Grade 5 English Language Arts
10 units matched to the Manitoba Curriculum. Kids see this subject as “Language Arts”.
Learning focus
- A1 Oral Language Communication: Learners will apply listening and speaking skills to receive, exchange and develop ideas for various purposes and audiences.
- A2 Language as the Foundation for Reading and Writing: Learners will develop and apply the understanding of the system of language (knowledge and skills) and language comprehension for reading and writing.
- B1 Acquire New Information: Learners will activate, acquire and build background knowledge through inquiry of diverse topics and engagement with multimodal forms of text (e.g., visual, oral, print, digital, experts, Elders).
- B2 Construct Meaning: Learners will understand and apply a variety of comprehension strategies to construct the meaning of text and consolidate new information.
- B3 Think Critically about Multimodal Text and Respond: Learners will recognize, analyze, and respond critically to inequities, bias and viewpoints in texts and ideas.
- C1 Generate Ideas, Create Plan and Draft/Prototype: Learners will generate ideas, conduct research, evaluate sources, and design a plan to compose multimodal texts (visual, multimedia, oral, written) for a range of purposes and audiences.
- C2 Enhance the Clarity and Artistry of Multimodal Texts: Learners will apply knowledge and understanding of the variables of writing to enhance the clarity, precision and effectiveness of their creations and reflect critically on created text.
- C3 Edit and Publish: Learners will apply knowledge of editing to communicate the text clearly and coherently to an audience, using a variety of media, tools and strategies to publish text.
- D1 Share Ideas and Information: Learners will use a range of multimodal forms of communication (e.g., visual, multimedia, oral and written texts) to share, clarify, and extend ideas/ information for different purposes and audiences.
- D2 Assess and Set Goals: Learners will use metacognition (the ability to think about one’s own thinking) to assess their language skills as listeners, speakers, readers, writers, viewers and representers, supporting their grow as independent learners. Learners will set goals and monitor progress.
Units
Unit 1
Reading Detectives
Reading original stories, a poem and nonfiction passages, then finding the theme and main idea, making inferences, describing characters, summarizing and working out word meanings.
Learning outcome: ELA.5.B2.3, ELA.5.B2.5, ELA.5.B2.6 · predicting, monitoring understanding and summarizing key ideas
Unit 2
Plot and Conflict
The five parts of a plot, types of conflict (person vs. person, nature or self), and telling first-, second- and third-person point of view apart.
Learning outcome: ELA.5.B2.1, ELA.5.B2.4 · the structure of stories, and connecting to texts
Unit 3
Figurative Language
Spotting similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, onomatopoeia and alliteration, and explaining what common idioms really mean.
Learning outcome: ELA.5.A2.5, ELA.5.C2.3, ELA.5.C2.4 · descriptive and figurative language
Unit 4
Purpose and Structure
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.
Learning outcome: ELA.5.B2.1, ELA.5.C1.4, ELA.5.C2.1 · text forms, purposes and organization patterns
Unit 5
Context Clues
Using the words around an unfamiliar word to figure out what it means, naming the type of clue, and choosing the right meaning of words like “bat” or “bank.”
Learning outcome: ELA.5.A2.5, ELA.5.B2.7 · using context to work out word meaning
Unit 6
Greek and Latin Roots
Learning common Greek and Latin roots (like tele = far, port = carry, rupt = break) and using them to figure out long words such as “spectator” or “interrupt.”
Learning outcome: ELA.5.A2.4 · word parts and morphology
Unit 7
Verb Tenses
Choosing irregular past-tense verbs (brought, swam, froze), making verbs agree with their subjects, naming tenses and keeping tense consistent within a sentence.
Learning outcome: ELA.5.C2.3, ELA.5.C3.4 · verb tenses in writing
Unit 8
Complex Sentences
Choosing conjunctions like although, because and unless, finding dependent and independent clauses, telling simple, compound and complex sentences apart, and combining sentences.
Learning outcome: ELA.5.C2.2 · simple, compound and complex sentences
Unit 9
Punctuation Power
Placing commas after introductory words, using colons before lists, writing possessives and contractions, choosing its/it's and their/there/they're, and punctuating dialogue.
Learning outcome: ELA.5.C3.3, ELA.5.C3.4 · capitals, commas, colons and apostrophes
Unit 10
Media Smarts
Spotting the tricks ads use, telling facts from opinions, and asking smart questions about who made a message and why.
Learning outcome: ELA.5.B3.2, ELA.5.B3.3 · bias, point of view and persuasive techniques in media
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