Grade 5 ESL Curriculum

 ESL provides students with direct instruction in vocabulary, grammar, and syntax of academic language.  This language instruction planned collaboratively to address core content areas (including ELA Modules) and WIDA Key Language Uses. Students engage with grade-level texts, build content knowledge, and share what they have learned through academic conversations and writing. ESL instruction responds to the cultural and linguistic knowledge and strategies that students bring to the classroom and those that they need for success in school. 

Unit

Time

frame

Big Ideas (Statements or Essential Questions)

Major Learning Experiences from Unit 

Newcomer curriculum

(optional - based on teacher recommendation)

6-8 weeks 

  • How can I be a member of the school community?

  • How is my language different/same as English?


Students will 

  • INFORM by identifying/naming/labeling to participate in discussion

  • EXPLAIN by summarizing main ideas and key details to describe or report information

Module 1 - Stories of Human RIghts

10 weeks 

  • What are human rights, and how can they be threatened?

  • How can we use writing to raise awareness of human rights?

Students will NARRATE, INFORM, EXPLAIN and ARGUE 

  • by answering questions 

  • by summarizing 

  • by discussing books

  • by describing character and their reactions


See Grade 5 ELA Overview for more context

Module 2 - Researching to Build Knowledge and Teach Others: Biodiversity and the Rainforest

10 Weeks

  • Why do scientists study the rainforest?

  • How do authors engage readers in narratives?

Students will NARRATE, INFORM, EXPLAIN and ARGUE 

  • by answering questions

  • by summarizing 

  • by discussing books

  • by research 

  • by creating a first-person story 


See Grade 5 ELA Overview for more context

Module 3 - Athlete Leaders of Social Change

10 weeks 

  • How have athletes broken barriers during the historical era in which they lived?

  • What factors can contribute to an individual’s success in changing society?

Students will NARRATE, INFORM, EXPLAIN and ARGUE

  • by summarizing 

  • by discussing books

  • by identifying key ideas and details

  • by stating a claim and giving evidence 

  • by comparing and contrasting 


See Grade 5 ELA Overview for more context

Module 4 - The Impact of Natural Disasters

10 weeks 

  • How do natural disasters affect the people and places that experience them?

  • How can we prepare for a natural disaster?

Students will NARRATE, INFORM, EXPLAIN and ARGUE

  • by talking about books

  • by talking about how illustrations support text

  • by comparing and contrasting

  • by stating a claim and giving evidence 


See Grade 5 ELA Overview for more context