Introduction

This Supplement is designed to be used with the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Framework (2001), which contains learning standards written for two-year grade spans from 1-2 through 11-12. The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) for English Language Arts is based on these standards. Massachusetts students are currently assessed in English language arts at grades 3, 4, 7, and 10. However, the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires annual testing in reading at each grade from grades 3 through 8, beginning with a first operational test in spring 2006. Therefore Department staff, working with committees of educators, drafted grade-level standards for grades 3, 5, and 7, as presented in this Supplement. These grade-level standards are based on the twelve Framework standards that have always served as the basis for MCAS reading assessments. In drafting these standards, the Department has not changed the Curriculum Framework. Rather, the standards presented in this Supplement, when used with those already available in the Framework, offer educators, students, and parents detailed guidance about the learning expected at each grade level from grades 3 through 8.

Grade 5 Standards

Language Strand

Continue to address the grades PreK-4 standards as needed.

Standard 4: Vocabulary and Concept Development

Students will understand and acquire new vocabulary and use it correctly in reading and writing.

· Determine the meanings of unfamiliar words using context clues (for example, definitions, examples, explanations in the text).

· Determine the meanings of unfamiliar words using knowledge of common Greek and Latin roots, suffixes, and prefixes.

· Determine pronunciations and meanings of words, as well as alternate word choices and parts of speech, using dictionaries and thesauruses.

Standard 5: Structure and Origins of Modern English

Students will analyze standard English grammar and usage and recognize how its vocabulary has developed and been influenced by other languages.

· Identify seven basic parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, preposition.

· Expand sentences (for example, by adding modifiers or combining sentences).

· Identify past, present, and future verb tenses.

· Recognize that a word performs different functions according to its position in a sentence.

· Identify simple and compound sentences.

· Identify correct mechanics (for example, apostrophes, quotation marks, comma use in compound sentences, paragraph indentations) and correct sentence structure (for example, elimination of sentence fragments and run-ons).

Standard 6: Formal and Informal English

Students will describe, analyze, and use appropriately formal and informal English.

· Write stories using formal language in prose.

Reading and Literature Strand

Continue to address the grades PreK-4 standards as needed

and as they apply to more difficult texts.

Standard 8: Understanding a Text

Students will identify basic facts and main ideas in a text and use them as the basis for interpretation.

· Identify and draw conclusions from the author’s use of sensory details.

· Identify and draw conclusions from the author’s use of description of setting, characters, and events.

· Identify and analyze main ideas and supporting details.

Standard 10: Genre

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the characteristics of different genres.

· Identify the characteristics of various genres (for example, poetry, informational and expository nonfiction, dramatic literature, fiction, subgenres of fiction such as mystery, adventure, historical, or contemporary realistic novels and short stories).

Standard 11: Theme

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of theme in a literary work and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

· Apply knowledge of the concept that theme refers to the main idea and meaning of a literary passage or selection.

Standard 12: Fiction

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

· Identify the elements of setting, characterization, conflict, and plot structure.

· Identify personality traits of characters, and how their thoughts, words, and actions reveal their personalities.

· Describe how main characters change over time.

Standard 13: Nonfiction

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the purposes, structure, and elements of nonfiction or informational materials and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

· Identify and use knowledge of common textual features (for example, title, headings, key words, captions, paragraphs, topic sentences, table of contents, index, glossary).

· Identify and use knowledge of common graphic features (for example, charts, graphs, maps, diagrams, captions, illustrations).

· Identify common organizational structures (for example, chronological order, cause and effect).

· Identify and summarize main ideas, supporting ideas, and supporting details.

Standard 14: Poetry

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structure, and elements of poetry and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

· Identify and respond to the effects of sound, figurative language, and graphics in order to uncover meaning in poetry.

v Sound (alliteration and rhyme scheme: free verse; couplets; A, B, A, B)

v Figurative language (metaphor, simile)

v Graphics (capital letters)

Standard 15: Style and Language

Students will identify and analyze how an author’s words appeal to the senses, create imagery, suggest mood, and set tone, and will provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

· Identify sensory details, figurative language, and rhythm or flow when responding to literature.

Standard 16: Myth, Traditional Narrative, and Classical Literature

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structure, and elements of myths, traditional narratives, and classical literature and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

· Compare different versions of the same story from traditional literature (for example, American folktales).

· Identify common structures of traditional literature (for example, that characters or story elements often come in threes, such as three bears, three sisters, three wishes, or three tasks; or that there are magic helpers, such as talking animals, fairies, or elves).

· Identify common stylistic elements in traditional literature (such as repeated refrains, similes, hyperbole).

Standard 17: Dramatic Literature

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structure, and elements of drama and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

· Identify and analyze structural elements unique to dramatic literature (for example, scenes, acts, cast of characters, stage directions).

· Identify and analyze the similarities and differences between a narrative text and its film or play adaptation.