In this unit, you observed instructional activities from a grade 5 classroom in which the students learned to read a historical primary source closely, discuss and write about the text, conduct research, and then apply their knowledge.  Review the summary of key concepts from the unit below:

• When developing lessons in the content areas, it is important to focus the lesson on addressing the relevant content standards while using the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy to develop students’ literacy skills including close reading of historical primary sources and other informational text, critical thinking, effective speaking, and expository writing skills.
• Giving students “talking points” or other sentence frames helps elementary students discuss and the text they have read.
• By demonstrating a “think-aloud” teachers can model effective strategies for students to utilize when they encounter challenging text passages on their own.
• Re-reading and paraphrasing text are helpful steps in close reading protocols that support to students’ comprehension and helps teachers’ monitor students’ learning.
• Asking students to respond to text-dependent questions compels students to go back to the text to clarify meaning of important concepts and provide evidence to support their conclusions.
• It is important to support students’ development of general academic and domain-specific vocabulary while being cognizant that many students benefit from being provided with multiple means of representation.
• By grade 4, students should be taught how to write multiple-paragraph opinion/argumentative and informative/explanatory essays about history/social studies content.
• Collaborative conversations about text and content help students better understand their reading, participate in civil discourse, and meet 21st century competencies.
• Teachers can support biliteracy development by encouraging English learners to communicate in their primary language as a step in their progress towards fluency in English.
• Teaching students how to use technology to conduct research, prepare and give presentations, and complete writing assignments supports many CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy and helps students meet 21st century competencies.