Grade 4 ELA


Grade 4 ELA focuses on four modules, which allow students to build important content knowledge based on a compelling topic related to science, social studies, or literature.  Each module is broken into three units, where students have the opportunity to read grade-level texts, build background knowledge, and share what they have learned through discussions and writing.  In addition, students have ongoing discussions about the habits of character necessary to become effective learners, ethical people, and to contribute to a better world. 

Module

Timeframe

Big Ideas (Statements or Essential Questions)

Major Learning Experiences from Unit 

Module 1:

Poetry, Poets, and Becoming Writers

September – November

What makes a poem a poem?


What inspires poets to write poetry?

Students will:

  • Read Love that Dog by Sharon Creech in order to learn about what inspires people to write.

  • Analyze how main characters feel in response to events that happen.

  • Read and analyze a variety of poems to determine the theme, identify characteristics of poetry, and practice effectively summarizing.

  • Plan and write informative paragraphs about what inspires poets to write poetry

  • Practice reading new poems aloud for fluency.

  • Write original poems and present to an audience, explaining their inspiration to write their original poem.

Module 2: Animal Defense Mechanisms

November – January

How do animals' bodies and behaviors help them survive?


How can writers use knowledge from their research to inform and entertain?

Students will:

  • Closely read several informational texts to build background knowledge on general animal defenses.

  • Collect research about animal defenses while reading to make observations, draw inferences, and synthesize information.

  • Research and write an informative piece describing an animal's physical characteristics, habitat, predators, and defense mechanisms.

  • Use their research to plan, draft, and revise a choose-your-own-adventure narrative about their animal. 

Module 3: The American Revolution

February – April

How did the American Revolution and the events leading up to it affect the people in the colonies?

Students will:

  • Build background knowledge about the Revolutionary War and the different perspectives of the colonists.

  • Read informational texts to determine the main idea, analyze the overall structure, and summarize.

  • Closely read the historical fiction play Divided Loyalties to deepen their understanding of the Patriot and Loyalist perspectives with a focus on character thoughts, feelings, and actions.

  • Write opinion pieces, in the form of a broadside, from the Patriot perspective and the Loyalist perspective with reasons why the colonists should join each cause.

  • Discuss whether they would or would not have supported the American Revolution had they lived during colonial times.

Module 4: Responding to Inequality: Ratifying the 19th Amendment

April – June

What can we learn from the process of ratifying the 19th Amendment?

How can stories inspire us to take action to contribute to a better world?


How and why can we encourage and support others to contribute to a better world?

Students will:

  • Build background knowledge about gender and racial inequality issues in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, including the process of ratifying the 19th Amendment.

  • Read The Hope Chest by Karen Schwabach to identify themes in each chapter and summarize events that show evidence of a theme.

  • Compare and contrast information in firsthand and secondhand accounts of real-life responses to inequality.

  • Analyze the meaning of similes, metaphors, idioms, adages, and proverbs.

  • Research how students around the world can take action and make a difference in their community.

  • Write a PSA to encourage other students to make a difference.  


Grade 4 ARC Curriculum Guide

Grade 4 ELA (ARC Curriculum) focuses on four units, which allow students to build important content knowledge based on a compelling topic related to science, social studies or literature.  Students have the opportunity to read grade-level texts, build background knowledge, and share what they have learned through discussions and writing.     

Unit

Unidad

Timeframe

Cuándo

Big Ideas (Statements or Essential Questions)

Preguntas esenciales

Major Learning Experiences from Unit 

Principales experiencias de aprendizaje de la unidad

Unidad 1:

Lecto-

escritura

September – November

¿Cómo es una comunidad de ávidos lectores?


¿Qué es la afición por la lectura y por qué es importante?


¿Qué tipo de lector soy y por qué es importante?

Los estudiantes podrán: 

  • Hacer deducciones lógicas y citar información del texto al escribir o hablar sobre la lectura realizada. 

  • Usar los rasgos textuales de textos informativos como apoyo para la comprensión y la afición.

  • Definir las ideas principales o temas.

  • Resumir las ideas claves del texto y de los detalles que las apoyan.

  • Conversar colaborativamente al tomar en cuenta las ideas de los demás y al expresar con claridad y persuasión las ideas propias.

  • Determinar el significado de palabras desconocidas al usar diferentes estrategias.

Unit 2: 

Animal Adaptations

November – January

How does an animal’s behavior help it survive?


How do the physical adaptations help it survive?


What’s the animal’s biome and what are its biggest challenges?


What adaptations help the animal find food and avoid being eaten?


What adaptations help the animal grow and reproduce?


What are the threats to the animal’s survival?

Students will:

  • Read and discuss Animal Adaptations and other nonfiction texts.

  • Become an expert on an animal of their choice, learning its behavior, physical characteristics, life cycle and more.

  • Learn the science key concepts through a combination of shared reading and writing activities.

  • Identify an author’s main idea and key details in a text.

  • Write, revise, edit, illustrate and publish a final project based on their research.


Unidad 3: 

Ficción realista

February – April

¿Cómo una persona se gana el respeto, amistad y confianza de los demás?


¿Qué asuntos sociales son importantes hoy en día? ¿Por qué?


¿Qué es más difícil, seguir el status quo o ser uno mismo?


¿Se aprende el prejuicio o es algo natural?

¿Cómo se puede prevenir o desaprender?

Los estudiantes podrán: 

  • Leer, discutir y analizar La travesía de Santiago y otras historias de ficción realista.

  • Describir las características de un cuento de ficción realista

  • Identificar las similitudes y diferencias entre dos cuentos de ficción realista.

  • Escribir, revisar, editar y publicar su propio cuento de ficción realista en base a todo lo estudiado.

Unit 4: 

US States

April – June

How is geography important to your state? How have the physical features impacted the political features?


Which Native American nations lived in what would become your state? Where are they today?


What are the most important milestones in the history of your state?


Who is responsible for running your state?


What goods and services does your state specialize in producing?


What are the most urgent issues facing your state?

Students will:

  • Read, analyze and discuss My United States Massachusetts and other informational texts

  • Formulate opinions, explaining their reasoning and using text evidence to support their thinking.

  • Use evidence from the text to identify the author’s point of view and purpose for writing.

  • Become an expert on a US State of their choice, researching the characteristics that make it unique from other states (geography, government, important people, economy, history, etc…)

  • Write, revise, edit and publish an opinion piece based on your research.