- Raising students’ language awareness, particularly
of how English works to make meaning, in order
to support their close reading and skilled writing of
different text types
Students build language awareness as they come to
understand how different text types use particular language
resources (e.g., vocabulary, grammatical structures, ways
of structuring and organizing whole texts). This language
awareness is fostered when students have opportunities to
experiment with language, shaping and enriching their own
language as they learn to wield these language resources.
During designated ELD students engage in discussions
related to the content knowledge they are learning in ELA
and other content areas, and these discussions promote
the use of the language from those content areas. Students
also discuss the new language they are learning to use. For example, students might learn about the
grammatical structures of a particular complex text they are using in science or ELA. Alternately the
students might directly learn some of the general academic vocabulary from the texts they are reading
in ELA or social studies.
Since designated ELD builds into and from ELA and other content areas, the focus of instruction in
grade five depends on what students are learning and what they are reading and writing throughout
the day. As the texts students are asked to read become increasingly dense with academic language,
designated ELD may focus more on reading and writing at different points in the year, particularly for
students at the Expanding and Bridging levels of English
language proficiency.
Fifth graders are preparing to move into secondary
schooling. Their instructional program, including designated
ELD, should reflect the anticipated linguistic and academic
challenges of the secondary curriculum and prepare them for
these challenges. An intensive focus on language, building
into and from content instruction, enhances students’ ability
to use English effectively in a range of disciplines, raises
their awareness of how English works in those disciplines,
and builds their content knowledge. Examples of designated
ELD aligned to different content areas are provided in the
following snapshots as well as in the vignettes that conclude
this grade-level section. For an extended discussion of how the CA ELD Standards are used throughout
the day in tandem with the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy and other content standards and as the principal
standards during designated ELD, see chapters 1 and 2 of this ELA/ELD Framework.
During designated ELD
students engage in discussions
related to the content
knowledge they are learning
in ELA and other content
areas, and these discussions
promote the use of the
language from those content
areas. Students also discuss
the new language they are
learning to use.Fifth graders are preparing to
move into secondary schooling.
Their instructional program,
including designated ELD,
should reflect the anticipated
linguistic and academic
challenges of the secondary
curriculum and prepare them
for these challenges.Grade 5 Chapter 5 | 483