5th Grade Reading Assignments: Homework Help

5th Grade Reading Help

Drawing Inferences

When an assignment asks you to draw inferences, it is asking you to use clues from the reading material to make educated guesses. To make successful inferences, you also use what you already know about the subject. When you practice this reading skill and get better at it, you tend to get better at comprehending what you read. In addition, having to make inferences helps you focus more on the information you're reading.

Using Quotes

Often, an assignment will also ask you to provide support for an answer you've given. The most effective way to do this is to use direct quotes from the story or article. Begin by rereading the material and finding several sentences that relate to your answer. If you're allowed to, it's a good idea to highlight these sentences. Then, decide which sentences best support your answer and add the information to your answer.

Identifying the Theme

When you identify the theme of a reading assignment, you're looking for the central message the author is trying to convey. The central message is like an overall lesson the story deals with. Examples include love, responsibility, sacrifice and perseverance. To discover the theme, you may have to reread the material several times and pay attention to how all the characters relates to each other.

Comparing and Contrasting

Your homework assignment may also require you to compare and contrast. When you compare, you describe how two or more aspects or characters are alike. When you contrast, you describe how two or more aspects are different. Comparing and contrasting properly requires you to pay close attention to everything you're required to read for the assignment. You may be asked to compare characters, settings or problems in one particular story. You may also be asked to compare the story your own life or with another story.

Determining Author's Purpose

The three main purposes are to entertain, to persuade and to inform. When authors write to entertain, they usually tell fictional stories. When authors write to persuade, they are trying to get you to buy something, believe something or try something. Basically, they are trying to convince you to think a certain a way, which may lead you to behave a certain way. When authors write to inform, they are simply giving you factual information about a topic so you know more about it. As a reader, you have to be able to determine the reason an author has written what you're reading.