Common Core State Standards for Grades 4-5: Language Arts Instructional Strategies and Activities

122 Pages·2013·0.474 MB·

by  Michelle Manville

Common Core State Standards for
Grades 4–5
Language Arts Instructional
Strategies and Activities
Michelle Manville
ROWMAN&LITTLEFIELDEDUCATION
Adivisionof
ROWMAN&LITTLEFIELD
Lanham•Boulder•NewYork•Toronto•Plymouth,UK
PublishedbyRowman&LittlefieldEducation
AdivisionofRowman&Littlefield
4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706
www.rowman.com
10ThornburyRoad,PlymouthPL67PP,UnitedKingdom
Copyright©2013byMichelleManville
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorbyany
electronicormechanicalmeans,includinginformationstorageandretrievalsystems,
withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewerwhomayquote
passagesinareview.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Manville,Michelle,1953–
Commoncorestatestandardsforgrades4–5:languageartsinstructionalstrategiesandactivities/
MichelleManville.
pagescm
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN978-1-4758-0667-0(pbk.:alk.paper)—ISBN978-1-4758-0668-7(electronic)
1.Languagearts(Elementary)—UnitedStates.2.Languagearts(Elementary)—Standards—United
States.3.Education,Elementary—Activityprograms—UnitedStates.I.Title.
LB1576.M377552013
372.6—dc23
2013021144
TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican
NationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary
Materials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Contents
Introduction v
1 InstructionalStrategiesandActivities:AnOverview 1
2 Grades4–5TextExemplars 13
3 Grade4CommonCoreStateStandards 15
4 Grade4StrategiesandActivitiesforReadingLiterature 21
5 Grade4StrategiesandActivitiesforReadingInformational
Text 33
6 Grade4StrategiesandActivitiesforReadingFoundational
Skills 41
7 Grade4StrategiesandActivitiesforWriting 43
8 Grade4StrategiesandActivitiesforSpeakingand
Listening 45
9 Grade4StrategiesandActivitiesforLanguage 47
10 Grade5CommonCoreStateStandards 49
11 Grade5StrategiesandActivitiesforReadingLiterature 55
12 Grade5StrategiesandActivitiesforReadingInformational
Text 69
13 Grade5StrategiesandActivitiesforReadingFoundational
Skills 77
14 Grade5StrategiesandActivitiesforWriting 79
15 Grade5StrategiesandActivitiesforSpeakingand
Listening 85
16 Grade5StrategiesandActivitiesforLanguage 87
AppendixA:Alphabox 91
AppendixB:SummaryFrames 93
AppendixC:PositionPaperFormat 95
AppendixD:StemQuestions 97
AppendixE:SampleGrade4AdvanceOrganizers 99
AppendixF:SampleGrade5AdvanceOrganizers 101
AppendixG:SampleParentLetter 103
iii
iv Contents
AppendixH:ProductsandPerformances 105
AppendixI:VerbstoQuestion 109
References 113
AbouttheAuthor 115
Introduction
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts
and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
were developed to ensure that students are ready for the challenges of
college and career literacy by the end of their high school years. The
standards were developed for specific areas of reading literature and
informational text, writing, speaking and listening, and language for
gradesK–12.Theseresearch-andevidence-basedstandardsarerigorous
and are aligned to the College and Career Readiness anchor standards,
which establish what all students should know and be able to do on
enteringpostsecondaryinstitutions.
At a time when schools across the nation are looking for ways to
improvestudent achievementinmostcontentareas,itseemsreasonable
to combine the standards and effective instructional strategies as you
createactivitiestohelpwiththeimplementationoftheCCSS.
When you look at the CCSS, think of the standards as representative
of what students need to know and be able to do and what you need to
doasateachertohelpthembesuccessful.BasedontheidentifiedCCSS
and other skills, students need to know how to compare and contrast;
summarize information and take notes; create visual representations of
information;worktogethercollaboratively;conductresearch;andbeable
to askand answerhigher-orderquestions.Additionallytohelp students
achievesuccess,teachersneedtoprovideampleopportunitiestopractice
newskillsanddemonstrateandenhanceknewlearning.
