Virginia SOL 5.C.1.A.i

ELA5th GradeCommunication and Multimodal Modal Literacies

The Standard

Listening actively and speaking using agreed-upon discussion rules.

Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Communication, Listening, and Collaboration

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students prepare ideas, listen closely, and contribute to group conversations about texts and grade-level topics. They follow agreed rules, respond to others, and make space for different partners to speak.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students follow shared rules, take turns, and stay focused during an extended group discussion. They paraphrase others, ask relevant questions, add useful ideas, and disagree respectfully without dominating.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think active listening means staying quiet or looking at the speaker while planning their own response. They may interrupt, repeat earlier points, dominate the conversation, or treat respectful disagreement as rude.
How to Assess It: Give groups four minutes to discuss whether a story character made a fair choice. On an exit slip, each student names a classmate's idea and explains how they responded to it.

Lesson moves

Groups sort discussion-scenario cards into helps the group and hurts the group, then revise one weak behavior into a useful discussion move.
Discuss whether recess should be longer, requiring each speaker to paraphrase a classmate before adding evidence or a new idea.
Play Discussion Relay, awarding points for inviting a quiet peer, citing the text, paraphrasing, or disagreeing respectfully.
Run a mock school council meeting about cafeteria waste, with assigned roles, posted rules, and a recorder tracking decisions.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 5.C.1.A.i, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

Keep exploring

Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.