Grade 4 Reading
Informational Texts
Unit Sketch
In this unit, students will deepen their understanding (comprehension) of informational texts. During Reading workshop, students will be embarking on research projects, delving deeply into topics and reading across texts to learn more.
Students will focus on the following reading skills during guided reading/ strategy groups; finding the main idea and supporting details/summary, analyzing parts of a text in relation to the whole, analyzing the author’s craft and cross text(s) synthesis.
This unit is done at the same time as the Structure and Function science unit and the Writing unit (Informational Pt2).
Enduring Understandings
Students will understand that...
Using strategies such as text features, taking notes, conferring with a partner, gallery walks, sticky noting their thinking, stop jots will help them better understand the texts they are reading.
Authors use certain craft techniques for specific purposes (ex: using expert quotes to back up an idea) which in turn, helps readers to better understand the topic/ text.
Being able to identify the text structure the author uses (for example, cause and effect) will not only help them to better understand the text, but also to pinpoint the necessary information.
Asking good questions can help guide their inquiry and deepen their understanding.
The same information can be presented in different ways across multiple texts.
Skills
Students will be able to...
Determine the meaning of nonfiction texts they read
Accurately summarize texts they read
Determine important ideas in the nonfiction texts they read
Identify author's craft and how it is used to support understanding/ strengthen a text
Connect ideas from multiple texts
Ask meaningful questions around the texts they read to help with their understanding
Interpreting Characters
Unit Sketch
This unit focuses on making inferences from the text to better understand characters in the story. Students learn to distinguish between character traits and character emotions. They will identify how characters change in stories and the meaning behind those changes.
Enduring Understandings
Students will understand that...
Character development is an important part of story-writing.
Understanding character development as a reader makes the story more meaningful.
Skills
Students will be able to...
Make inferences about characters using evidence supported by the text
Identify character responses and/or changes that are significant to the story
Identify the difference between character emotions and character traits
Reading and Writing Poetry
Unit Sketch
This is a combined reading and writing unit that allows students to investigate figurative language, theme, and how authors decide on the language and layout of their poems to best deliver their message to their intended audiences. Students will read a variety of poems and discuss meaning, both in terms of author message, theme, and /or what the figurative language really represents. Students will then produce a small collection of poems around a central idea/ theme and will present them using audio recordings along with visual displays that will enhance the development of main ideas or themes of their poetry collection.
Enduring Understandings
Students will understand that...
Authors use figurative language to best deliver their message to their intended audiences.
Discussing poetry with others helps readers better understand the author's message, theme, and what figurative language represents.
Skills
Students will be able to...
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
Use line breaks in a way that seems purposeful and thought out, after editing by reading out loud
Separate ideas by creating different stanzas in at least one poem in a way that seems purposeful and thought out, after editing by reading out loud
Use words in poems in a way that seems purposeful and thought out. I attempted to really
Create a vivid mental picture for an audience or to evoke a feeling
Reading and Writing Fantasy
Unit Sketch
This is a combined reading and writing unit focusing on fantasy. The Lightning Thief will be used as a whole class novel.
Enduring Understandings
Students will understand that...
There are common patterns in literature.
Literature helps us to make sense of the world around us.
Literature from the past influences our current lives and contemporary stories.
Writers need to think about who will tell the story they write & why.
When writing a fantasy story, writers need to create a fantastical world that seems real enough that the reader can get lost in the story & believe that it could actually happen ("suspended disbelief").
There are specific characteristics of the fantasy genre. (make believe world, alien species, make believe language, etc.).
Skills
Students will be able to...
Identify similarities and differences between a text and a DVD version of the same story
Identify how point of view can affect how a story is told
Conduct discussions about the book they are reading, citing evidence to support their ideas
Write a short fan fiction fantasy story that builds off ofThe Lightning Thief.
Persuasive/Opinion Texts
Unit Sketch
This unit is designed to be done in conjunction with the Social Studies Global Trade and Interdependence unit and the Writing Unit Pt 1 (Persuasive/Opinion Pieces). Students will learn reading strategies to help them better understand informational texts, including: monitoring for meaning, synthesis, determining importance, and inferring skills.
Enduring Understandings
Students will understand that...
Reading about social issues grows your knowledge base and makes you a better global citizen.
Issues that are close to our hearts inspire us to create a world where there are more equal opportunities and access to basic needs.
It takes each of us to make a difference for all of us.
Reading strategies help readers better understand informational texts.
Skills
Students will be able to...
Identify social issues
Identify how reading about social issues contributes to being a better global citizen
Identify how reading about social issues can become a catalyst for change
state the mindset of a global citizen and how global citizens hold one another accountable as being a part of a community
Explain the role of a global citizen in solving common social issues
Implement reading strategies to better understand texts
Readers' Theater
Unit Sketch
This unit is designed
Enduring Understandings
Students will understand that...
Skills
Students will be able to...