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Kentucky Standards

Kentucky 5th Grade ELA Standards

All 33 Kentucky English language arts standards for 5th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Kentucky Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.

33 standards

Reading Foundational Skills

2 standards
RF.5.3
Combine letter-sound knowledge, syllable rules, roots and affixes to read and spell long new words accurately, like transportation.
RF.5.4
Read grade-level texts with purpose and understanding, rereading prose and poems aloud until fluent and using context to confirm or correct words.

Reading Standards for Literature

9 standards
RL.5.1
Quote the exact words from a story that prove an answer, whether the story says it outright or only hints at it.
RL.5.2
Analyze how a story, poem or play reveals its theme, backing up the analysis with stated and implied evidence from the text.
RL.5.3
Show how two characters, places or events in a story or play are alike and different, using precise details to analyze how they affect each other.
RL.5.4
Work out what words and phrases mean in a text, including figurative meanings and the feelings words carry, like cheap versus thrifty, and analyze their effect.
RL.5.5
Compare how two or more stories, poems or plays are built overall, like one told in time order and one told through flashbacks.
RL.5.6
Describe how the narrator's or speaker's point of view shapes the way events are told.
RL.5.7
Analyze how images, sound and other media in a film, play or digital story add to its meaning or tone.
RL.5.9
Explain how stories of one genre, like two mysteries, are alike and different in how they handle similar themes and topics.
RL.5.10
Read rich grade-level fiction, poetry and drama independently, using background knowledge and strategies like making connections to understand and analyze it.

Reading Standards for Informational Text

10 standards
RI.5.1
Quote the exact words from a story that prove an answer, whether the story says it outright or only hints at it.
RI.5.2
Analyze how a nonfiction text develops its central ideas, supporting the analysis with stated and implied evidence.
RI.5.3
Explain how people, events, ideas or concepts in a history, science or technical text relate to or affect each other, using specific details.
RI.5.4
Work out academic and subject words in a grade-level text, like photosynthesis or debate, and analyze how they shape meaning.
RI.5.5
Compare how two or more nonfiction texts organize events, ideas or information, like one in time order and one by problem and solution.
RI.5.6
Analyze several accounts of one event or topic, noting key ways their points of view agree and differ.
RI.5.7
Analyze information from several print and digital formats, like a map, chart and website, to find an answer fast or solve a problem well.
RI.5.8
Explain how an author backs up particular claims, matching each claim with the reasons and evidence given for it.
RI.5.9
Combine facts from several texts on one topic or theme to build a full understanding, like sources on the water cycle.
RI.5.10
Read rich grade-level nonfiction independently, using background knowledge and strategies like comparing sources to understand and analyze it.

Composition

7 standards
C.5.1
Write an opinion piece, on paper or digitally, that states a clear view, gives logically ordered reasons backed by facts, uses transitions and ends with a conclusion.
C.5.2
Write to explain a topic, opening with a focus, grouping ideas logically, using facts, quotes, examples and precise terms, adding visuals or media, and concluding.
C.5.3
Write a real or made-up narrative, on paper or digitally, that orients the reader, uses dialogue, description and pacing, signals shifts in time, and ends naturally.
C.5.4
With little adult help, use digital tools to create and publish work and to work with others, like building a group slideshow.
C.5.5
Do a short research project that looks at several sides of a topic, such as a planet’s size, surface and moons, using several sources.
C.5.6
Collect useful facts from experiences or several print and digital sources, paraphrase or summarize them in notes and finished writing, and list each source.
C.5.7
Write regularly over both long stretches and short ones, from multi-week research to quick responses, for varied tasks, purposes and audiences.

Language

5 standards
L.5.1
Explain what conjunctions, prepositions and interjections do, use perfect tenses like had eaten, keep verb tenses consistent, and use pairs like neither and nor.
L.5.2
Use commas in lists, after opening phrases, with yes and no, tag questions and names of people addressed, italicize or underline titles, and fix spelling with tools.
L.5.3
Notice the difference between formal and casual English, like Good morning, Mrs. Lee versus Hey, and choose which fits the moment.
L.5.4
Pin down meanings of new and multiple-meaning words with context clues, roots, affixes and dictionaries, and use linking words like however and moreover accurately.
L.5.5
Explain a nonliteral phrase like take steps, name someone who is friendly to link a word to real life, and rank knew, believed and suspected by how sure they are.

The official Kentucky documents

The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Kentucky's standards, not the official wording, which Kentucky Department of Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.