Clair Hoey's List: Common Core - Fifth Grade

This lesson plan invites students to learn more about the historical significance of President Abraham Lincoln's famous speech, the Gettysburg Address, as well as the time period and people involved. After reading the Gettysburg Address in its entirety, students work in small groups to closely examine one sentence from the speech. They conduct research to learn more about the Civil War and the context and significance of Lincoln’s speech. Using an online tool, students create a multigenre project consisting of three types of writing and a drawing to communicate what they have discovered about the meaning and significance of their assigned sentence from the speech. The class then creates a display of the Gettysburg Address, with students’ multigenre projects posted near the applicable lines. Finally, students use the class-created display as a resource for individual writing in which they paraphrase the Gettysburg Address, giving the main points

Reading, answering questions, and analyzing the article, "Attack on Fort Sumter Marked Start of War" from the Washington Post's Kids' Post (A series of six lessons).

Reading, answering questions, and analyzing "My Name is Kiki" from the Washington Post's Kids' Post's "Kids Around the World" series (A series of four lessons).

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings by reading common idioms and using visual interpretations to understand their meaning (A series of five lessons).

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings by reading common idioms and using visual interpretations to understand their meaning (A series of five lessons).

Brainstorm, plan, and write an argumentative essay in the fifth grade (A series of six lessons).

Reading, analyzing, and gathering information and evidence across informational texts and using that information to write an informational text. This set draws on three texts from the Washington Posts' Kids' Post about battles of the Civil War (A series of eleven lessons).

Brainstorm, plan, and write an argumentative essay in the fifth grade (A series of seven lessons).

Interpreting a narrative writing prompt, brainstorming topics and drafting and revising a narrative response in the 5th grade for the prompt: Imagine that one day during recess, you and a friend stumble across a wooden box hidden under some leaves. The box has a lock on it and appears to be very old. Write a story that tells what happens next (A series of seven lessons).

Reading and responding to text-dependent questions by gathering evidence from the text and text features, organizing ideas, and writing an evidence-based response in the 5th grade (A series of nine lessons).

Interpreting a persuasive writing prompt, brainstorming topics and drafting and revising a persuasive response in the 5th grade for the prompt: Imagine your family is trying to decide whether or not to get a pet. Take a position on this subject. Would you like to have a pet or not? Write a letter to your family explaining why a pet is, or is not, a good idea. Support your opinion with strong reasons (A series of six lessons).

Interpreting a narrative writing prompt, brainstorming topics and drafting and revising a narrative response in the 5th grade for the prompt: Think about a person who is special to you. Why is this person special? Write about a story about a memory that you have of that person that shows why he or she is so special (A series of seven lessons).

Reading and analyzing the poem "A Patch of Old Snow" by Robert Frost (A series of six lessons).

Reading and analyzing the poem "The Fieldmouse" by Cecil Frances Alexander (A series of four lessons).

Brainstorming, drafting, revising, and deliverying a persuasive speech (A series of seven lessons).

An audio book collection of classic fairy tales and stories plus orgininal stories that can be downloaded and used in the classroom

Brainstorming topics and supporting reasons and drafting and revising a persuasive letter in the 5th grade (A series of seven lessons).

Collaborative groups will read a variety of American tall tales, then report elements of their story to the whole class. Students add story information to a collaborative, whole-class character study matrix that summarizes all the stories. In a writing activity, students compare two characters of their choice. Support for English Language Learners (ELLs) is embedded in the guided collaborative process, while the content of the stories adds to all students’ knowledge of American culture and history. The stories used in the lesson include well known and lesser-known diverse characters. The lesson process is applicable to any set of related texts.

In this lesson, students critically examine the perspectives of slaves and slave owners. Students begin by reading fiction and nonfiction texts about slavery. Through discussion and a K-W-L chart, students monitor their learning. Next, students analyze the K-W-L information and create a T-chart to compare the two perspectives using this question as a springboard: "Why would each group have a different perspective, and is it justified to say that one perspective was right or wrong considering the historical context?" Finally, students choose one of three writing projects to synthesize their learning and demonstrate comprehension of the critical perspectives surrounding slavery.

This lesson uses the book Meet Addy by Connie Porter to teach the characteristics of historical fiction, making inferences and using visualization, and Civil War history. The book tells the story of a young girl who escapes from slavery during the war. Students learn how to visualize and infer events from the author's choice of words and then refine their comprehension by questioning the text together.