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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.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 5.1.5.2; 5.1.7.1 · the effects of informational text structures, and an author's argument

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Authors write to inform (teach), persuade (convince) or entertain.
  2. Text structures: description, sequence (first, then), compare and contrast (alike, unlike), cause and effect (because, so) and problem and solution.
  3. 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 Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, 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.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    How is this text organized?

    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.

    • problem and solution
    • cause and effect
    • sequence
    • compare and contrast

  2. Question 2

    Sort each text by the author's main purpose.

    Sort into: 📘 Inform · 📢 Persuade · 🎭 Entertain

    • 📰A news report about a new bike path
    • 🗳️A poster asking you to vote for Sam
    • 🌋A science book about volcanoes
    • ⛄A funny poem about a snowman
    • 📺A TV ad for a new cereal
    • 🐶A comic about a dog who wants to be an astronaut

  3. Question 3

    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 entertain
    • to persuade

  4. Question 4

    How is this text organized?

    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.

    • cause and effect
    • sequence
    • problem and solution
    • compare and contrast

  5. Question 5

    In a nonfiction book, where would you look up the meaning of a word printed in bold?

    • the table of contents
    • the glossary
    • a heading
    • a caption

  6. Question 6

    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.

    • problem and solution
    • cause and effect
    • description
    • compare and contrast

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