• Fourth Grade English/Language Arts

    Dear Fourth Grade Families;

    Welcome to the Ann Arbor Public Schools Family Pages. We hope the information you find here assists you in supporting your child while s/he is learning important skills and concepts throughout the fourth grade year. The information provided below is meant to outline some of the specific learnings your fourth grader will be engaged in this year. This guide offers highlights of fourth grade learning, rather than an exhaustive list. 

    Balanced Literacy addresses K-5 Michigan English Language Arts Standards through Reader’s Workshop. Reader’s Workshop includes five key literacy practices: (1) Interactive Read-Aloud, (2) Mini-Lesson, (3) Guided Reading, (4) Literature Study, and (5) Independent Reading. The 3-5 resource is Guiding Readers and Writers by Fountas and Pinnell and Literacy Continuum by Fountas and Pinnell.           

    The  K-5 writing program is based on the Writer's Workshop model.  It includes whole group mini-lessons, time for children to write individually, and time for writers to share their writing with each other. The Ann Arbor Public Schools uses Units of Study by Lucy Calkins and Ann Arbor-created Genre Studies as it’s core writing resources.  To take a deeper look at each unit go to:     Atlas: Fourth Grade ELA 

  • Reading

    Key Ideas and Details (Fiction and Nonfiction)
    • Ask questions to deepen understanding of text
    • Refer to important information and details and use evidence to support opinions statements
    • Relate important information and concepts in one text and connect to information and concepts in other texts
    • Learn more about social issues, both local and global, as revealed through character, plot, and setting
    • Use background knowledge to understand settings, problems, and characters and to extend understanding of historical fiction and science fiction 

    Story Elements (Fiction)

    • Setting
    • Recall important details about setting after a story is read
    • Recognize and understand that texts may have settings that reflect a wide range of diverse places, languages, and cultures
    • Notice and understand settings that are distant in time and place from students’ own experiences
    • Infer the importance of the setting to the plot of the story in realistic and historical fiction and fantasy
    • Plot
    • Notice and remember the important events of a text in sequence
    • Include the problem and its resolution in a summary of a text
    • Follow a complex plot with multiple events, episodes or problems (longer stories)
    • Tell the important events of a story 
    • Character
    •    Follow multiple characters, each with unique traits, in the same story
    •    Recognize that characters can have multiple dimensions: e.g., can be good but make mistakes
    •    Infer characters’ traots as revealed through thought, dialogue, behavior, and what others think of them
    •     Notice character change and infer reasons from events of the plot.
    • Messages and Themes
    • Infer the messages in a work of fiction
    • Notice and understand themes that are close to their experience
    • Notice when a fiction writer is communicating a moral lesson

     Book and Print Features (Fiction)

    • Notice, use and understand the purpose of some organizational tools: e.g, title, table of contents, chapter title
    • Notice and understand textual elements that have symbolic value, add to aesthetic enjoyment, or add meaning

    Organization (Nonfiction)

    • Understand that a nonfiction text can be expository or narrative in structure
    • Notice that a nonfiction writer puts together information related to the same topic or subtopic
    • Gain new understandings from searching for and using information found in text body, sidebars, and graphics
    • Notice, use and understand the purpose of some organizational tools: e.g, heading, subheading, glossary, index

    Vocabulary (Fiction and Nonfiction)

    • Notice and acquire new content words from texts and graphics
    • Use grade level content and academic vocabulary in discussion of a text
    • Derive meaning of words from the context of a sentence, paragraph, or the whole story

  • Writing

    Narrative

    • Personal Narrative
      • Understand that writers tell stories from their own lives
      • Understand that a personal narrative is a text in which a writer reflects on a memorable experience, place, time, or person.
      • Understand the structure of narrative, including lead or beginning, introduction of characters, setting, problem, series of events, resolution of problem, and ending
      • Tell details about the most important moments in a story while eliminating unimportant details
    • Fiction
      • Understand that a fiction text may involve one or more events in the life of a main character
      • Understand that a writer uses various elements of fiction: e.g., setting, plot with problem and solution, characters
      • Write a simple fiction story, either realistic or fantasy
      • Develop a plot that includes tension
      • Show rather than tell how characters feel

    Informative/Explanatory

    • Understand that a writer creates an expository text for readers to learn about a topic
    • Understand that to write an expository text, the writer needs to become very knowledgeable about a topic
    • Write a piece, about a topic, that is interesting to read and teaches or informs readers about a topic

    Opinion

    • Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
    • Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer’s purpose.
    • Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.
    • Link opinion and reasons using words and phrases (e.g., for instance, in order to, in addition).
    • Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.

  • Partnering With Your Child’s Teacher 

    If you have questions or concerns reach out to your child’s teacher—you are an important part of your child’s education. Ask to see a sample of your child’s work or bring a sample with you. Ask the teacher questions like:

    • Is my child at the level where he/she should be at this point of the school year?
    • What do you think is giving my child the most trouble? How can I help my child improve in this area?
    • Where is my child excelling? How can I support this success?

    Helping Your Child Learn Outside of School     

    1. Provide time and space for your child to read independently. This time should be free from distractions such as television.
    2. Ask your child what he or she learned from reading and how that knowledge can be used in real life. Have him or her read the most interesting or useful sections aloud.
    3. It is also helpful when your child sees other people reading at home. You could share what you have read.
    4. Keep track of the time that your child spends reading every day. Note what kind of reading materials he or she likes (books, magazines, newspaper articles, the Internet, etc.). Then look for additional materials that would encourage your child to read more.
    5. Be sure your child has a library card. Children should select books they are interested in to develop a passion for reading. Many libraries have book clubs and family activities that make reading fun for the entire family.
    6. Use technology to help build your child’s interest in reading. There are several websites where students can read books or articles online. The computer will help with words the student cannot read independently. Libraries also have computers students can use to access those sites. Feel free to ask a librarian or teacher for suggestions.