Language Arts

Much of the 4th grade reading curriculum teaches students how to analyze the books they read.  Rather that just understand the plot and information given in a text, students are encouraged to think about the messages and how it relates to their own lives. They also compare texts to each other and make connections both within on text and across multiple texts. 4th graders learn to “think” and talk about a text in order to find deeper meanings and messages.  This is done by students reading with the teacher (with both small and whole groups) and individually. Teachers may ofter use a class read aloud to show students strategies for thinking about and analyzing what they read. Students also di this as they write in more detail about the texts they read. 

In order to build reading skills, your 4th grader:

• Uses specific examples from the text to explain characters’ motivations, main events, central themes, or ideas about a text.
• Uses the context of a text to determine the meaning of a word.
• Understands and can explain the differences between narrative prose, drama, and poetry.
• Identifies and refers to the different parts of poems and plays, such as verses, settings, and characters.
• Interprets and connects information from illustrations, graphs, charts, or other sources related to the text.
• Identifies, compares, and contrasts different perspectives from which texts are written. (For example, 1st and 3rd person).
• Compares and contrasts the way different texts address the same issue, theme, or topic.
• Makes connections between people, events, or important ideas in a text.
• Uses previous knowledge to read unfamiliar multi-syllable words.
• Reads grade-level texts with accurate comprehension, pacing, and expression.