Fifth Grade Language Arts Lessons & Activities by CoreKnowledge

This is the final CoreKnowedge Language Arts curriculum post, giving you the freely available Grade 5 Language Arts materials, instructions and teaching modules. Student activity books, readers, teacher guides, digital components and alignment charts are included in the lesson units below. Subject areas include learning content for skills improvement in language arts, literature and history. (All file sizes larger than 5MB are indicated.) Language arts materials are also available for Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade and Fourth Grade.

Documents To View And Download For Grade 4 Language Arts Curriculum:

Introduction: Teacher Guide – Grade 5
The Introduction to grade 5 CKLA provides component descriptions as well as background information on common lesson types and instructional practices.

Decoding and Encoding Remediation Supplement (21.75MB)
The Decoding and Encoding Remediation Supplement contains assessments and remediation materials for grades 4 and 5 that build incrementally, intended for use with students who have gaps in their code knowledge or fluency.

Beginning-of-Year Assessment: Teacher Guide – Grade 5
The Beginning-of-Year Assessment consists of reading comprehension, grammar, morphology, word reading in isolation, and fluency assessments. The analysis and placement recommendations determine students’ preparedness for grade-level CKLA instruction.

Yearlong Teacher Resources: Teacher Guide – Grade 5 Ancillary Materials
The Yearlong Teacher Resources document includes resources for use across multiple CKLA units. These include an Individual Code Chart, Anecdotal Reading Records, Tens Recording and Conversion charts, Using Chunking to Decode Multisyllabic Words, and the Sound and Spelling of Schwa.

Fluency Supplement: Fourth and Grade 5 Ancillary Materials
The Fluency Supplement contains selections from a variety of genres for grades 4 and 5 to provide additional opportunities for students to practice reading with fluency and expression.

LA Unit 1 Grade 5 Skills – They Call Me Güero

In this first unit of Core Knowledge’s Language Arts program, students study contemporary fiction through the novel, They Call Me Güero, which is written in various forms of poetry. Through They Call Me Güero: A Border Kids Poems, students explore the many aspects of the living on the border between two countries. They look at the cultural richness inherent in being part of two cultures, and the difficulties of having family on either side of a protected border. Students review the writing process, and engage in an extended writing project. This unit includes a Beginning of Year Assessment.

LA Unit 2 Grade 5 Skills – Early American Civilizations

Students develop reading, writing, listening, and thinking skills through engagement with informational text in the Student Reader Maya, Aztec, and Inca. Students explore the complex civilizations developed by the Maya, Aztec, and Inca prior to the arrival of Europeans. Students learn about the geography of each region. They learn about the innovations and discoveries made in these civilizations, and read some of their myths. Students use the writing process to write an informative or explanatory report that compares and contrasts the three civilizations. Lessons include explicit instruction in grammar, morphology, and spelling.

LA Unit 3 Grade 5 Skills – Adventures of Don Quixote

Students will learn that the Adventures of Don Quixote was originally written in the early 1600s by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (generally referred to as “Cervantes”/saer*von*taes/) who lived in Spain. This work represents a very popular genre of books read and enjoyed by many people during this period which recounted fantastic adventures, brave deeds, and fanciful romances of various fictitious knights. This unit also provides explicit instruction in reading, writing, morphology, grammar, and spelling.

LA Unit 4 Grade 5 Skills – The Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that began in Italy and swept through Europe. During the Renaissance, increased trade between European countries led to increased wealth, power, and influence of the middle class. Scholars, philosophers, and artists turned to the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans for inspiration. This unit provides students with a broad exposure to the art and literature of this time period, through the works of renowned masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Bruegel, Dürer, Van Eyck, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Cervantes, and Shakespeare. Students review the writing process, and engage in an extended writing project. This unit also provides explicit instruction in reading, writing, morphology, grammar, and spelling.

Teacher Guide: The Renaissance – Unit 4(10.90MB)
Activity Book: The Renaissance – Unit 4 (7.94MB)
Student Reader: The Renaissance – Unit 4 (6.20MB)
Digital Components: The Renaissance – Unit 4 (13.30MB)
Alignment Chart: The Renaissance – Unit 4

LA Unit 5 Grade 5 Skills – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Students will review what they learned about William Shakespeare in the Renaissance Unit, and continue to assess why his work is still important today. Students will read A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which is perhaps one of Shakespeare’s most known plays. This play is a literary work – a play. Students will understand that the word literary comes from the Latin word litterarius which means “letters”, referring to the letters of the alphabet. Students will analyze literary elements such as character, setting, theme, plot (series of events), conflict, resolution, point of view, and dialogue. This unit also provides explicit instruction in reading, writing, morphology, grammar, and spelling.

LA Unit 6 Grade 5 Skills – The Reformation

In this unit, students learn about the Reformation, a movement involving religious and political upheaval that shifted the power in Europe from the Catholic Church to the state and led to the creation of Protestantism. Gutenberg’s invention of an efficient printing press helped fuel the Reformation movement and allowed Martin Luther’s and others’ ideas to spread quickly. Great advances in science were also made during this time, some of which challenged religious doctrine and contributed to the undermining of the power of the Catholic Church. Students review the writing process, and engage in an extended writing project. This unit also provides explicit instruction in reading, writing, morphology, grammar, and spelling.

Teacher Guide: The Reformation – Unit 6 (9.30MB)
Activity Book: The Reformation – Unit 6 (17.84MB)
Student Reader: The Reformation – Unit 6 (9.26MB)
Digital Components: The Reformation – Unit 6 (5.00MB)
Alignment Chart: The Reformation – Unit 6

LA Unit 7 Grade 5 Skills – Poetry

Students will learn that the poems in this unit are drawn from various literary traditions over the last several centuries, and they range from William Blake’s eighteenth century verse to the work of such contemporary writers as Virgil Suárez and Marie Howe. The poets come from many backgrounds and nations; the poets included are of European, Middle Eastern, African American, Native American, and Hispanic descent. The poems themselves are similarly diverse; some employ precise meter and rhyme schemes, while others use free verse and experimentation. This unit encourages students to express their views on the poems they encounter. This unit also provides explicit instruction in reading, writing, morphology, grammar, and spelling.

LA Unit 8 Grade 5 Skills – Native Americans

Students will explore how the policies of the American government in the 1800s and contact between Native Americans and settlers, missionaries, traders, and explorers adversely affected Native American traditions, cultures, ways of life, and relationship with the land. The unit presents information about diverse Native American tribes and nations with unique identities and cultures, including their specific regions and the geography of those regions. The unit reveals the unique role Native Americans played during World War II, and the struggle to transmit and preserve the diverse languages spoken by Native Americans. This unit also provides explicit instruction in reading, writing, morphology, grammar, and spelling.