To make a paper airplane, start by folding a sheet of paper in half the long way. After that, fold the top corners down to the center crease. Then fold each side down again to make the wings. Last, give it a gentle throw.
5th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 3 of 11
Purpose and Structure
Why and how authors write
What your child practices
Deciding whether a text informs, persuades or entertains, recognizing five common text structures and their signal words, and using text features like the glossary and index.
Alabama Course of Study content standard: 5.24 · an author's purpose and text structure
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Authors write to inform (teach), persuade (convince) or entertain.
- Text structures: description, sequence (first, then), compare and contrast (alike, unlike), cause and effect (because, so) and problem and solution.
- Captions explain pictures. The glossary explains bold words.
Example: A text says you should always wear a helmet because it keeps you safe. What is the author’s main purpose? “You should” tries to get the reader to do something. Convincing a reader is persuading. Answer: to persuade
Purpose and Structure in Alabama
In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 3 of 11 in 5th grade English Language Arts, after Figurative Language and before Context Clues.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Which signal words often appear in a cause and effect text?
- for example, such as, looks like
- first, next, then, finally
- the problem is, to fix this, one solution
- because, so, as a result
because, so, as a result
Hint: Words like because, so and as a result show why something happened and what happened next.
Question 2
How is this text organized?
- description
- sequence
- cause and effect
- compare and contrast
sequence
Hint: Signal words like first, next, then and finally show steps or events in order.
Question 3
Which text feature at the back of a book lists topics in ABC order with page numbers?
- caption
- table of contents
- index
- heading
index
Hint: The index helps you find every page where a topic is mentioned.
Question 4
Sort each text by the author's main purpose.
Sort into: 📘 Inform · 📢 Persuade · 🎭 Entertain
- ✉️A letter asking the city to build a park
- 📺A TV ad for a new cereal
- ⛄A funny poem about a snowman
- 🔍A mystery novel about a missing painting
- 🌋A science book about volcanoes
- 📰A news report about a new bike path
📘 Inform: A science book about volcanoes, A news report about a new bike path · 📢 Persuade: A letter asking the city to build a park, A TV ad for a new cereal · 🎭 Entertain: A funny poem about a snowman, A mystery novel about a missing painting
Hint: Inform = teach facts. Persuade = convince you. Entertain = tell a story or make you laugh.
Question 5
How is this text organized?
The desert at night is cool and quiet. Sand stretches in every direction, silver under the moon. Tall cacti stand still against the stars, and the air smells faintly of dust.
- compare and contrast
- problem and solution
- sequence
- description
description
Hint: The text describes one thing in detail: what it looks like, sounds like or feels like.
Question 6
What is the author's main purpose?
Hummingbirds can flap their wings more than fifty times per second. This lets them hover in one spot while they drink nectar.
- to persuade
- to inform
- to entertain
to inform
Hint: Does the text teach facts or explain how to do something? Then its purpose is to inform.