Leap into Literacy
Grade 5
Reading Strategy: THIEVES
THIEVES is a non-fiction reading strategy that helps children preview text in depth. This strategy is based on Close Reading of Informational Texts: Assessment Driven Instruction Grade 3-8 by Sandy Cummins, this set of non-fiction reading strategies is designed to help students preview text closely. The goal is for them to independently set a purpose for reading nonfiction text.
Writing Strategy: Effective Note-Taking
When writing informational text, students often copy, word for word, from sections of the text they are using. Remind students to put the information into their own words.
- Strategy 1: suggest that rather than copying directly from a published text, writers find it helpful to record only keywords and phrases as they read. After reading a chunk of pages, have students close the book and return to the list of phrases, this time writing about each of the terms.
- Strategy 2: Tell them “...read a section of the text, maybe even twice, then look away from the text and explain it to yourself. That puts the text into your own words! Then you can write down what you figured out to say to yourself.”
NewsELA Text Sets
Text Sets help enhance your curriculum and spark your students’ interest in a topic. You can push your students to learn more about the world by building a text set around a particular theme or topic. Reading articles within a text set will help your students build their vocabulary and background knowledge on a certain topic.
Suggested Information Mentor Texts
- The Beetle Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
- Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
- Red-Eyed Tree Frog by Joy Cowly
- Tigress by Nick Dowson
DOGO News
DOGO is a leading source for current events, news, and non-fiction texts across a variety of categories and grade levels. Students can discover articles of interest and post comments based on their reactions to the content, all within the confines of a kid-friendly ecosystem.
Speaking and Listening: 5 Ways to Help Students Listen
Check out these tactics for encouraging a deeper level of listening that also include student accountability:
- Say it Once
- Turn and Talk
- Student Hand Signals
- Pay Attention, Pause, Paraphrase
- Creating Questions