They continue to build their vocabularies and increase the number of words that they recognize. They will find the meanings of some new words by looking the words up in dictionaries or thesauruses. They will use many skills to help them understand what they have read. Fifth graders react to what they have read. Fifth graders discuss and write reports about their reactions to what they have read.
Fifth graders write stories and informational compositions.
Fifth graders now are able to organize their compositions in a logical manner. This year, they will focus on adding lots of detail to everything they write. They will learn to support their ideas with logical reasons. They learn that it is necessary to include enough description if the reader is going to be able to create a picture of an event or scene in his mind. They will also improve their beginning and ending paragraphs, and to use lively verbs.