Reading

In fourth grade, students will learn how to read complex texts and more specifically, identify important details. The first unit focuses on how to read fiction with intensity. A large portion of this unit consists of students studying complex characters. They will also explore themes and start to develop inferencing skills. The second unit explore nonfiction topics while students learn how to synthesize across different texts, comparing and contrasting, and making sure the sources they are using are providing accurate information. In the last unit, students will have the opportunity to research the history of the California Gold Rush. In this unit, students will study multiple points of view, learn how to support our opinion with reasons and evidence.  Throughout the units, students continue to work on summarizing texts by focusing on the important information and leaving the unimportant details out.  Using evidence from the text and finding the theme(s) of texts are almost skills taught in fourth grade.