What does a student learn in StateMissouri,GradeGrade 5,SubjectEnglish Language Arts?

Reading skills students use to understand what a text says, figure out what it means, and explain how they know. This standard covers the close-reading work students do across stories, articles, and other texts in fifth grade.

Students read a passage and explain what the text says outright, then go further and figure out what the author implies but never states directly. Both conclusions need words or sentences from the text as backup.

Students read a passage and back up their conclusions with two kinds of proof: words the author actually wrote and reasonable guesses the evidence supports.

Students figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words by using context clues, word roots, and other strategies. The goal is reading without stopping to look everything up.

Students use prefixes, suffixes, and root words from Latin and Greek to figure out what an unfamiliar word means. Reading the surrounding sentences helps them check their guess.

Students use the words and sentences around an unfamiliar word to figure out what it means. This skill also applies when a word has more than one meaning and students have to pick the right one.

Students figure out what phrases like "it's raining cats and dogs" or "the tip of the iceberg" actually mean when they show up in a story or article. The phrase isn't literal; students explain what the writer really meant.

Students practice using three kinds of words: everyday words they already know, general school words that show up across subjects, and topic-specific vocabulary tied to what they're reading or studying.

Students read on their own for stretches of time, choosing books or articles for different reasons: to learn something, to enjoy a story, or to answer a question they have.

Reading fiction, poetry, and plays, students go beyond the words on the page to figure out what the author means, why characters act as they do, and what the story adds up to.

Students look at two or more characters across stories and explain how their roles, relationships, and conflicts are alike or different. The focus is on why each character matters to the plot, not just what they do.

Reading a story closely enough to name what lesson it teaches, what problem the main character faces, and how that problem gets resolved by the end.

The narrator telling a story shapes how readers feel about the characters and events. Students figure out whose perspective is driving the story and how that viewpoint colors what gets shared and what gets left out.

Students read nonfiction and use its headings, charts, captions, and other features to figure out information the main text doesn't spell out directly.

Students use headings, captions, charts, and images together to find information in a nonfiction text and get a quick sense of what the whole piece covers.

Students read nonfiction passages and figure out what the author means beyond the literal words. They notice techniques like comparison, repetition, or word choice and use those clues to draw their own conclusions.

Students read a nonfiction text, decide whether the author actually accomplished what they set out to do, and back up that opinion with specific details from the text.

Students read a nonfiction author's conclusion and decide whether the reasoning behind it actually holds up. They point to specific details from the text to explain why the argument makes sense or falls short.

Students read nonfiction passages and figure out how the author organized the information, such as by cause and effect or problem and solution. That structure helps students understand and explain what the text is saying.

Nonfiction writers organize information in patterns, such as cause and effect or problem and solution. Students figure out which pattern a text uses and explain how that structure shapes the way ideas connect.

Students read multiple articles or books on the same topic, then pull the most useful facts together to write or talk about that subject with confidence.

Reading longer words gets easier when students recognize familiar patterns, like prefixes, suffixes, and roots. Students use those word parts to sound out and make sense of new words on the page.

Students break apart long, unfamiliar words by using letter sounds, syllable patterns, and word parts like prefixes and suffixes. The goal is to read those words correctly when they appear in a sentence or passage.

Students read words built from roots, prefixes, and suffixes, and learn the key vocabulary that shows up across subjects like science and social studies.

Students take their prewriting notes or outline and turn them into a full draft, following the shape and style that fits the type of writing they chose.

Students reread their writing, make improvements to what they say, and fix errors in grammar and spelling, with a teacher or peer helping them spot what to change.

Students state a clear opinion and back it up with reasons and evidence from what they've read or learned. The goal is to persuade a reader, not just share a feeling.

Students explain a topic clearly in writing, using facts, definitions, and details to help the reader understand. This standard covers the whole process: choosing what to include, organizing it, and wrapping it up.

Students write their own stories, poems, or personal narratives. The work can be made-up fiction or drawn from real events.

Students gather information from multiple sources (books, websites, interviews) and organize what they find to support a piece of writing. The goal is to use research as a tool, not just copy facts.

Students practice choosing which sources actually help answer their question, whether that source is a story, a book, a website, or an article.

Students learn the difference between putting an idea in their own words and copying someone else's words without credit. Paraphrasing is allowed; passing off another person's exact words as your own is not.

Students use correct grammar in what they say and write. That means choosing the right verb forms, keeping tenses consistent, and building sentences that follow standard English rules.

Students learn to name and use the eight parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. They practice spotting each one in sentences and using them correctly in their own writing and speech.

Students write sentences that contain more than one idea, connecting a main thought to a supporting clause. The goal is variety: not every sentence looks the same.

Students use correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling in their own writing, not just on worksheets. This standard is about getting those details right in real sentences and paragraphs.

Students practice placing a comma after an opening clause before the main sentence begins. For example, "When the bell rang, everyone ran outside" needs that comma after the first part.

Students use apostrophes to show that something belongs to one person or thing, like "the dog's leash" or "Maria's backpack." This is different from a plural or a contraction.

Students add an apostrophe after the -s in words like "the dogs' leashes" or "the teachers' desks" to show that something belongs to more than one person or thing.

Students practice listening carefully in class discussions, group work, and presentations. They focus on what the speaker is actually saying before they respond.

Students ask follow-up questions when something is unclear and connect their own comments to what a classmate just said, keeping a class discussion moving forward.

Students listen to a speaker, then sum up the main point in their own words, pointing to specific details from what was said to back up their summary.