Meaning Making
Instructional attention to meaning making is critical
through all grade levels. Fifth grade is no exception. In fact,
it is especially important as students are moving into middle
and high school where a great deal of their learning will occur
through interactions with texts. Students need to have the skills
and the dispositions to engage with complex and challenging
texts. Teachers continue to provide instruction that enables all
students’ ability to comprehend a range of texts.
As noted in previous sections, teachers develop text
dependent questions to prompt different kinds of thinking about
both literary and informational text. Students are supported to
disentangle the meanings of potentially problematic concepts,
important academic vocabulary, and complex text and
grammatical structures. They locate main ideas and supporting
details. They identify arguments and evidence in texts. They examine the author’s craft. (See the
meaning making sections in the overview of the span and grade four sections of this chapter for more
on these topics.)
In addition to having students answer questions, teachers ensure that students ask questions
of the text. They also teach students how to use a variety of strategies to comprehend difficult text.
Importantly, they ensure that all students read complex text, knowing that students build skill with
such text by engaging with it. And, they continue to read aloud (and think aloud) from complex text,
modeling meaning making for students and expanding their exposure to sophisticated content, ideas,
and language.
Students in grade five are now able to approach text with greater purpose, and they begin to
realize that they can interact with a text in ways that allow them to more deeply understand the text’s
meaning and also question its premises. Over the course of days, teachers guide students through a
series of experiences designed to guide them to extract and construct meaning and to take a critical
stance with the text. For example, fifth graders may engage with a challenging informational text on a
topic of interest, such as expanding recycling services in the school and community. Deep engagement
with the text is designed intentionally and purposefully in the following way.
Before reading a text, students- Consider a key question related to recycling: “The City of ABC provides curbside recycling, but
city residents are not using it as much as the city had planned. What will it take to get people
to sort their garbage and do more recycling?” Students discuss the topic briefly with one or two
classmates near their desks and then do a quickwrite to capture their thinking on the question. - Listen to their teacher’s brief explanation of the
phrase, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” and then brainstorm
terms related to the concepts and organize them into
categories. - Preview the text of the article on recycling noting
its headings, captions, diagrams, title, author, and
publisher. - Answer questions about the article given what they
have seen so far: “What do you think this text will be
about?” “What do you think the purpose of the article
will be?” “How could you turn the title of the article
into a question to answer as you read?”
Students in grade five are now
able to approach text with
greater purpose, and they
begin to realize that they can
interact with a text in ways that
allow them to more deeply
understand the text’s meaning
and also question its premises.Grade 5 Chapter 5 | 465