Literature Studies
Grade 5
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
Essential Question
How do life lessons vary depending on the historical context and its influence on characters and their motivations?
Content/Academic Vocabulary
Alliteration
Cause/Effect
Climax
Culture
Era
Hero
Main Idea & Details
Personification
Resolution
Symbolism
Timeline
Audience
Characterization
Compare/Contrast
Discrimination
Events
Hyperbole
Metaphor
Point of View
Secondary Source
Stereotypes
Author’s Purpose
Characters
Conflict
Draw Conclusions
Exaggeration
Idiom
Narrator/Narration
Primary Source
Setting
Theme
Autobiography/Biography
Chronological Order
Context
Economics
First-Person Point of View
Inference
Onomatopoeia
Religion
Simile
Third-Person Point of View
Focus Questions
Based on a book’s historical setting, what can I learn from making connections to characters and their experiences?
How does an author use literary devices in historical fiction to create meaning?
What can I discover about myself through reading historical fiction?
How do my actions reflect the historical era in which I live?
In what ways do characters change and develop throughout this historical fiction novel?
Literature Studies
Grade 5
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
Student Outcomes
Think about what you want the student to know and be able to do.
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Identify significant historical events and how they influenced the novel.
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Interpret literary terms and explain how they improve the author’s writing.
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Compare and contrast texts in various forms including written, audio, staged, or multimedia versions.
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Compare and contrast the points of view in historical fiction and non-fiction texts about the same topic or time
period.
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Analyze accounts of the same historical event and describe important similarities and differences with details.
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Locate and identify primary sources that will help the reader understand the historical climate.
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Present findings learned from various texts in the form of oral presentations.
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Design and share Q-Matrix questions, focusing on stem numbers 13 – 36, that correspond to assigned texts.
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Create a timeline anchoring the fictional parts of a story to actual historical events.
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Create an historical narrative is if you were the character in your historical novel.
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Write opinion pieces expressing viewpoints of characters and their struggles relevant to the time period.
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Write constructed responses to critical thinking questions citing evidence from the historical text.
ELA Focus Standards:
Key Ideas and Details
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when
drawing inferences from the text.
Literature Studies
Grade 5
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how
characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic;
summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.3 Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama,
drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).
Craft and Structure
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative language such as metaphors and similes.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.5 Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall
structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.6 Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are
described.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.7 Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty
of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).
(RL.5.8 not applicable to literature)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.9 Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries and adventure
stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and
poetry, at the high end of the grades 4–5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Fluency
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.5.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.5.4a Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
Literature Studies
Grade 5
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.5.4b Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and
expression.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.5.4c Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding,
rereading as necessary.
Comprehension and Collaboration
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and
teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own
clearly.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.1a Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material;
explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under
discussion.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.1b Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.1c Pose and respond to specific questions by making comments that contribute to
the discussion and elaborate on the remarks of others.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.1d Review the key ideas expressed and draw conclusions in light of information
and knowledge gained from the discussions.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.2 Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and
formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.3 Summarize the points a speaker makes and explain how each claim is supported by
reasons and evidence.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.4 Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using
appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an
understandable pace.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.5 Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in
presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, using formal English when appropriate
to task and situation.
Literature Studies
Grade 5
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
Text Types and Purposes
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and
information.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information
clearly.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and
research.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.9a Apply grade 5 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Compare and contrast two
or more characters, settings, or events in a story or a drama, drawing on specific details in the text [e.g., how
characters interact]”).
Phonics and Word Recognition
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.5.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.5.3a Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication
patterns, and morphology (e.g., roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context
and out of context.
Suggested Works: Historical Fiction Grade 5 (Instructional Levels 3-6+)
(CC)-Common Core/Highly Recommended
A Boy At War, Harry Mazer
Al Capone Does My Shirts, Gennifer Choldenko (CC)
And Then What Happened Paul Revere?, Jean Fritz (CC)
At Ellis Island, Louise Peacock (CC)
Baseball in the Barrios, Henry Horenstein (CC)
Bat 6, Virginia Euwer Wolff
Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis (CC)
Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan (CC)
George Washington’s Socks, Elvira Woodruff (CC)
Literature Studies
Grade 5
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
Hiroshima, Laurence Yep (CC)
Hurricanes, Seymour Simon (CC)
Iron Thunder, Avi (CC)
Jackie and Me, Dan Gutman
My Brother Sam is Dead, James Lincoln Collier & Christopher Collier (CC)
Number the Stars, Lois Lowry (CC)
One Crazy Summer, Rita Williams-Garcia (CC)
Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse (CC)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor (CC)
Shooting the Moon, Frances O’Roark Dowell (CC)
Sing Down the Moon, Scott O’Dell (CC)
Snow Treasure, Marie McSwigan (CC)
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, Jacqueline Kelly (CC)
The Fighting Ground, Avi (CC)
The Great Serum Race, Debbie S. Miller (CC)
The Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare (CC)
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi (CC)
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, Christopher Paul Curtis (CC)
The Whipping Boy, Sid Fleischman (CC)
Titanicat, Marty Crisp (CC)
War Comes to Willy Freeman, James Lincoln Collier & Christopher Collier (CC)
Zia, Scott O’Dell (CC)
Possible Assessments:
Formal AssessmentsMAP w/ Descartes
Special Ed Probes
PSSA
DRA
Summative AssessmentsDiscussion/Group Participation
Self/Teacher Assessment Guided Reading Participation
Literature Studies
Grade 5
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
Weekly Response Journals tied to Independent Reading
Focus Skills
End of Book Tests
Q-Matrix
Constructed Reponses
Story Elements
Charting Organizational Constructs
Vocabulary (Shared/Guided Reading)
Words Their Way Assessments
Making Meaning Assessments
Writing Pieces using Common Core Writing Standards
Oral/Slate Assessment
Teacher Created Rubric (Rubistar)
Culminating Book Projects