Fourth Grade

Reading and Writing Beliefs and Expectations for Fourth Grade

Reading Beliefs

    • Everyone can learn to love reading
    • Everyone should be reading at their own level and provided with targeted teaching to get them to be proficient at grade level
    • All students meet with a teacher in guided reading groups

Reading Expectations

    • Comprehension mini-lessons
    • Responses should be written in complete sentences
    • Questions should be sure to address DOK level 2 & 3
    • Students should have sustained time read at home and in class
    • Students reading at grade level should read grade-level texts fluently with adequate rate, expression, and tone
    • 60-90 minute daily reading block
    • Read aloud - interactive and instructional
    • Reading and writing in same genre at same time
    • Time in class for sustained silent reading
    • Reading skills are practiced in content material
    • Working with words/spelling/word parts
    • Guided reading 5 days a week
    • All students are apart of a reading group
    • Tier 1 intervention taught to students in classroom for students below grade level

Writing Beliefs

    • Everyone has the ability to effectively communicate through writing
    • Everyone should be able to follow a process of writing
    • All students should conference with teachers regularly
    • Students become stronger writers by learning from mentor texts

Writing Expectations

    • Students should be able to write a variety of sentence structure
    • Students should be able to write informational, opinion, and narrative writing
    • Students should be able to follow appropriate structure, development, and conventions
    • Writing skills are practiced in content area
    • Students should use mentor texts and other models to help their writing
    • Students are building stamina by writing daily
    • Time in class to write independently everyday
    • Peer feedback is given during writing units and for enjoyment (celebrations)
    • Students receive tier 2 interventions for writing skills (writing strategies)
    • Grammar skills should be explicitly taught and then referred to during writing/conferencing
    • 60 minutes of writing daily