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Unit 3: 

Fifth-grade writers build upon their knowledge of essays to write a literary essay supporting a theme from close reading and analysis of text. They determine relevant and logical reasoning and support from textual analysis in order to have a more sophisticated literary essay. They notice the details of a story, and let those details lead them to develop their ideas. They pay special attention to a character’s motivations, struggles, changes, and traits in a story. They write a thesis that is compelling and defensible and then provide evidence that is supported by relevant examples from the story. They introduce the story, state the theme, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer's purpose. Students link their thesis and evidence and develop their paragraphs into a cohesive whole. Then they provide a conclusion that illustrates the significance of the thesis presented and leaves the reader with a powerful idea. Revision involves rereading to make sure that the evidence supports the theme. They use literary language to strengthen the quality of their writing. Editing involves checking for effective use of words and phrases, commas and quotation marks, and spelling of grade-appropriate words. Writers share their essays with an audience beyond the teacher and celebrate their growing accomplishments as writers.

Unit 4: 

Fifth graders have strong opinions and persuasive strategies. This unit aims to utilize these strengths in students. Writers will explore a class topic using texts, both digital and print, and reasons for and against the shared topic. Students will work with pre-chosen text sets to write their own position on the shared class topic. Students will learn to develop a solid argument by researching both sides of the issue. Students will read critically, to plan and write their own arguments which include reasons and evidence for their position on the topic.

Students will call on what they already know about persuasive essay structure. They will learn to lift evidence from sources and to analyze for stronger evidence to support their argument. Writers will use the writing process drafting and revising introductions and conclusions as well as making decisions about the paraphrasing and quotations useful to building their position from the supplied text sets. Students will develop systems for note taking and citing researched sources.

Writers will also consider counterclaims and validity within their essay writing. In the final concept of the unit, students will use all they have learned within persuasive essay writing to choose their own idea to take a stand for something that matters to them personally. Students will follow their own pace to effectively argue issues they have identified as needing change in their lives.

Assessment: Students will write a post on-demand opinion essay following the Pathways On Demand Opinion Prompt which will be scored using the Grade 5 Pathways Opinion Rubric. This will be completed in two class periods. One day will be for students to gather information from outside sources and one day for writing.

Unit 5:

This unit introduces students to the habits and skills necessary for reading informational and narrative nonfiction texts, which they explore in partnerships. They learn how to preview a text, how to determine the main ideas and decide whether they are explicit or implicit, and how key details support these main ideas. They explore strategies to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases. Students learn various text structures and how to choose appropriate graphic organizers to organize the information they are learning. They learn ways in which they can talk with others and teach others about a topic they are studying.  They understand the importance of quoting accurately from the text.  They learn how to push their thinking to grow ideas and form theories about the text, the text features, and the pictures. They explore narrative nonfiction texts and realize that these texts have the same structure as fiction texts. Students pursue a collaborative inquiry of study with their partners by asking questions and reading to locate answers to their questions. They learn how to use the structure of the text and key vocabulary words to paraphrase information in a text. They compare how information on the same subtopic in various texts is organized. Students analyze the author's purpose and point of view across multiple texts and examine the text for evidence of bias. They weigh the information they have read and decide what they think about the information. Students celebrate by planning presentations about their topics to share with others.

Unit 6: 

This unit is a culmination of the writing work that fifth graders have been doing this entire year. Students have been on a journey, learning how to engage audiences and elaborate ideas. They have drafted, revised, and celebrated their great efforts all year long. Particularly within information writing, students have already grasped the foundational skills necessary to structure their work.

Common Core Writing Standard 2 states that fifth graders can do the following: ‘Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.’ This standard goes further to expect appropriate structure (W.5.2.a.), elaboration (W.5.2.b.), linking words (W.5.2.c.), precise language (W.5.2.d.), and appropriate closure (W.5.2.e). In its entirety, Common Core Writing Standard 2 expects fifth graders to organize their information writing within a voice-filled structure, and this unit was created to assist in working toward those goals. Additional objectives for this unit will align with standard W.5.7, which expects students to participate in short research projects using multiple sources to build knowledge about different aspects of a topic and standard W.5.8 which expects that students summarize or paraphrase information, take notes, and list their sources. Students will bring an understanding of shared research writing experiences from grades K-2, as well as individual research project work from grades 3-4.

• Unit 3: Literary Essay
• Unit 4: Opinion Essay
• Unit 5: Reading Non-Fiction
• Unit 6: Informational Research Writing

Students will need the following:

• A device with camera and microphone enabled
• Headphones/Earbuds
• Access to Google Chrome
• Access to web based learning management platform