1. Reading Informational Text
Welcome to this presentation about the top 5 ideas your child will learn during the second quarter of fifth grade.
Top 5 Big Ideas Your Child Will Learn in the Second Quarter of Fifth Grade

2. Compare and Contrast the Structure of Two or More Informational Texts
Big Idea 1 is being able to compare and contrast the overall structure of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts. Students should note structures such as chronology, cause/effect, or problem solution. 1

3. How you can help your child:
Compare/Contrast
Chronological
Cause/Effect
Problem/Solution
One way to help your child when reading informational text is to encourage your child to match the presentation of details in the text with one of the graphic organizers shown to assist in identifying the structure of a text. Once the structure has been identified for one text, identify the structure for the following text then have conversations with your child about which structure was most effective at presenting the information. Think about and explain what might have led the author to select the text structure he or she used. 1

4. Analyze Multiple Accounts of The Same Topic
Big idea 2 is analyzing multiple accounts of the same topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent. For example, all three pictures give detail about the efforts to fight this year’s California wildfires. Yet each of the pictures has a vastly different story to tell, because each is shown from a different point of view. 2
California Wildfires, 2015

5. How you can help your child:
To assist your child, choose texts that cover the same subject, but are written from different perspectives. For example, a perspective of the coverage of Olympic games written by sports reporters, local newspapers and/or athlete participants. Afterwards, consider the point of view in each of the accounts and how might they be similar or different. 2

6. Use Multiple Print or Digital Resources to Answer a Question
Big Idea 3 is being able to use multiple print or digital resources to answer a question. 3

7. How you can help your child:
You can help your child by encouraging your child to research an interesting topic, looking at print articles and associated graphics. Talk about each, then ask questions such as ‘What is the main point of the article?’ and ‘How do the graphics support or disprove what the article says?’ or ‘What are key statements that would need to be included in a summary of the information?’ Ask your child to show you information in the article or graphic that supports his or her response. 3

8. Big Idea:
Use the relationship between particular words (e.g., synonyms, antonyms, homographs) to better understand each of the words.
Big Idea 4 is understanding how words are related, which will help to better understand words as they are used in text. 4

9. How can you help your child:
You can help your child become a word detective by using thesaurus or dictionary to build background knowledge that will help them better understand word relationships in text.

10. Opinion Writing in Response to Informational Text
Point – Make your point
Evidence- Back it up, support your point with evidence and examples
Explanation- Explain how the evidence supports your point
Link- Link this point to the next point in the following paragraph
Big Idea 5 is being able to write an opinion piece in response to informational text. Your child will need to support his or her opinion with reasons and information from the text. 5

11. How you can help your child:
Read text(s)
Form Opinion
Place Ideas in logical order
Highlight Important facts from text
Support opinions with text evidence
After reading an informational text, ask your child about his or her feelings about the points presented in the text. For example, if the text was about school uniforms, ask your child if schools should have uniform policies in place. When your child responds, ask him or her to support the opinion with evidence from the text. What examples or information did the author provide that proves that your opinion is correct? After discussing this with your child, have him or her write an opinion piece. Remind your child to be sure to clearly state the opinion and support it with text evidence and examples. It might be fun for parents to write an opinion piece with a differing perspective, and then compare the way each of you used text evidence. 5

12. For more information please visit, www.ocps.net/parents