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Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area.
Standard #: LAFS.5.RI.2.4Archived Standard
Standard Information
General Information
Subject Area: English Language Arts
Grade: 5
Strand: Reading Standards for Informational Text
Idea: Level 2: Basic Application of Skills & Concepts
Cluster: Craft and Structure
Date Adopted or Revised: 12/10
Content Complexity Rating: Level 2: Basic Application of Skills & Concepts - More Information
Date of Last Rating: 02/14
Status: State Board Approved - Archived
Assessed: Yes
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Related Resources
Lesson Plans
  • Newton's First Law of Motion Part 1 of 3 # This lesson plan is the first in a series of connected lessons on Sir Isaac Newton's Laws of Motion published on CPALMS. This lesson provides a brief background of Sir Isaac Newton and covers Newton's First Law of Motion.
  • Making It Rain # This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that addresses how different types of precipitation are formed. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Options to extend the lesson are also included.
  • Name That Organ! # Can you name that organ with one clue? What about two? Students will get the opportunity to research organs and create clue cards with at least four clues that will help others Name That Organ!
  • A Better Understanding of “Civil Rights on a City Bus” # This lesson consists of students reading a challenging text, "Civil Rights on a City Bus," about Rosa Parks. This text requires students to determine the claims made in the article by the author and the reasons and evidence used to support them. Students will also have a chance to use context clues to define vocabulary words within the text and answer text-dependent questions. Upon completion of the reading activities, students will write a short response that provides evidence to prove each claim made by the author.
  • Wildlife Refuges: A Project on Research and Reliable Resources # In this lesson, students will conduct research on the history of wildlife refuges in Costa Rica using a variety of reliable resources. They will collect information in pairs and work collaboratively to compare the information they found on different wildlife refuges to make sure the information is reliable. They will use the information they have found to independently create a brochure to present the information with pictures, graphics, or other multimedia elements to support their details.
  • Compare and Contrast: The Great Chicago Fire # This lesson will engage students in discussions involving how two texts on the same event can be compared. Students will read one text on the Great Chicago Fire that is a primary source, and another text that is a secondary source. For the summative assessment, students will write a summary about the Great Chicago Fire that includes the central idea and relevant details from the texts, and the similarities in how each author describes the Chicago fire.
  • Not Such a Secret: Summarizing, Central Idea, and Vocabulary # In this lesson, students will be read the non-fiction article, "A Well-Kept Secret." The students will work to determine the meaning of selected vocabulary from the article and find evidence in the passage to answer a set of text-dependent questions. Students will also explain how the relevant details support the central ideas and summarize the article.
  • Newton's Third Law of Motion # This lesson plan is the third in a series of connected lessons on Sir Isaac Newton's laws of motion published to CPALMS. This lesson plan teaches Newton's third law of motion.
  • Newton's Second Law of Motion Part 2 of 3 # This lesson plan is the second in a series of connected lessons on Sir Isaac Newton's laws of motion published to CPALMS. This lesson teaches Newton's second law of motion.
  • Inventions and Innovations MEA # Inventive minds have persisted throughout history. Inventors have improved our lives with inventions created out of a desire to solve a problem or make the quality of peoples' lives better. Our president is concerned that we are not keeping up with other countries in the area of engineering and inventive thinking. Why is this? As students explore famous inventions from around the world throughout history, they will decide what the best inventions of all time are and support their opinion with strong reasons.
  • Making Connections! # Lights, camera, action! Well, you would have action if the camera was on, and it can only turn on if it has a battery, and it can only work if the battery is charged. Put it all together, and you have a complete circuit! In this lesson, students will learn that a circuit can be connected in more than one way to make something work. The students will work to connect circuits and test different items to identify if they are conductors or insulators.
  • Sammy's Solar Fountains # In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students are presented with start-up business that needs to buy solar batteries for their business. Students will form engineering teams to review battery choices. Students will understand that solar energy is transferred into electrical energy.
    Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
  • What’s New at the Zoo?—an Engineering Design Challenge # This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help fifth grade students apply the concepts of plant and animal life cycles and physical characteristics, as well as animal behaviors in a compare and contrast situation. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark.
