Comprehensive 5th Grade English & Creative Writing Curriculum for 2025-2026

5th Grade English & Creative Writing Curriculum

Grade Level: 5th Grade (for a 13-year-old student)
Timeframe: Full Academic Year (36 weeks, 5 days/week)
Daily Time Estimate: 60-75 minutes per day
Standards: Aligned to Oklahoma Academic Standards for English Language Arts (2020)

Week 1-2: Reading Comprehension and Beginning Narrative Writing

Day 1 (Time: 60 min)

Topic: Understanding the Elements of a Story
Lesson Plan: Identify key story elements—characters, setting, plot, conflict, and resolution. Discuss examples from familiar stories.
Worksheet: Fill in a story elements chart based on a provided short story.
Quiz: Multiple-choice questions identifying story elements in short paragraphs.
Subject Explorer Entry: "Explored and identified story elements in a short narrative."

Day 2 (Time: 60 min)

Topic: Setting and Character Development
Lesson Plan: Explore how setting influences mood and character actions. Practice descriptive writing to create characters and settings.
Worksheet: Write descriptive paragraphs for a character and setting based on prompts.
Quiz: Vocabulary matching related to descriptive words for settings and characters.
Subject Explorer Entry: "Created descriptive paragraphs enhancing character and setting detail."

Day 3 (Time: 75 min)

Topic: Narrative Writing Basics
Lesson Plan: Introduction to narrative writing structure—beginning, middle, and end. Discuss and model writing a simple narrative paragraph.
Worksheet: Plan and write a 3-paragraph personal narrative about a favorite memory.
Quiz: Short answer about narrative structure; identify parts in sample text.
Subject Explorer Entry: "Wrote a three-paragraph personal narrative including beginning, middle, and end."

Day 4 (Time: 60 min)

Topic: Sentence Structure and Grammar Review
Lesson Plan: Review types of sentences (declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, imperative). Practice forming complex sentences.
Worksheet: Sentence type identification and creation exercises.
Quiz: Identify sentence types and correct sentence fragments.
Subject Explorer Entry: "Practiced creating and identifying various sentence types."

Day 5 (Time: 60 min)

Topic: Vocabulary Development: Context Clues
Lesson Plan: Teach strategies for determining word meaning using context clues. Practice with grade-level vocabulary.
Worksheet: Vocabulary puzzles and sentence context clue identification.
Quiz: Use context clues to determine meanings of new words in sentences.
Subject Explorer Entry: "Used context clues to determine meanings of unfamiliar words."

Week 3-4: Expanding Narrative and Beginning Poetry

Day 1 (Time: 75 min)

Topic: Writing Dialogue in Narratives
Lesson Plan: Teach how to punctuate and structure dialogue. Model narrative paragraphs incorporating dialogue.
Worksheet: Revise a narrative by adding appropriate dialogue.
Quiz: Grammar questions on quotation marks and punctuation in dialogue.
Subject Explorer Entry: "Wrote narrative paragraphs including properly punctuated dialogue."

Day 2 (Time: 60 min)

Topic: Writing with Sensory Details
Lesson Plan: Discuss using sensory details to enrich writing (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch). Analyze examples.
Worksheet: Add sensory details to a short narrative paragraph.
Quiz: Identify sensory details in excerpts.
Subject Explorer Entry: "Enriched writing with sensory details."

Day 3 (Time: 60 min)

Topic: Introducing Poetry Forms: Acrostic and Haiku
Lesson Plan: Learn about acrostic poems and haiku structure. Read examples and brainstorm topics.
Worksheet: Write one acrostic poem and one haiku poem.
Quiz: Identify poem forms in samples; true/false questions on poem features.
Subject Explorer Entry: "Created acrostic and haiku poems."

Day 4 (Time: 60 min)

Topic: Using Strong Verbs and Adjectives
Lesson Plan: Importance of strong verbs and adjectives in vivid writing. Practice replacing weak words with strong ones.
Worksheet: Sentence rewriting to include stronger verbs/adjectives.
Quiz: Select the best verb/adjective for given sentences.
Subject Explorer Entry: "Improved sentences by using strong verbs and adjectives."

Day 5 (Time: 60 min)

Topic: Revising Narrative Writing
Lesson Plan: Teach revision techniques: focus on clarity, detail, grammar, and structure. Peer or self-review exercise.
Worksheet: Revise own narrative based on checklist; write a reflection.
Quiz: Short quiz on editing marks and revision strategies.
Subject Explorer Entry: "Revised personal narrative improving clarity and detail."

(For the sake of brevity, this sample covers the first 4 weeks, introducing primary skills in reading comprehension, foundational narrative writing, grammar, vocabulary, and poetry. The curriculum would continue similarly with gradual introduction to expository writing, persuasive writing, research projects, more advanced grammar (comma use, conjunctions, pronouns), vocabulary building, literary analysis, and creative writing activities—including short stories, scripts, descriptive essays, and project-based assignments.)

Sample Weekly Topics for Remaining Year

• Weeks 5-8: Expository Writing: Organizing ideas, writing paragraphs; Research skills; Informative writing projects.
• Weeks 9-12: Literary Elements & Figurative Language (similes, metaphors, idioms); Reading comprehension of fiction/non-fiction; Creative writing prompts.
• Weeks 13-16: Persuasive Writing: Opinion essays; Using evidence; Writing speeches; Grammar: parts of speech focus.
• Weeks 17-20: Poetry study: Forms and devices; Writing original poems; Vocabulary: Greek & Latin roots.
• Weeks 21-24: Reading comprehension: Novel studies with written responses; Creative projects on literature.
• Weeks 25-28: Writing multi-paragraph essays; Editing strategies; Grammar: sentence types, subject-verb agreement.
• Weeks 29-32: Research projects: note-taking, sourcing, citing; Writing reports; Creative writing portfolio.
• Weeks 33-36: Review, final projects, presentations, portfolio compilation.

If desired, I can provide detailed daily lesson plans for additional weeks or develop assessments and rubrics adapted specifically for online homeschooling. Would you like me to continue with more weeks or modify it for a different time schedule?