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South Carolina Standards

South Carolina 5th Grade ELA Standards

All 35 South Carolina English language arts standards for 5th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in South Carolina Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.

35 standards

Overarching Expectations

6 standards
ELA.5.OE.1
Read and write at length for school and for fun, like a research report or a novel picked for independent reading.
ELA.5.OE.2
Build, sharpen, and share knowledge using print, spoken, visual, digital, and interactive texts, like a video, a website, or a class slideshow.
ELA.5.OE.3
Draw conclusions from clues in a text to understand it, like inferring how a character feels from what she does.
ELA.5.OE.4
Cooperate with a group and listen closely to others, like taking turns and responding to each speaker's point.
ELA.5.OE.5
Back up thinking with evidence, like quoting a line from an article to explain why an answer makes sense.
ELA.5.OE.6
Turn in quality work that follows an agreed format, like a report with a title, headings, and a source list.

Foundations of Literacy

1 standard
ELA.5.F.4.2
Read varied texts silently and aloud accurately at a fitting pace, with expression and tone, like giving each character in a script its own voice.

Applications of Reading

14 standards
ELA.5.AOR.1.1
Analyze how where a story happens, who is in it, and the problem they face shape the way its plot unfolds.
ELA.5.AOR.1.2
Analyze what similes, metaphors, and other figurative language add to a text's meaning and to the experience of reading it, like imagery in a poem.
ELA.5.AOR.2.1
Explain how a stated or unstated theme grows from the beginning to the end of a story, like a lesson a character slowly learns.
ELA.5.AOR.2.2
Explain how a stated or unstated main idea builds from start to finish in an informational text, like an article on why bees matter.
ELA.5.AOR.3.1
Explain how the narrator's point of view changes how events are told, and how an author reveals what one or more characters think and feel.
ELA.5.AOR.4.1
Compare and contrast a firsthand and a secondhand account of one event, like a diary and a textbook, and how each viewpoint shapes the content.
ELA.5.AOR.5.1
Explain how the parts of a story, play, or poem, like its chapters, scenes, or stanzas, work together to form the whole.
ELA.5.AOR.5.2
Compare and contrast how the features and structures of two or more nonfiction texts build their overall meaning, like two articles on volcanoes.
ELA.5.AOR.5.3
Find an author's argument and follow how it builds, pointing out the claims, reasons, and evidence used in a nonfiction text.
ELA.5.AOR.6.1
Summarize a text to understand it, retelling a novel's plot, theme, and key details or a science article's main idea and the details that support it.
ELA.5.AOR.7.1
Unlock unfamiliar and multiple-meaning words with context clues and with print or digital references for background, pronunciation, and part of speech.
ELA.5.AOR.8.1
Explain figurative and technical words in texts and media, like a metaphor in context, and use synonyms, antonyms, and homographs to grasp meaning.
ELA.5.AOR.9.1
Use prefixes, suffixes, and Greek and Latin roots to figure out new words or pin down exact meanings, like graph in autograph.
ELA.5.AOR.10.1
Compare and contrast a written text with a film, image, or performance of it, explaining how each version presents the subject.

Research

5 standards
ELA.5.R.1.1
Carry out a short research project by asking one or more questions about a topic and checking several print and media sources.
ELA.5.R.1.2
Judge how trustworthy each source is and rely on the most dependable ones, like choosing a museum website over an anonymous blog.
ELA.5.R.1.3
Decide which research facts truly matter to the topic, like keeping details on a planet's moons for a report about that planet.
ELA.5.R.1.4
Arrange research findings into logical groups, like sorting notes on an explorer into early life, journeys, and legacy.
ELA.5.R.1.5
Credit every source used in research to avoid plagiarism, like listing the title and author of each book and website.

Written and Oral Communications

9 standards
ELA.5.C.1.1
Write an argument that makes a claim, supports it with reasons and facts from reliable sources, groups ideas logically with transitions, and concludes.
ELA.5.C.2.1
Write informative pieces that develop a topic with facts, definitions, and quotes from sources, use linked paragraphs and precise words, and conclude.
ELA.5.C.3.1
Write true or imagined narratives with a clear situation, narrator and characters, a plot, dialogue and vivid details, smooth transitions, and a logical ending.
ELA.5.C.4.1
Write correct paragraphs with varied sentences, marking titles, using commas, colons, interjections, verb tenses, and agreement, and fixing fragments and tense shifts.
ELA.5.C.5.1
Strengthen a piece through planning, revision, and editing while building on their own ideas and classmates' input, like reworking a weak opening.
ELA.5.C.6.1
Write fluently in clear, readable cursive, like a final draft of a thank-you letter or a journal entry.
ELA.5.C.7.1
Present a report, opinion, story, or experience aloud in logical order with relevant facts, good eye contact, pacing, and volume, adding digital visuals with help.
ELA.5.C.8.1
Take part in focused class discussions, building on others' ideas, asking and answering questions, and reflecting on different points of view.
ELA.5.C.9.1
Judge how convincing a speaker's argument is by pinpointing each claim and explaining what it adds to the case being made.

The official South Carolina documents

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