Grade 4 ELA

In this unit, students will read and write personal narratives while learning how writers use stories to share meaningful experiences. Students will identify features of the personal narrative genre and examine literary devices such as similes, metaphors, dialogue, transition words, sensory details, and point of view. Students will also demonstrate understanding of cause and effect, build key vocabulary, and apply correct punctuation to dialogue. In writing, students will revise and publish a narrative using rubrics, checklists, and peer feedback.

In this unit, students will learn about Europe’s Middle Ages while strengthening reading, vocabulary, note-taking, and writing skills. Students will build key vocabulary, determine the importance of details in a text, and use evidence to support their ideas. In writing, students will use paraphrasing and details from texts to craft an informative comparative paragraph.

In this unit, students will read, discuss, recite, and write poetry while exploring how poets use language to create meaning. Students will identify details and supporting evidence, examine figurative language, and develop an understanding of poetic devices such as rhyme, repetition, alliteration, meter, tone, and extended metaphor. Students will also practice reciting poems with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression. In writing, students will create original poems using rich language and poetic devices.

In this unit, students will explore invention and innovation while strengthening reading, vocabulary, research, communication, and writing skills. Students will read complex literary and informational texts, identify and use evidence appropriately, and build key vocabulary. Students will also develop skills in research, observation, communication, and persuasion. In writing, students will practice opinion, informational, and narrative forms while adjusting their style for the task and audience.

In this unit, students will learn about geology and how Earth changes over time while strengthening reading, vocabulary, grammar, and writing skills. Students will identify evidence in texts that describes the effects of geological changes, build key vocabulary, and examine how similes help writers explain ideas. Students will also practice arranging adjectives correctly within sentences. In writing, students will draft an informational pamphlet, write a Wikipedia-style entry, and craft an informative paragraph.

In this unit, students will learn about the American Revolution and the events that led the colonies toward independence. Students will build key vocabulary, strengthen subject-verb agreement with regular and irregular verbs, and deepen their understanding of how prefixes and suffixes change the meaning of root words. In writing, students will develop a five-paragraph cause-and-effect essay.

In this unit, students will participate in a novel study while strengthening reading, vocabulary, literary analysis, and writing skills. Students will compare first- and third-person points of view, infer characters’ motivations, conflicts, perspectives, and traits using text evidence, and analyze how character relationships change throughout a novel. Students will also compare and contrast characters’ experiences, identify themes and messages, and analyze figurative language such as similes, metaphors, imagery, hyperbole, and idioms. In writing, students will plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish a first-person narrative using dialogue, descriptive language, figurative language, and sensory details.

In this unit, students will explore longer works of fiction while strengthening vocabulary, grammar, literary analysis, and narrative writing skills. Students will trace the development of characters, setting, plot, and literary devices across a text. Students will also practice using modal auxiliary verbs, relative pronouns, and coordinating conjunctions correctly. In writing, students will use a story map to develop characters, setting, and plot, then revise, edit, and publish an adventure or narrative story using rubrics, checklists, and peer feedback.

In this unit, students will learn about American inventors and innovators while strengthening reading, research, vocabulary, and presentation skills. Students will identify main ideas and supporting details in informational texts, compare and contrast inventors and innovators, ask and answer relevant questions, make text-based inferences, and synthesize details across texts. Students will also identify themes, distinguish between primary and secondary sources, and gather information from relevant sources. In writing, students will draft, revise, and publish an informational research paper and present their findings in a variety of formats.