Skip to main content
Common Core ELA5th GradeSpeaking & Listening

SL.5.5: Add Multimedia to a Presentation

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.5 · Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas.

Get the Presentation RubricAll 43 5th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 5, Speaking & Listening · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What SL.5.5 Means in Plain English

Fifth graders add a picture, a diagram, a sound clip or a slide to a presentation only when it makes a main idea clearer, and they talk about it while it is on screen. In a talk on how seeds sprout, four photos of one bean beat a sunflower.

Fourth graders (SL.4.5) add audio recordings and visual displays to presentations. Fifth grade widens the toolkit to graphics, sound and other media, picked because they move a main idea or theme forward. Sixth grade (SL.6.5) adds images and music, and each piece has to clarify information.

SL.5.5 I Can Statements

  • I can choose a picture or sound that makes my main idea clearer.
  • I can explain each visual while it is on the screen.
  • I can leave out media that only decorates my talk.

SL.5.5 Worked Example

Two plans for the same slide and what the speaker says over it. One decorates the talk, the other carries the main idea.

Prompt

Your talk explains how a seed becomes a plant. Plan one slide, and write what you will say while it is on screen.

Not YetMy slide has a big picture of a sunflower and the title “Plants!” with clip-art leaves around it. I’ll say, “Here is my slide. Plants are really cool. As you can see, this is a sunflower.”The picture shows a finished flower, not the steps the talk is about, and the speaker talks about the slide instead of with it. Take the slide away and nothing is lost.
Meets the StandardMy slide is a row of four photos of our class bean in its cup: day 1, the dry seed; day 3, the root poking out; day 6, the stem bending up; day 10, the first leaves. While it’s up, I’ll point to each one and say, “First the seed soaks up water and swells. Then the root grows down. Next the stem pushes up through the soil. Last, the first leaves open.”The four photos are the main idea, in order, and each spoken sentence points at one of them. A listener who misses a step can look up and catch it.
Moves to Use
Pick a visual that shows the main idea, not just the topic.Use sound only when hearing it teaches something, like a bird’s call.Talk about what is on screen while it is on screen.Keep the words on a slide short, so the audience listens to you.

Common Mistakes with SL.5.5

Decoration instead of information

A title slide with clip art and a background photo of a sunflower

Try this: Ask “What does this picture show that my words can’t?” and swap any visual without an answer for one that has it.

Reading a wall of text

A slide with six full sentences, read aloud word for word

Try this: Limit each slide to one picture and a few words, so the student’s voice explains and the slide shows what is meant.

Media that takes over the talk

A two-minute video clip in a three-minute presentation

Try this: Cap any clip at fifteen seconds, and have the presenter say before it plays what the audience should look or listen for.

Where SL.5.5 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.4.5Add audio recordings and visual displays to presentations when they help.
AlongsideSL.5.4Report on a topic or present an opinion with ideas in a logical order.W.5.6Use technology to produce and publish writing, the same tools that build slides.
Comes NextSL.6.5Include graphics, images, music and sound in presentations to clarify information.

Practice SL.5.5

Classroom TimerFree ToolRehearse each talk against the clock, slides and clips included, so the media never eats the time meant for the main ideas.Rehearsal3-minute talks
Start a Timer

Quick Check

  1. Why is the sunflower picture a weak choice for a talk on how a seed becomes a plant?
  2. What do the four photos on the strong slide show, in order?
  3. Give one example of a talk where a sound clip would make the main idea clearer.

SL.5.5: Other Names

SL.5.5CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.5

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.