The CA ELD Standards amplify this emphasis on
language, particularly on the development of academic
English and language awareness. Students interpret,
analyze, and evaluate how writers and speakers use
language; they explain how well the language supports
opinions or presents ideas (ELD.PI.4–5.7). Students also
analyze the language choices of writers and speakers,
distinguishing how their choice of language resources (e.g.,
vocabulary, figurative language) evokes different effects on
the reader or listener (ELD.PI.4–5.8). This amplification of
the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy also includes a strong focus on
selecting a wide variety of general academic and domain-
specific words, synonyms, antonyms, and figurative language
to create precision and shades of meaning while speaking
and writing (ELD.PI.4–5.12) or using modal expressions
(e.g., probably/certainly, should/would) to express attitudes or opinions or to temper statements in
nuanced ways. Part II of the CA ELD Standards highlight the importance the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy
places on developing deep awareness of how English works on multiple levels: discourse, text,
sentence, clause, phrase, and word levels.
Collaborative research projects promote language development as students communicate
their new and existing knowledge and relevant experiences to one another. Speaking and listening
standards from the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy are addressed (SL.4–5.1, especially, and depending upon
whether students prepare oral reports of their findings, SL.4–5.4), and the collaborative, interpretive,
and productive skills outlined in the CA ELD Standards are richly employed when children undertake
collaborative projects.
Vocabulary and Grammatical Understandings
The grades four and five CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy and CA ELD Standards continue the
development of academic language. Vocabulary is addressed explicitly in the ELA/Literacy Reading,
Writing, and Language strands. Students learn to determine the meaning of words and phrases in
literature as well as general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in informational texts
relevant to grade level topics and subject matter (RL/RI.4–5.4). They use precise language and
domain-specific vocabulary as they write informative/explanatory texts (W.4-5.2d), and they use
concrete words and phrases in narrative texts (W.4–5.3d). They determine or clarify the meaning of
unknown and multiple-meaning words or phrases in texts and content using a range of strategies,
learn figurative language, and acquire and use general academic and domain-specific words and
phrases (L.4–5, Standards 4–6). They use their knowledge of morphology (affixes, roots, and base
words), the linguistic context (e.g., the words, sentences, paragraphs, and larger sections of text
around a new word), as well as reference materials to determine the meaning of new words as they
encounter them in texts (L.4–5.4c; ELD.PI.6b)
Grammatical and discourse understandings are important
across all of the strands of the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy
and the CA ELD Standards, and they aid students in their
interactions with increasingly complex text. Students expand,
combine, and reduce sentences for meaning, reader/
listener interest, and style, using appropriate grammatical
conventions (L.5.3a). They use a variety of transitional
words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion in different
text types: to manage the sequence of events in narratives,
to link ideas within and across categories of information
The CA ELD Standards
amplify this emphasis on
language, particularly on the
development of academic
English and language
awareness. Students interpret,
analyze, and evaluate how
writers and speakers use
language; they explain how
well the language supports
opinions or presents ideas.The grades four and five CA
CCSS for ELA/Literacy and
CA ELD Standards continue
the development of academic
language. Vocabulary is
addressed explicitly in the
ELA/Literacy Reading, Writing,
and Language strands.Grades 4 and 5 Chapter 5 | 403