In fourth-grade ELAR, students learn to become attentive readers, precise thinkers, and capable writers. Rather than treating reading, grammar, and composition as completely separate skills, we study how they work together to help us understand and communicate ideas.
Literature
We read rich, complete works of literature throughout the year. Students learn to read closely, ask meaningful questions, discuss characters and ideas, support their thinking with evidence from the text, and consider the themes and virtues they encounter. Literature gives students something worthwhile to think about while they develop the skills of thoughtful reading.
Grammar & Language
Students study the structure of the English language through explicit grammar instruction. We examine how sentences are constructed, how words function within them, and how writers make purposeful choices. Grammar is not simply a collection of rules to memorize; it gives students a shared language for understanding, discussing, and improving their own writing.
Writing & the Progymnasmata
Our writing program is aligned with the tradition of the Progymnasmata, an ancient sequence of preliminary rhetorical exercises used to prepare students for increasingly sophisticated speaking and writing.
Rather than immediately asking young writers to produce lengthy compositions from a blank page, the Progymnasmata develops writers gradually. Students begin by working with excellent models: narrating, retelling, summarizing, expanding, imitating, describing, and responding to ideas. As their skills grow, students take increasing ownership of the structure, style, and content of their writing.
This approach reflects an important principle of classical education: imitation comes before innovation. Just as musicians study excellent music and artists study great works of art, young writers benefit from closely examining and imitating excellent language before developing a mature voice of their own.
Resources will be added to this section throughout the year as we progress through our studies. You may find reading supports, grammar references, writing guides, vocabulary resources, or other materials connected to what students are currently learning.
These resources are intended to help families understand the language and methods we use in class so that home and school can work together as students grow into thoughtful readers, speakers, and writers.
Literature Selections
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe audiobook (YouTube Link)