Language Arts
Embedded Files
There are Two Units in the Language Arts curriculum. In the First Unit there are Four Modules in both Shared Reading and Reading Aloud. In Unit Two there is only One Unit. Below are the shared reading novels, vocabulary words, and a summary of what the students will learn throughout the year. You will also find the required writing projects for each module, with a summary and expectations.
Module 1: Shared Reading will consist of two novels. Both stories will show how our relationships change. Students will explore narrative structure, character relationships, and character growth and change over time. The lessons in this unit work together to reinforce narrative text structure and knowledge of fiction text.
The vocabulary words found in the fourth grade language arts curriculum will be broken down into syllable type.
There are six syllable types
Closed: ends in a consonant and short vowel sound. Example cat
Open: ends with a vowel and has a long vowel sound. Example go
Magic e: ends with a silent e, has a long vowel sound, and has a consonant between the vowel and silent e. Example cake
Vowel Team: Two vowels making one sound. Example boat
r-controlled: at least one vowel followed by r (ar, er, ir, or, ur). Example star
Consonant -le: ends with a consonant and -le. Example turtles
Affixes (prefix or suffix: circle
Unit 1: Module Two
Unit 1: Module Two
In Module 2: Change and Conflict, students will explore narrative structure, change and conflict in character relationships, and character growth and change over time, all in the context of early colonial United States history. The lessons in this unit work together to reinforce narrative text structure knowledge, fiction and nonfiction text knowledge, and nonfiction primary source text knowledge.
Author: Elise Carbone
Our second novel, Blood on the River, has a strong historical fiction text structure.
Each chapter begins with a quote taken from primary source historical documents. This story of James Town’s beginnings is told by Samuel Collier, a real boy who sailed to James Town on one of three ships, and was Captain John Smith’s page. Students will collaboratively create a timeline to organize important events in the book, and a primary source list to keep track of each document and the information each contains.
Student's will break down the vocabulary words by the six syllable types.
Vocabulary Words we learn during the novel
Author: Elise Carbone
Poison in the Colony: Jamestown 1622 is a historical fiction novel that follow Blood in the River.
After the colony of James Town is founded in 1607. After Captain John Smith establishes trade with the Native Americans. After Pocahontas befriends the colonists. After early settlers both thrive and die in this new world . . . a girl is born. Virginia.
Virginia Laydon, an infant at the end of Blood on the River, has now grown up in a colony that is teetering dangerously on the precipice of conflict with the native Algonquins. Virginia has the gift, or the curse, of the knowing-an ability that could help save the colony, and is equally likely to land her at the burning stake as an accused witch.
Virginia struggles to make sense of her own inner world against the backdrop of pivotal years in the Jamestown colony. The first representative government is established, the first enslaved Africans arrive, and the self-righteousness of the colony’s leaders angers the Algonquin.
When Virginia’s mother first learns of her gift, she is terrified. Kill it, her mother says, or they will kill you. When accusations and danger threaten, Virginia learns that she is on her own; her mother must protect her young sisters rather than stand up for her. So begins a journey of self-realization and increasing strength, as Virginia goes from being a self-protective young girl to someone who knows she must live her own truth even if it will be the end of her.
In Unit 1: Module 3
Looking Beneath the Surface, students will use narrative structure to support comprehension, explore character development through self-reflection and interactions with other characters, and analyze how author’s craft shapes and influences our text content understanding. The lessons in this unit work together to reinforce narrative text structure knowledge.
Our fifth novel, Tangerine, is a novel with a strong narrative text structure. It is a book about middle schooler and soccer player Paul Fisher, who is legally blind and has just moved with his family to the down of Tangerine, Florida. His football star brother Erik creates family drama and brings troubles to Paul’s life. Students will collaboratively create a calendar to keep track of dates and main events in the story.
Student's will break down the vocabulary words by the six syllable types.
Vocabulary Words we learn during the novel.
In Unit 1: Module 4
Understanding Each Other, students will use narrative structure to support comprehension, explore character development through self-reflection and interactions with other characters, and analyze how author’s craft shapes and influences our text content understanding. The lessons in this unit work together to reinforce students’ narrative text structure knowledge. They also help students think deeply about how self-reflection influences personal growth and about the ways that our decisions and actions can have long-term and lasting impact on ourselves and those around us.
In Starry River of the Sky, students will use narrative structure to support comprehension, explore character development through self-reflection and interactions with other characters, and analyze how author’s craft shapes and influences our understanding of text content. They will learn to support opinions with text-based evidence, analyze key details to support inference and summarization, make text-evidence-supported predictions, make connections across stories, and analyze character behavior and actions.
Student's will break down the vocabulary words by the six syllable types.
Vocabulary Words we learn during the novel
Unit 2, Module 1:
The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin is a biography about the life and times of Benjamin Franklin, an important writer and inventor in United States history. Students will use the timeline in the text to keep track of events in Ben Franklin’s life in the order in which they occurred.
In the book, The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin, tells the story of Benjamin Franklin’s life in time order. Whenever I read a biography, I like to make a timeline to keep track of some of the most important events in a person’s life. But this time I don’t have to. If we look on page 41 towards the back of the book, we can see that the author has done that for us by listing the key events in Benjamin Franklin’s life.
Student's will break down the vocabulary words by the six syllable types.
Vocabulary Words we learn during the novel
ap · pren · tice (closed, closed, suffix)
Apprentice is a noun or a verb that means a person who works for a long time to learn a trade. The apprentice learns from a master craftsman. The root word of apprentice is related to the word apprehend, which is another word for learn.
vo · cab · u · lar · y (open, closed, open, closed, open)
Vocabulary is a noun that means all the words you know the meanings of when you hear or read them. The word vocabulary is related to vocal and voice. You increase the size of your vocabulary by reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
op · tim · ist · ic (closed, closed, closed, suffix)
Optimistic is an adjective that means looking on the bright side, seeing the best in a situation. A person who’s optimistic is called an optimist—that’s the noun. Let’s say, for example, that we are planning to go outside to [play, have recess, go on a field trip, etc.] and we notice that rain clouds are gathering. An optimist might say, Maybe the rain will hold off until we come back inside.
pes · sim · ist · ic (closed, closed, closed, suffix)
Pessimistic is an adjective that means looking on the negative side, seeing the worst in a situation. It is an antonym for optimistic. A person who is pessimistic is called a pessimist. A pessimistic outlook on an upcoming soccer game would focus on all the ways the other team was too good to beat.
fron · tier (closed, vowel team)
Frontier is a noun that means the part of the country that is just being settled. The area we call the frontier changes over time. At first, the frontier was moving to the west. Frontier comes from the word front. The people on the frontier were moving westward, in front of others.
sym · path · et · ic (closed, closed, closed, suffix)
Sympathetic is an adjective the means feeling sorry for someone. You may have sympathetic feelings for a friend who is sick. If you feel sorry for a person, we say that you sympathize with them. Sympathize is a verb. You understand what they are going through. You feel sympathy. Sympathy is a noun.
com · prom · ise (closed, closed, VCe)
Compromise is a noun that means an agreement where both people give up a little, and no one gets everything they want. Compromise can also be a verb. If two people disagree about something, they might find a way to compromise. Compromise is another way of saying “work it out.”
in · ev · it · able (closed, closed, closed, suffix)
Inevitable is an adjective that means something can’t be avoided no matter what we do. We know the sun will rise tomorrow. It’s inevitable. Sometimes inevitable is used as a noun. Let’s say that a student misbehaves at school. That student might have to walk into the principal’s office to face the inevitable.
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