Grade 4 Language Arts/Reading

Course Overview

Grade 4 Language Arts/Reading is a rigorous course that builds on students' growing language arts and reading skills by engaging them with more complex texts and writing forms. This course focuses on six different types of writing – personal narrative, informational articles, persuasive essays, fictional narrative, fantasy stories, and plays – as a platform from which to teach key ideas and details, craft and structure, integration of knowledge and ideas, phonics and word recognition, and fluency. In addition, this course embellishes students' command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage, spelling, punctuation, and vocabulary as they pertain to the fundamentals of reading. Course topics include:

Types of Texts
Features of Nonfiction
Narrative Writing
Characterization
Elements of Drama
Informative Writing
Organizing, Outlining
Researching a Topic
Compare/Contrast Informative Texts
Speeches, Persuasive Writing
Myths
Comparing Point of View
Poetry - Imagery
Fact vs. Opinion; Fantasy vs. Reality
Editing, Revising

Scope and Sequence

Unit 1In this unit students study vocabulary, setting, characters, and spelling with short vowels. They explore theme, point of view, subject and predicate, spelling with long a, text connections, traits checklists, and narrative writing. They discuss opinion writing, spelling with long e, informative writing, and editing and revising.Unit 2In this unit students explore genre, author's purpose, spelling with long i, synonyms and antonyms. They investigate nonfiction text features, comprehension, spelling with long o, comparing and contrasting. They discuss poetry, sentence types, and show not tell.Unit 3In this unit students investigate cause and effect, interpreting visuals, spelling prefixes, re-reading, procedures, comparing texts, and spelling digraphs. They explore using quotations, how to, narrative writing, and using dialogue.Unit 4In this unit students discuss spelling three-letter blends, inferring and predicting, abstract and concrete nouns, and summarizing. They investigate spelling with ar and or, understanding theme, proper nouns, bold beginnings, spelling suffixes, transitional words, and concrete words.Unit 5In this unit students study story structure, elements of a drama, spelling r-controlled vowels, and formal and informal English. They discuss narrative writing, verbs, writing in past, present, and future tense, spelling silent letters, writing with sequence, and creating and using a timeline.Unit 6In this unit students explore fact versus opinion, spelling soft c and g, photographs and captions, comparing and contrasting, and tense. They study spelling plurals, narrative writing, and informative writing.Unit 7In this unit students investigate characters, summarizing, compound words, how to, spelling inflectional endings, and organization. They explore prepositions and outlining. Following this unit students are presented with the Mid-Term Review and Exam.Unit 8In this unit students discuss researching a topic, informative writing, conclusions and generalizations. They investigate spelling y to i endings, comparing and contrasting, complex and compound sentences, spelling u sounds, persuasive writing, and creative conclusion.Unit 9In this unit students study text features, spelling with oi and ou diphthongs, and confused words. They discuss comparing and contrasting, spelling variant vowel o, and informative writing.Unit 10In this unit students explore sequence of events, spelling closed syllables, similes and metaphors, and second-hand accounts. They study auxiliary verbs, spelling open syllables, speech, persuasive letters, and adjectives and adverbs.Unit 11In this unit students investigate summarizing, allusion, spelling vowel teams, idioms, adages, and proverbs. They explore comparing and contrasting, spelling r-controlled syllables, and opinion writing.Unit 12In this unit students discuss determining importance, spelling consonant plus "le" syllables, comparing point of view, and adjectives. They investigate the relative adverbs when, where, and why, as well as sentence fluency, and TV Ads.Unit 13In this unit students study cause and effect, comprehension, spelling homophones, and poetry. They discuss punctuation for emphasis, imagery, and pre-writing.Unit 14In this unit students explore prefixes, complete sentences, fact versus opinion, and fantasy versus reality. They study spelling suffixes, commas, informative writing, and comprehension.Unit 15In this unit students investigate formal versus informal language, using progressive verb tenses, and the mechanics of grammar. They explore editing and revising, as well as narrative writing.

Following this unit students are presented with the Final Review and Exam.