Grade 05 ELA - EC: E05.D.1.1.4
Grade 05 ELA - EC: E05.D.1.1.4
Continuum of Activities
The list below represents a continuum of activities: resources categorized by Standard/Eligible Content that teachers may use to move students toward proficiency. Using LEA curriculum and available materials and resources, teachers can customize the activity statements/questions for classroom use.
This continuum of activities offers:
- Instructional activities designed to be integrated into planned lessons
- Questions/activities that grow in complexity
- Opportunities for differentiation for each student’s level of performance
Grade Levels
5th Grade
Course, Subject
English Language Arts
Related Academic Standards / Eligible Content
Activities
- Identify the intended tense of a sentence as past, present, or future based on the timing of the action.
- Identify verbs (both main verbs and helping verbs) in writing.
- Identify inappropriate shifts in verb tense in a sentence.
- Identify inappropriate shifts in verb tense in a paragraph or essay.
- Identify shifts in verb tense that are used appropriately.
- Apply the skill of identifying inappropriate shifts in verb tense by deciding if various sentences have a shift in verb tense and correcting those that do.
- I raise my hand and asked my teacher a question.
- Sunburn is a red rash that comes from too much sun.
- As the mixer spins, it mix the dough.
- Windmills use wind to produce energy. They worked best in wide open areas.
- I checked my phone, but I get no voicemails.
- Explain why shifting verb tense inappropriately makes a piece of writing confusing for the reader and how the writer might fix inappropriate shifts in verb tenses.
- Construct sentences, paragraphs, and essays that demonstrate the use of consistent verb tense.
Answer Key/Rubric
- Student carefully reads a sentence, paragraph, or essay to determine if the action is based in the past, present, or future. The student needs to make a determination on the time of the event(s) in the sentence to be able to determine if the correct verb is used.
- Student identifies verbs in writing. Verbs are words that describe an action, state, or occurrence. Helping verbs include: am, as, are, was, were, been, be, can, has, shall, will, do, does, did, have, should, may, might, being, would, must, could, had.
- Student identifies shifts in verb tenses within a sentence that are inappropriate. To do this, the student needs to identify the verbs in the sentence and determine if they match in tense.
- Student identifies shifts in verb tenses within a paragraph or essay that are inappropriate. To do this, the student needs to identify the verbs in the paragraph or essay and determine if they match in tense.
- Student identifies that sometimes a shift in verb tense is appropriate. For example, when words such as yesterday or tomorrow are used in the first part of a sentence, the second part might shift its verb tense. For example: Tomorrow we will shop for the items we needed last week.
- Student applies the skill of identifying inappropriate shifts in verb tense by deciding if various sentences have a shift in verb tense and correcting those that do:
- I raise my hand and asked my teacher a question. (Raise is present tense, asked is past tense. Change sentence to either raised/asked or raise/ask.)
- Sunburn is a red rash that comes from too much sun. (Is and comes are both present tense.)
- As the mixer spins, it mix the dough. (Spins is plural, mix is singular. Change to mixes.)
- Windmills use wind to produce energy. They worked best in wide open areas. (Use is present tense, worked is past tense. Change to used/worked or use/work.)
- I checked my phone, but I get no voicemails. (Checked is past tense, get is present tense. Change to checked/got or check/get.)
- Student explains why shifting verb tense is confusing for the reader. The student is able to identify the intended tense of a sentence, paragraph, or essay and assure that the verb consistently matches the tense. This requires the student to thoughtfully explain and clarify which verb tense is needed to reflect the needs of the sentence. Being able to “prove” which verb tense is needed assures that the student understands the verbs and their uses.
- Student constructs sentences, paragraphs, and essays that use verb tense correctly. Using the correct verb tense should be evident in writings of various lengths including stand-alone sentences as well as being a part of larger writings.
