Common Challenges In 5th Grade ELA And How To Overcome Them

Your child is almost out of elementary school, preparing for the intimidating world of middle school. Suddenly, their assignments are harder, the reading is more complex, and the writing is overwhelming. Your child may have difficulty with 5th-grade reading comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, and writing skills.

However, through daily reading and writing practice, vocabulary study, and discussion, you can ensure your child overcomes 5th-grade ELA challenges and prepare them for success in middle school.

Read on to find resources on 5th grade reading and writing support and ELA tips for 5th graders transitioning to middle school.

Reading Skills

The first challenge in 5th grade ELA is more advanced reading requirements. In preparation for middle school, they must

start decoding large, multisyllabic words while reading more advanced texts
learn to extrapolate word meanings from context clues
continue to advance comprehension and fluency
continue to improve vocabulary

Unfortunately, it’s fairly common for 5th-grade students to read below a 5th-grade level. When that is the case, struggles inevitably arise. Faced with more complex texts and advanced vocabulary, reading fluency and comprehension may suffer, which leads to yet more struggles in writing.

Luckily, there’s plenty you can do to boost your child’s reading and writing skills and help them overcome any challenges in 5th-grade ELA!

How to Help with 5th Grade Reading Comprehension

The first step to overcoming 5th-grade ELA challenges is improving your child’s reading comprehension. Good reading comprehension is the foundation for every other ELA skill they must master.

Reading comprehension strategies for 5th graders include:

Previewing the text
Making Predictions
Identifying the Main Idea in informational texts
Identifying main events and summarizing narrative texts
Discussion and analysis

How to Preview a Text

Previewing is a comprehension strategy that involves collecting information about a text before reading begins. This gives the reader an idea of what the text is about and gives them a framework of understanding that sets them up for better comprehension.

To preview a text, examine the front and back covers to look for clues about the book’s contents.

Think about the title and its meaning. The title will always provide some insight into the contents of the text.
Read the synopsis. It provides basic information about the story, characters, and plot (for novels) or the focus of the text (for non-fiction).
Read the author blurb. This can provide context for the author’s inspiration, interests, and values, which often reveal themes in the text.
Read the table of contents. Chapter titles provide a framework for the structure of the content and what topics it will cover. This is especially beneficial when previewing a textbook or other informational text.
Read section titles and subtitles in informational texts. Headings and subheadings are like a map of an informational text’s main points. They can even be used to structure note-taking.

Making Predictions

After previewing and before the reading begins, have your child make predictions about the text. Ask them what they think will happen and what they expect to learn about based on what they discovered during the previewing exercise.

Making predictions involves using their own knowledge about other texts they’ve read to synthesize what they know about the new text. It also sets your 5th grader up to be an active reader. With the predictions in mind as they read, they will continue to process and analyze the details of the text, revising their predictions based on new information.

For an extra comprehension boost:

After your child has made their predictions, make some of your own. Be sure to explain why you made the predictions you did. This models the thinking you want them to do and draws their attention to important details from the preview.
When they are done reading, ask them to tell you whose predictions were right. This encourages them to analyze the text to make better predictions next time.
Ask how and why their predictions changed as they read. What made them change their mind? This trains them to be aware of literary devices, pay attention to details, and recognize structural patterns in writing as they read.

Identifying the Main Idea

Identifying the main idea is crucial to comprehending informational texts like textbooks, essays, and articles. As mentioned above, one way to do this is to read through the table of contents, chapter titles, and subtitles. These clearly outline of the most important information the text provides and often reveal the main idea.

However, reviewing titles and subtitles alone is not always enough. To help your child find the main idea of any informational text and maximize their comprehension, follow these steps:

Look at the title. This is the topic on which the entire text is focused, and will be central to the main idea.
Examine chapter titles, section titles, and subtitles. These will all move deeper into the main topic, highlighting key issues and details.
Study introductions paragraphs. Introductions inform the reader what’s important about the topic by providing a thesis or central claim, which the text will then explore and support with evidence. Central claims are usually located near the end of the introduction.
Study conclusion paragraphs. Conclusions paragraphs summarize the most important points of a chapter, section, or article, reiterating the thesis and support/evidence.
Bring it all together: Now that your child understands the topic, main subtopics, and thesis, they should be able to identify the main idea. It’s the thought, issue, or beliefs that the entire text explores.
Put it in your own words: Finally, to solidify your child’s comprehension of the main idea, have them put it in their own words. This can be done in discussion, writing, or (ideally) both.

Identifying Main Events and Summarizing

Summarizing and identifying the main events requires your child to recognize the most important elements of a story. This is equivalent to finding the main idea in narrative texts. It is absolutely key to achieving good comprehension of novels and stories.

You can help your child practice identifying the main events in three ways.

1. Identifying the beginning, middle, and end

Most narratives follow the same basic structure. Learning that structure can help your child comprehend every narrative they read more deeply. Having them identify the beginning, middle, and end of a story is the simplest way to do this.

Beginning: Introduces the setting, the characters, and the “problem” that drives the plot.
Middle: Involves the main character(s) trying to solve the problem, failing, and things getting worse.
End: The character(s) engage in a big, climactic conflict and finally solve the problem, followed by a wrap-up when any remaining issues get addressed.

2. Using a graphic organizer to map story elements

Employing a graphic organizer in story mapping is a great way to help your child visualize the plot structure and identify the main events. Story mapping graphic organizers come in many styles including

beginning, middle, and end
chain of events
classic story arc

Find a variety of free story mapping graphic organizers here: Story Maps | Reading Rockets

Note: Using a graphic organizer is also a great way to give your child a little extra writing practice while helping them improve their comprehension!

