheets! Wh Reading comprehension questions help students gather the main idea and supporting details to start their summaries. Perfect for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade.

About this Product:

Current Events are a nice way to integrate Social Studies, Reading, and Writing. Additionally, they are a wonderful way to keep your students connected to the community and world around them. 

🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.

This resource addresses the following Common Core State Standards:

Common Core Reading Anchor Standard 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. 
Common Core Reading Anchor Standard 2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

Common Core Reading Anchor Standard 3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. 

Common Core Reading Anchor Standard 4: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
Common Core Reading Anchor Standard 6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of the text.

This product includes:

What’s the Scoop? Directions, Rubric, and Checklist?
This page gives the student directions for their assignment and then offers a checklist/rubric. In this way, students know exactly what is expected of them and how they will get their grade. This is also helpful for the teacher when grading the assignment.

What’s the Scoop?
This part of the assignment requires students to find a newspaper article and then answer Who, What, When, Were, and Why questions based on the article. 

The Author’s Craft
This portion of the assignment requires students to think about the author’s perspective, angle, and word choice in the text/about the topic. Students will identify the author’s tone (positive, negative, neutral) and then give examples of the author’s word choice. Students will also identify two new words, give the sentence from the article that used the word, meaning of the word, and create a new sentence using the word. 

Sum it Up!
Students will use the article as well as the answers to the previous questions to write a summary of their article.