Grade 5

Language Arts:

I. Writing, Grammar and Usage

A. Writing and Research

Produce a variety of types of writing – including reports, summaries, letters, descriptions, research essays, essays that explain a process, stories, poems – with a coherent structure or story line.

Know how to gather information from different sources (such as an encyclopedia, magazines, interviews, observations, atlas, on-line), and write short reports synthesizing information from at least three different sources, presenting the information in his or her own words, with attention to the following:

Understanding the purpose and audience of the writing

Defining a main idea and sticking with it

Providing an introduction and conclusion

Organizing material in coherent paragraphs

Illustrating points with relevant examples

Documenting sources in a rudimentary bibliography

B. Grammar and Usage

Understand what a complete sentence is, and

Identify subject and predicate

Correct fragments and run-ons

Identify subject and verb in a sentence and understand that they must agree

Know the following parts of speech and how they are used: nouns, verbs (action verbs and auxiliary verbs), adjectives (including articles), adverbs, conjunctions, interjections.

Understand that pronouns must agree with their antecedents in case (nominative, objective, possessive), number and gender.

Correctly use punctuation studied in earlier grades, as well as

the colon before a list

commas with an appositive

Use underlining or italics for titles of books.

C. Vocabulary

Know how the following prefixes and suffixes affect word meaning:

Prefixes:

anti (as in antisocial, antibacterial) inter (as in interstate)

co (as in coeducation, co-captain) mid (as in midnight, Midwest)

fore (as in forefather, foresee) post (as in postseason, postwar)

il, ir (as in illegal, irregular) semi (as in semicircle, semiprecious)

Suffixes:

ist (as in artist, pianist)

ish (as in stylish, foolish)

ness (as in forgiveness, happiness)

tion, sion (as in relation, extension)

II. Poetry

A. Poems

The Arrow and The Song (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Barbara Frietchie (John Greenleaf Whittier)

Battle Hymn of the Republic (Julia Ward Howe)

A bird came down the walk (Emily Dickinson)

Casey at the Bat (Ernest Lawrence Thayer)

The Eagle (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

I Hear America Singing (Walt Whitman)

I like to see it lap the miles (Emily Dickinson)

I, too, sing America (Langston Hughes)

Incident (Countee Cullen)

Jabberwocky (Lewis Carroll)

Narcissa (Gwendolyn Brooks)

O Captain! My Captain! (Walt Whitman)

A Poison Tree (William Blake)

The Road Not Taken (Robert Frost)

The Snowstorm (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Some Opposites (Richard Wilbur)

The Tiger (William Blake)

A Wise Old Owl (Edward Hersey Richards)

B. Terms

onomatopoeia

alliteration

III. Fiction and Drama

A. Stories

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)

episodes from Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)

Little Women (Part First) (Louisa May Alcott)

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Fredrick Douglass)

The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

Tales of Sherlock Holmes, including “The Red-Headed League” (Arthur Conan Doyle)

B. Drama

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (William Shakespeare)

Terms:

tragedy and comedy

act, scene

Globe Theater

C. Myths and Legends

A Tale of the Oki Islands (a legend from Japan, also known as the “The Samurai’s Daughter)

Morning Star and Scarface: the Sun Dance (a Plain Indian legend, also known as “The Legend of Scarface”)

American Indian trickster stories (for example, tale of the Coyote, Raven or Grandmother Spider)

D. Literary Terms

Pen name (pseudonym)

Literal and figurative language

imagery

metaphor and simile

symbol

personification

IV. Speeches

Abraham Lincoln: The Gettysburg Address

Chief Joseph (Highh’moot Tooyalakekt): “I will fight no more forever”

V. Saying and Phrases

Birthday suit A miss is as good as a mile.

Bite the hand that feeds you. It’s never too late to mend.

Chip on your shoulder Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Count your blessings. A penny saved is a penny earned.

Eat crow Read between the lines.

Eleventh hour Sit on the fence

Eureka! Steal his/her thunder

Every cloud has a silver lining. Take the bull by the horns.

Few and far between Till the cows come home

Forty winks Time heals all wounds.

The grass is always greener on the Tom, Dick and Harry

other side of the hill. Vice versa

To kill two birds with one stone A watched pot never boils.

Lock, stock and barrel Well begun is half done.

Make a mountain out of a molehill. What will be will be.