Ice hockey and soccer are both team sports where players try to score in a net. Unlike soccer, hockey is played on ice, and players use sticks to move a puck. Soccer players, on the other hand, mostly use their feet to move a ball.
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.
Maine Learning Results learning standard: Reading 8 · 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 Maine
In the Maine Learning Results, 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.
- 5th grade guide for Maine parents
- Printable 5th grade English Language Arts sheet
- Maine report cards explained
Source: Maine Department of Education
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 description text?
- the problem is, to fix this, one solution
- first, next, then, finally
- both, however, unlike
- for example, such as, looks like
for example, such as, looks like
Hint: The text describes one thing in detail: what it looks like, sounds like or feels like.
Question 2
In a nonfiction book, where would you look up the meaning of a word printed in bold?
- the glossary
- a caption
- the table of contents
- a heading
the glossary
Hint: The glossary is like a small dictionary at the back of the book.
Question 3
What is the author's main purpose?
“Who left their socks in the fridge?” Dad shouted. Everyone looked at the dog, and the dog looked at the ceiling.
- to entertain
- to persuade
- to inform
to entertain
Hint: Is it a made-up story or something meant to be fun or funny? Then the purpose is to entertain.
Question 4
How is this text organized?
- description
- compare and contrast
- cause and effect
- problem and solution
compare and contrast
Hint: Words like both, however, while and unlike show how two things are alike and different.
Question 5
What is the author's main purpose?
Our town needs a new skate park. Kids need a safe place to be active, and the old tennis courts are hardly used. Please sign our petition!
- to inform
- to persuade
- to entertain
to persuade
Hint: Is the author trying to get you to think, buy or do something? Then the purpose is to persuade.
Question 6
How is this text organized?
When the town planted hundreds of trees along Main Street, the street became much shadier. Because it was cooler, more people started walking there in the summer. As a result, the shops on Main Street had more visitors.
- sequence
- description
- cause and effect
- compare and contrast
cause and effect
Hint: Words like because, so and as a result show why something happened and what happened next.