Fifth graders are social and love to work with friends. If interests and reading levels are equal, pairing students in reading partnerships is an enjoyable activity for reading literature. Plenty of teacher modeling on how to talk and have meaningful discussions about books and outlining specific guidelines for how to meet keeps children focused on the purpose for reading together. Because most fifth graders are fluent readers, suggest partners read alone and then meet to ask each other prepared questions. Provide lists of topics for discussions, such as "Why did the main character react this way?" or "Predict what the character will do next." Help students strengthen summarizing skills by having partnerships meet in small groups to tell the others about their books.
The Common Core Standards require fifth-grade students to read with fluency, as well as accuracy, for comprehension. Although most fifth-grade students prefer to read silently, do not neglect having students develop a smooth oral reading pace. Additionally, verbal expression and articulation is critical to conveying meaning in literature. Have your fifth grade students revisit their favorite picture books from the earlier elementary school years and practice oral reading fluency by reading these books to younger "Reading Buddies." Multiple readings, in preparation for this story time, give students valuable practice in oral reading and enhances fluency. Readers Theater is another way to engage children with literature and offer practice in fluent reading. This kind of reading is similar to a play production, but doesn't require memorization, set directions or staging. Rather, children read the dialogue of characters to convey the story line. Fifth graders are skilled enough to develop their own scripts from pieces of literature they enjoy, or they can practice fluent reading from prepared scripts obtained from a number of publishers and websites.
Locating specific details in a non-fiction text is a vital skill required in higher education. Being able to provide evidence to support a point of view relies on solid experience with expository reading. Make reading informational text purposeful by letting students initiate their own subjects for research. The topics can be related to science and history curriculum at the fifth-grade level, but the specific subject is left up to each child. Require children to use at least two different references on the same topic, and integrate the knowledge into a final paper or presentation for classmates. An "Expert Fair" can be one way to do this, with students presenting prepared posters, reports, projects or speeches to other classes or at a parent night.
Teaching the language devices used in literature, such as similes, metaphors, idiomatic expressions and colloquial dialogue, significantly improves children's chances of understanding a book or story. Have students locate similes, such as "as slippery as an eel," and metaphors like "sea of diamonds." Illustrate them in the literal sense, then write the passage in which it appeared, clarifying the meaning in context. Another way to heighten students' awareness of words is to begin a word bank or word wall and encourage kids to collect and display words from their reading that use particular roots, such as "biblio" or prefixes like "trans," for instance. Discuss the meaning of the words and how the phonetical origins provide clues to unfamiliar vocabulary. Finally, let students play with words. Have poetry readings, sponsor tongue twister contests and make alliteration ABC books.