informational texts independently and to share their
understandings, insights, and responses with others. (See
chapter 2 of this ELA/ELD Framework for a discussion of
independent reading.) Students in these grades learn to
engage meaningfully with increasingly sophisticated and
complex texts and tasks and to convey and support their
understandings of texts and grade-level topics in writing,
discussions, and presentations. They continue to develop the
skills they acquired in previous grades and they acquire new
skills related to meaning making. Among the new meaning
making skills addressed in the fourth- and fifth-grade span
are the following:
- Inference making and referring to details in a text
(quoting accurately in grade five) to support inferences (RL/RI.4–5.1) - Summarizing text (RL/RI.4–5.2)
- Describing the elements or explaining the content of text (RL/RI.4–5.3)
- Making sense of allusions to significant characters in mythology and figurative language (RL.4–
5.4) - Explaining the structure of different types of texts or part of a texts (RL/RI.4.5)
- Analyzing different points of view and accounts of the same event or topic (RL/R.4–5.6)
- Interpreting, using, and making connections among and analyzing different visual and
multimedia elements of text and how they contribute to meaning (RL/RI.4–5.7) - Explaining an author’s use of evidence to support ideas conveyed in text (RI.4–5.8)
- Comparing and contrasting texts with similar themes or on the same topic and integrating
information from different texts (RL/RI.4–5.9) - Considering the audience when writing to convey opinions, information/explanations, and
narratives (W.4–5.4) - Drawing evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and
research (W.4–5.9) - Reviewing key ideas expressed in discussions and, in grade five, drawing conclusions
(SL.4–5.1) - Paraphrasing and summarizing portions of text read aloud or information presented in diverse
media (SL.4–5.2) - Identifying evidence a speaker or media source provides to support particular points and, in
grade five, identifying and analyzing any logical fallacies in evidence or reasons provided to
support a claim (SL.4–5.3)
See the section on language in this overview of the span for language-related meaning making
standards that are new to the fourth- and fifth-grade span.
The CA ELD Standards amplify this emphasis on meaning making. Students continue to learn
to interact in meaningful ways (Part I) through three modes of communication: collaborative,
interpretive, and productive. In order to engage meaningfully with oral and written texts, they
continue to build their understanding of how English works (Part II) on a variety of levels: how
different text types are organized and structured to achieve specific purposes, how text can be
expanded and enriched using particular language resources, and how ideas can be connected and
condensed to convey different meanings. Importantly, fourth- and fifth-grade EL students deepen their
language awareness by analyzing and evaluating the language choices made by writers and speakers.
Students in these grades learn
to engage meaningfully with
increasingly sophisticated and
complex texts and tasks and
to convey and support their
understandings of texts and
grade-level topics in writing,
discussions, and presentations.Grades 4 and 5 Chapter 5 | 399