Amultitudeofstudieshavebeenconductedoverthepastthirtyyears.
From these studies, Education Northwest, formerly Northwest Regional
Education Laboratory (2005), compiled a list of effective instructional
strategies with descriptions, research findings, and implementation sug-
gestions. When developing activities to address CCSS, keep in mind the
strategies of identifying similarities and differences, summarizing and
notetaking,nonlinguisticrepresentations,cooperativelearning,generat-
ing and testing hypotheses, questions, cues, and advanced organizers,
andhomeworkandpractice.Asteachers,providemanyopportunitiesfor
homeworkandpracticeasyouimplementtheCCSS.
Thereisnoguaranteethatactivitiesbasedonanystrategywillhelpin
everyinstance,anditmaybequitepossiblethatsomestrategiesaremore
effectiveincertainsubjectareasandgradelevelsandwithstudentsfrom
v
vi Introduction
different backgrounds and aptitudes. Whether or not you use a strategy
willdependonyourstudents’previousknowledgeandcurrentabilities.
It is the intent of this book to give teachers a ready-made resource to
use when planning lessons around CCSS. In each section you will find
grade-appropriate, ready-to-use activities aligned to specific CCSS in
English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science
andTechnicalSubjects.Allyouneedtosupplyisthecontent-richtext.
It is my hope that you will find this an essential component of your
instructional materials as you plan your curriculum for the students of
thetwenty-firstcentury.
ONE
Instructional Strategies and Activities:
An Overview
Many of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) can be taught and
reinforcedusingavarietyofactivitiescombinedwithCCSSandeffective
instructional strategies. According to Visual Teaching Alliance (www.
visualteachingalliance.com),“approximately65percentofthepopulation
are visual learners . . . [and] 90 percent of the information that comes to
thebrain is visual.”TheVTA alsostatesthat “thebrainprocessesvisual
information60,000timesfasterthantext...[andthat] visualaidsinthe
classroomimprovelearningbyupto400percent.”
The use of graphic organizers—visuals—enables students to better
organizetheirthinkingandgivesavisualframeofreferenceforinforma-
tion. Students are able to see the connections between previous learning
and new knowledge. Graphic organizers increase students’ abilities to
use higher-order thinking skills, facilitate retention of information, are
brain-friendly, and appeal to the multiple intelligences of visual-spatial,
verbal-linguistic,logical-mathematical,andnaturalist.Theuseofgraphic
organizers also helps those students who are English as a second lan-
guage (ESL) learners or English language learners (ELLs) comprehend
conceptsmoreeasilybecausetherearefewerwordstocomprehend.
When you write lesson plans, think about the various graphic orga-
nizers you can use in activities: T-charts, Venn diagrams, matrices, con-
ceptmaps,wordwebs,mindmaps,graphs,chains,flowcharts,andlists.
Several suggestions are given throughout this book, but you may find a
different organizer to help you help yourstudentslinknewinformation
to old thoughts or to organize thoughts. Not all organizers are age or
gradeappropriatesochoosecarefully.
For those standards that are not appropriate for graphic organizers,
youwillfindsuggestionsforawidevarietyofstructuresthatyoucanuse
1
2 Chapter1
in your classrooms. The ideas you find do not represent a definitive list
andyoumayadaptthosesuggestionstouseinotherinstances.
Theinstructionalstrategiesdescribedinthistexthavebeenidentified
as effective practices by various educational practitioners based on a
multitude of research. Common Core State Standards for Grades 4–5: Lan-
guage Arts Strategies and Activities addresses the use of these strategies
withrespecttotheK–12CCSSforEnglishLanguageArtsandLiteracyin
History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects and provides a
multitudeofready-to-useactivities.