  • Making the Cut! # In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), the general manager (GM) of a National Football League (NFL) team has to decide which injured players to going to cut (remove) from the team and which players to keep. This is a very difficult decision for the GM to make. The GM cares about the players and this decision will end the football careers of those who are cut. This happens every season, so the GM wants a system that can be used to make this decision every year. Experts in the organs of the human body and their functions are needed to create this system. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
  • Proverbs: From Understanding to Application—Using Proverbs to Create an Original Narrative # In this lesson, students will identify and analyze common proverbs. They will create a definition and understanding of proverbs using vocabulary strategies for unknown words and phrases. Then using the literary text "The Story of Wang Li," students will identify the proverbs in the text, decipher them, and evaluate the appropriateness of them. The culminating activity will require students to use one of the proverbs from the literary text to create their own narrative in a present-day setting.
  • The Water Cycle - Back and Forth # In this lesson, students create a model (drawing) after learning the parts of the water cycle. The drawing will be in their science notebooks and will be something they will build on in future lessons. This lesson is intended to be the beginning of a unit on the water cycle for students to have a basic understanding of the stages within it and the vocabulary associated with it. Vocabulary words will be examined and connected to a model of melting ice in a water bottle.
  • What It's Made Of: A Solute to Mixture or Solution # In this lesson, students will explore samples to determine properties of components of mixtures. Over the course of the exploration, the teacher will guide the students to discover what sets a solution apart. Access points included.
Original Student Tutorial
Text Resources
  • What Makes it Rain? # This informational text is intended to support reading in the content area. The text informs readers about how several types of precipitation are formed in the atmosphere, including rain, hail, freezing rain, and snow.
  • Why Amazonian Butterflies Hover over Yellow-Spotted Turtles # This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text details the intriguing relationship between turtles and butterflies in the Amazon rainforest: butterflies drink the turtles' tears to get their sodium fix! The article also explores how both organisms are affected by this relationship.
  • Sleet and Freezing Rain: What's the Difference? # This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article and graphics explain the atmospheric conditions needed to form different types of precipitation: snow, freezing rain, and sleet.
  • Your Amazing Brain # This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This National Geographic article describes the amazing attributes of the human brain, comparing its features to everyday objects like a light bulb or a computer.
  • Sea Horses and How They Use Their Heads # This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how the dwarf seahorse's head shape allows it to be a better predator.
  • Carniverous Plants Say 'Cheese' # This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how, through high-speed video, scientists are able to see how bladderworts (carnivorous plants) trap small animals very quickly.
  • A Matter of Mixing # This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes properties of items as hyrdophobic or hyrdophilic and how they work.
  • The Comet that Came in from the Cold # This resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The comet ISON, believed to originate from the frozen Oort cloud, has been studied in order to make predictions about its destiny – will it be destroyed by, or slung around, the sun?
  • The Water Cycle Adventure # This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article walks the reader through the water cycle, from the point of view of a drop of water.
  • Water Cycle # This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article discusses the steps in the water cycle.
  • Restoring a Sense of Touch # This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This text explores the possibility of creating a prosthesis (artificial limb) that can feel things.
  • The Bad Breath Defense # This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes the ability of the hornworm caterpillar to defend itself against predators using its food source.
  • Secrets of the World's Extreme Divers # This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. "Secrets of the World's Extreme Divers" explores the reason sea mammals are able to hold their breath for long periods of time.
Unit/Lesson Sequence
  • The Story of Jackie Robinson: Bravest Man in Baseball # This is a fifth grade book unit on The Story of Jackie Robinson: Bravest Man in Baseball by Margaret Davidson (Lexile 760). The unit features a series of lessons titled: Distinguish Between Biography and Autobiography; Author's Opinion; Retelling a Life; Events and Effects; Text Features. The resource also includes an 18-day pacing guide, student resource packet and answer keys, and a unit assessment and answer keys.
STEM Lessons - Model Eliciting Activity
  • Inventions and Innovations MEA # Inventive minds have persisted throughout history. Inventors have improved our lives with inventions created out of a desire to solve a problem or make the quality of peoples' lives better. Our president is concerned that we are not keeping up with other countries in the area of engineering and inventive thinking. Why is this? As students explore famous inventions from around the world throughout history, they will decide what the best inventions of all time are and support their opinion with strong reasons.
  • Making the Cut! # In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), the general manager (GM) of a National Football League (NFL) team has to decide which injured players to going to cut (remove) from the team and which players to keep. This is a very difficult decision for the GM to make. The GM cares about the players and this decision will end the football careers of those who are cut. This happens every season, so the GM wants a system that can be used to make this decision every year. Experts in the organs of the human body and their functions are needed to create this system. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
  • Sammy's Solar Fountains # In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students are presented with start-up business that needs to buy solar batteries for their business. Students will form engineering teams to review battery choices. Students will understand that solar energy is transferred into electrical energy.
    Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
Original Student Tutorials Science - Grades K-8
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