Using RI.5.8 Fifth Grade Common Core Lesson, students explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point(s).
In this reasons and evidence activity, 3rd to 5th grade students sort sports cards to match each point with its reasons and evidence. Answer key included.
Using this Evidence Olympics Authors Purpose Activity, students try to earn a gold medal during Evidence Olympics by reading a passage and finding evidence to support an author's point.
This firsthand and secondhand accounts activity has students sort 24 account cards by who is telling the story. Built for 3rd to 5th grade, with a practice page and answer key included.
This animal myth busters author's purpose activity has 3rd to 5th grade students match reason cards to the points they support. An answer key is included, so checking the work is quick and easy.
Using RL.5.6 Fifth Grade Common Core Lesson, students describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
Using RI.5.6 Fifth Grade Common Core Lesson, students analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.
This whose point of view compare and contrast activity has 3rd-5th grade students sort 24 story cards as first or third person. A mat, recording sheet and practice page, with an answer key included.
Why did the author write this?
By 5th grade, author's purpose goes way beyond "persuade, inform, entertain." Students explain how an author supports a point with reasons and evidence, and judge whether that evidence is strong. They compare firsthand and secondhand accounts of the same event and notice how point of view shapes what gets told. They also spot when an author mixes purposes, like an article that informs while quietly persuading. The click comes when a reader asks, "What does this writer want me to think, and did they earn it?"
Fifth graders are ready to read like detectives. These moves teach them to question the text.
Give groups a short opinion article and three colors of highlighter. One color for the author's main point, one for reasons, one for evidence. Then ask: which reason has the weakest proof? The arguments get lively fast.
Why it works: the U.S. Department of Education's guide for teaching elementary math recommends moving from hands-on objects to drawings to numbers.
Try it withReasons and Evidence ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Read a diary entry from someone who was there, then a textbook paragraph about the same event. Think aloud about what each one includes and leaves out. Kids then chart the differences with a partner.
Why it works: handing over the work step by step, from teacher to student, is one of the most widely used teaching frameworks (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
Try it withFirsthand and Secondhand Accounts ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Flash short passages, like a cereal ad, a recipe or a news headline, and give kids one minute to name the purpose and one clue that proves it. Quick daily rounds sharpen the habit of asking why.
Why it works: pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than rereading it, one of the strongest findings in learning research (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Try it withRI.5.8 Fifth Grade Common Core LessonCommon Core LessonsOpen it →Turn close reading into a competition kids actually want to win.
ActivitiesTeams race to find the strongest evidence for an author's purpose and earn gold, silver or bronze.
Open Evidence Olympics Authors Purpose Activity →
ActivitiesTake an informational paragraph and rewrite it to persuade. What words had to change?
Open Animal Myth Busters Author's Purpose Activity →
ActivitiesKids bring in ads from cereal boxes or magazines and decode how each one tries to convince them.
Open Whose Point of View Compare and Contrast Activity →Teacher favorites right now: RI.5.8 Fifth Grade Common Core Lesson, Reasons and Evidence Activity and Evidence Olympics Authors Purpose Activity.
It means figuring out why an author wrote a text and how they get their point across. Fifth graders also explain which reasons and evidence support the author's points.
PIE stands for persuade, inform and entertain, the three main reasons authors write. It's a helpful start, but 5th graders should also explain how the author achieves that purpose.
A firsthand account comes from someone who was there, like a diary or interview. A secondhand account is written by someone who learned about it later, like an encyclopedia article.
Ask "Why do you think they made this?" about everyday texts: commercials, menus, game instructions or a news story. Then ask what clue in the text tells you so.
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