5th Grade · Vocabulary · L.5.6

Academic Vocabulary Lesson Plan for 5th Grade

A ready-to-teach academic vocabulary lesson for 5th Grade, built around words for analyzing, words for arguing a point, academic words in a history passage, and an academic words review. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.

Approximately 47 minutes

Learning objective

Match school tasks to words like analyze and evaluate
Use argument words like claim, reason and evidence
Define academic words in a history passage

Materials

Words for Analyzing
Words for Arguing a Point
Academic Words in History Passages
Academic Words Review
Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples

Lesson steps

1. Build the background (5 min)
Put four examples of academic vocabulary on the board and ask students which one is the odd one out. There is rarely a single right answer, and the arguing is the lesson.
2. Read aloud and think aloud (I do) (10 min)
Work through two examples of academic vocabulary out loud, showing the clue you used each time. Students copy the method, not the answer, so narrate what you looked at first.
3. Guided practice (we do) (12 min)
Read a second passage together. This time students find the evidence and you record it. Push every answer back to the text with "what words told you that?"
4. Independent practice (you do) (15 min)
Hand out "Words for Analyzing". Students read and answer on their own. Circulate and ask individuals to point to the line in the text that supports their answer.
5. Share and close (5 min)
Two or three students share an answer and the evidence behind it. Restate academic vocabulary one final time in the students' own words, not yours.

Check for understanding

Collect the practice pages and sort them into three piles: fluent, developing, and not yet. Any student in the third pile needs academic vocabulary retaught in a small group before the class moves on.

Differentiation

Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild academic vocabulary with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.

Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own academic vocabulary problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand academic vocabulary.

Skills covered in this lesson

Academic vocabulary practice

Questions teachers ask about teaching academic vocabulary

What academic words should a 5th grader know?

Direction words like analyze, infer, evaluate, summarize and contrast, argument words like claim, reason and evidence, and cross-subject words like significant, impact and obstacle. CCSS L.5.6 asks students to use these general academic words accurately.

Why teach argument words in 5th grade?

5th graders write opinion pieces and read texts that argue a point. Knowing that a claim is the main point and evidence is the facts that support it helps them both write and judge an argument.

How does reading a history passage help with vocabulary?

Academic words show up most in content reading. The railroad passage puts words like significant and obstacles in context, so students practice using clues to define them the way they will in social studies.

Is there an answer key for each worksheet?

Yes. All four academic vocabulary sheets have an answer key.