3. Doing summaries of reading

Finally, doing a summary requires your child to recall, process, and put the story into their own words, which is one of the best ways to deepen reading comprehension. Your child should practice both verbal and written summaries, alternating between the two.

The level of detail in the summary is also an important point. A highly detailed summary requires greater recall and comprehension but isn’t as helpful with identifying main events. A short summary, on the other hand, requires greater skill at identifying the most important elements and knowing what to leave out. Both types are beneficial for your child to practice.

A good summary should include:

Characters that were present
The setting(s)
Main Events (anything that moves the story forward)
Details that are necessary to understand the story

You can gauge your child’s reading comprehension by the quality of their summary. If the summary seems scattered, out of chronological order or misses important events, their comprehension needs work. Try having them read and summarize smaller portions of the text to build this skill. When they can consistently produce good summaries, move on to summarizing larger portions of text.

Discussion and analysis

The final way to help improve your child’s reading comprehension is through discussion and analysis.

Verbal summarizing is an excellent way to begin a discussion with your child about their reading. After you’ve asked them to provide a detailed verbal summary, follow up with questions that require them to:

Make inferences: use information from the text to draw conclusions or form opinions by “filling in the blanks” through context clues and common sense.
Synthesize: generate insight by combining what they learned from a text with things they already know.
Analyze: look closely at individual parts of the text and think about what each part is doing. Then consider how the parts work together.

Example inference questions:

Why do you think the main character did that?
How do you know?
What do you think will happen next? Why?

Example synthesizing questions:

What does the story remind you of from real life?
What does this story have in common with the last story you read?
What would you do differently in the main character’s situation? Why?

Example analyzing questions:

What is the central theme of the story and what makes you think so?
What do you think the author’s purpose was for writing this story and why?
Find examples of figurative language (metaphor, simile, etc.) and discuss what they mean.

How to Improve 5th Grade Reading Fluency

Comprehension and fluency go hand in hand. A child who reads fluently reads smoothly, at a decent pace, with expression, and with good comprehension. They can tell when they’ve misread something and will independently re-read for understanding.

The first step to improving fluency is knowing your child’s reading level. It’s very important not to make your child read too far above this level. If a text is too difficult, they will not gain skill from reading it.

Once you know your child’s reading level, you can easily search for appropriate books using the links below.

Elementary school books by reading level:

Here are some tips for improving 5th-grader reading fluency:

Read to your child: Read from a book you both enjoy, but one that’s above their reading level. Listening to fluent reading models good expression and gets them familiar with the rhythm of complex sentence structures they can’t read alone.
Read with your child/Take turns: Read to your child from a book that’s on their level while they read silently alongside you, or take turns reading a few sentences at a time. This helps them learn new words and models the right pacing and expression.
Call and response reading: Read a few sentences out loud and then have your child read the same paragraph, mimicking your pacing and expression.

For the best results, do one of these practices for at least fifteen minutes, three times a week. 5th graders reading well below a fifth-grade level should do daily fluency practice to help them catch up.

How to Improve 5th Grade Vocabulary

Vocabulary can also be a big challenge for 5th graders. At this age, they are expected to decode and extrapolate the meaning of many new multi-syllabic words from context while reading independently. They should also be able to recognize and interpret new phrases and figurative language. If they struggle to do any of these things, their comprehension and fluency will drop.

Here are some ways to boost 5th-grade vocabulary skills:

Track new words: Have your child write down new words as they read, then look up and record the definitions. Then have them write original sentences using the new words.
Study word roots and affixes: Using their list of vocabulary words from #1, help them break each word into roots, prefixes, and affixes. Have them look up the meanings of each word part, then think of other words with the same parts in them.
Use synonyms and antonyms: Once they’ve recorded the meaning of a new word, have your child think of and/or look up synonyms and antonyms.
Context clues: Have your child underline new words as they read, then discuss what the word might mean based on context. Look at the sentences before and after the new word to find clues to its meaning.

All of these exercises help cement the meanings of new words and expand your child’s functional vocabulary. Learning word roots and affixes also helps them decode and understand new vocabulary. Finally, using context clues to find meaning is a skill they will rely on often in middle school.

Writing Skills

Writing is another big challenge area in 5th grade ELA. Because writing skills build off reading skills, when your child is struggling with reading comprehension and fluency, they are likely also struggling with writing. As such, doing focused work to improve their reading skills is the first step to improving their writing skills.

Beyond that, the best way to get better at writing is simply to write—daily! While most 5th graders do a reasonable amount of writing in school and for homework, a supplemental practice of 30 minutes per day at home is highly beneficial.

Here are some recommended writing activities for 5th graders:

Writing summaries: Have your child write a detailed summary of a chapter or story they read.
Discussion questions: Choose some of the inference or synthesizing discussion questions and have them do a written response about their reading.
Creative prompts: Provide an interesting prompt like, “If you were president, what laws would you make?” or “Imagine a world where everything is made of candy. What would that be like?” Make it fun and interesting!
Write a story: Making up a story can be fun! Using one of the story maps linked in the “Identifying Main Events and Summarizing” section, have your child plot their own story, then write a little of it every day.
Free-write: Allow your child to write whatever they want. They can write about their day, their interests, or anything that’s on their mind.

Bonus 5th grade grammar help: If your child’s grammar and mechanics need work, help them edit their writing after they finish. Make a list of the mistakes they often make so they can refer to it when self-editing. Common mistakes among 5th graders include:

Run-on sentences
Repetitive language
Punctuation
Spelling
Vocabulary use

Encourage your child to look up grammar rules and keep a list of the ones they often misuse. For example, many 5th graders struggle to use commas correctly. Keeping a list of comma rules on hand will help with their self-editing practice.