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5th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 14 of 17

Read With a Purpose

Use what you know and read at the right pace

What your child practices

Using prior knowledge, choosing varied texts, adjusting reading rate for purpose and checking understanding while reading.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 5RF4 · reading at the right pace, checking understanding and using context while reading

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Before reading, think about what you already know.
  2. Change your speed: skim fast to find a fact, slow down to understand.
  3. Stop and check: “Do I need to reread this part?”

Example: You are skimming a page to find a date. How do you read? You need one fact, not every word. A date is made of numbers. Answer: quickly, looking for numbers

Read With a Purpose in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 14 of 17 in 5th grade English Language Arts, after Talking Together and before Talk, Listen and Ask Why.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    You are skimming a page to find a date. You read…

    • every word slowly
    • backwards
    • quickly, looking for numbers

  2. Question 2

    Which strategy helps if you do not know a word?

    • close the book
    • skip the page
    • look at the words around it

  3. Question 3

    When a passage is hard to understand, you should…

    • stop for good
    • read faster
    • slow down and reread

  4. Question 4

    A good reader asks, "Does this make sense?" This is…

    • skimming
    • rhyming
    • self-monitoring

  5. Question 5

    Which source best builds background for a novel set in the 1800s?

    • a recipe
    • a short nonfiction article about the time
    • a weather map

  6. Question 6

    A strategy for remembering a long chapter is to…

    • skip headings
    • stop and summarize after each section
    • read it all and never think

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