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 17
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.
New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 5R5 · 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 New York
In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 3 of 17 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
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 2
Sort each text by the author's main purpose.
Sort into: 📘 Inform · 📢 Persuade · 🎭 Entertain
- 🗳️A poster asking you to vote for Sam
- 🌋A science book about volcanoes
- 🔨Instructions for building a birdhouse
- ✉️A letter asking the city to build a park
- 🔍A mystery novel about a missing painting
- 🐶A comic about a dog who wants to be an astronaut
📘 Inform: A science book about volcanoes, Instructions for building a birdhouse · 📢 Persuade: A poster asking you to vote for Sam, A letter asking the city to build a park · 🎭 Entertain: A mystery novel about a missing painting, A comic about a dog who wants to be an astronaut
Hint: Inform = teach facts. Persuade = convince you. Entertain = tell a story or make you laugh.
Question 3
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.
Question 4
How is this text organized?
- cause and effect
- compare and contrast
- sequence
- description
sequence
Hint: Signal words like first, next, then and finally show steps or events in order.
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
the glossary
Hint: The glossary is like a small dictionary at the back of the book.
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
- sequence
- description
- compare and contrast
description
Hint: The text describes one thing in detail: what it looks like, sounds like or feels like.