Reading

During Reading we will use a balanced literacy approach. All students receive whole-group instruction on a 4th grade skill, then practice the skill together in a small group at their instructional level. They will also have the opportunity to work and read independently. We use a wide variety of technology applications to enhance our instruction and increase engagement for each student. We will be exploring all types of texts to start the year.

At home reading

Developing regular reading habits is crucial for students to become a better readers! Our goal is to have children build skills and habits to become lifelong readers and learners. Students should be reading at least 20 minutes each day at home to practice and apply what we have been working on in school. Asking questions about what is being read each night can deepen your child's comprehension (understanding) and reinforce what we are working on in class.

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Reading ONline

Book Lists

Literacy Skills

• Main Idea and Details: Students are learning to identify the difference between a topic of a paragraph and the main idea. We encourage them to think of main idea as a one sentence summary of what they have just read, then the rest of the paragraph includes details that support that main idea. A main idea should not begin with, "It is about...", it should simply state the main idea. For example, "In reading class, we have learned several strategies to help us understand what we are reading." Supporting details may include, "We have learned to find important story elements such as setting, main characters and the plot. We have also learned to infer by using our schema and clues from the text to find out what the author wants us to know."

• Inferring: Students are working on finding the deeper meaning of the text by using what they know combined with text evidence. This requires deeper, critical thinking skills and can be very challenging. You can support your child's inferring skills at home by asking them, "What/why do you think..." type questions, or even by talking about word-free comics and pictures.

• Non-fiction Text Types & Structures: There are a variety of different non-fiction text types, and signal words that we can learn to help us identify which is which. These include description, sequence and order, compare and contrast, cause and effect and problem and solution.

• Non-fiction Text Features: We use certain features to help us understand non-fiction text at a deeper level. Some examples include, headings, subheadings, bold text, index, glossary, fact/think blurbs, captions, photographs, etc.

• Summarizing: What is the story about? What happens in the beginning, middle and end of the story? Students should be able to use important details to explain this. A format that works well that we have been using in class is "Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then". For Example: The big, bad wolf wanted to eat the three little pigs for dinner, but they kept hiding in their homes made of straw, sticks and bricks. So, the wolf blew down the houses, except for the one made of bricks where they all went to hide. Then, the pigs were safe and the wolf went hungry.

• Story Elements: Main character(s) ("who"), Setting ("where and when"), Plot ("what" and "why/how", including events, problem/solution).

• Character Traits: Your child should be able to discuss important details about a character in a story he is reading. He should be able to explain the difference between physical characteristics, emotions that change, and a specific, one word character trait.

• Prediction: We have been practicing stopping and thinking, asking ourselves and each other questions, such as: What might happen next? What might the character do? What if....? They are learning that it is okay for a prediction to be wrong, but then to adjust a prediction as they learn more about the story and/or the characters.

Click on the buttons below for websites that help students practice their Literacy skills.