SIMILARITIESANDDIFFERENCES
When students identify similarities and differences, the process helps
studentsdeepentheunderstandingofwhattheyarelearning.According
to Markman and Gentner (1996), identifying similarities and differences
is a basic cognitive process. Students use the processes of comparing,
classifying, creating metaphors, and creating analogies to describe how
items,events,processes,orconceptsaresimilarordifferent.
Comparison and contrast activities help students to better compre-
hendnewconceptsandallowstheconnectionofnewknowledgetoexist-
ingconcepts.
Teachersshouldnotonlypointoutsimilaritiesanddifferencestostu-
dents,butshouldalsoallowstudentstodeveloptheirownstrategiesfor
comparing similarities and differences (http://netc.org/focus/strategies/
iden.php).StudentsinGrades4and5shouldalsodescribehowcompared
elementsaredifferent.T-chartsandVenndiagramsareeffectivetoolsfor
teachers and students to identify similarities and differences. Matrices
canalsoillustratetheseconcepts.
Grade4–5Activities
Activities to identify similarities and differences include creating T-
charts,2-and3-circleVenndiagrams,organizationalcharts,classification
charts, lists, graphs, maps, summary frames, essays, short research pro-
jects,opinionwriting,creatinganalogies,mindmaps,orwordwebs.
SUMMARIZINGANDTAKINGNOTES
Summarizing occurs unconsciously for most of us; yet, ask a student to
writeasummaryofachapterorastoryandheorshemaycomplainitis
too difficult. We need to teach students to give us only the important
details—eliminating the trivialities not necessary for comprehension.
ValerieAndersonandSuzanneHidisynthesizedvariousstudiesonsum-
marization.AccordingtoAndersonandHidi(1998/1999),whenyoufirst
InstructionalStrategiesandActivities:AnOverview 3
beginteachingsummarization,besuretochooseshortexcerptswitheasy
text,suchasnarrativesortextswithfamiliarconceptsandideas.Ander-
son and Hidi (1998/1999) also indicate that students need to be able to
select or delete what is included and then reduce the information into a
manageableamount.
SummaryFrames
Theuseofsummaryframeshelpsstudentsselectandreduceinforma-
tionforsummariesusingspecificquestionsandhelpsstudentsdevelopa
deeper comprehension of the information read. A summary frame is an
effective structure when summarizing reading assignments. Studies by
Meyer and Freedle (1984) show that reading comprehension increases
when students learn how to incorporate summary frames. Summary
frames also help students to focus on important information and allow
teachers to determine the depth of comprehension through student re-
sponses.
Narrative or story frames include information about the characters;
setting; actions, feelings, and goals of the main character; and conse-
quences.
Definition framesusefourquestions:Whatconceptisbeingdefined?
Towhichcategorydoestheitembelong?Whataretheattributesorchar-
acteristicsoftheconcept?Whatexamplesaregiventoillustratethecon-
cept?
Problem-solution frames introduce a problem and identify one or
more solutions following this format: statement of something that hap-
pened or might happen that could be problematic; a description of a
solution; statements of other possible solutions; identification of a solu-
tionwiththegreatestchanceofsuccess.
Grade 5 students may begin to use the argumentation frame. Ques-
tions in an argumentation frame include what information is presented
thatleadstoaclaim,whatisthebasicstatementoffocus,whatexamples
support the claim, and what concessions are made about the claim. You
willneedto knowtheabilitiesofyourstudentstobeginusingtheargu-
mentationframeeffectivelyinyourclassroom.
Grade4–5Activities
CommonsummarizationactivitiesforGrades4and5includetheuse
ofnarrative,orstory,definition,andproblem-solutionsummaryframes,
acrostics,journalentries,visualrepresentations(bulletinboards,posters,
models), concept webs, multicolumn T-charts, concept webs, time lines,
outlines,5WandHowcharts,rapsorothersongs,mnemonics,andpara-
phrases.SeeAppendixBforexamplesofsummaryframes.