Our language arts curriculum endeavors to inspire independent reading, critical thinking, writing and speaking.

The fourth grade language arts curriculum will develop literate individuals through a balanced program that includes:

* An engaging and motivating curriculum that grows in complexity throughout the year

* A comprehensive curriculum that includes word study, reading comprehension, fluency, vocabulary development, grammar, writing, listening and speaking, literary analysis, and research skills

* Assessment based, differentiated instruction to meet the individual needs of students

Reading

* Fluency: Model and practice appropriate expression, intonation, pacing, and rhythm

* Literary Elements: Understand literature by using similes, metaphors, poetic elements, plots and subplots, main events, point of view, and characterization

* Build upon previously learned reading comprehension strategies and develop strategies of  determining importance, questioning, making connections, inferring, visualizing and synthesizing

* Genres: Explore a wide range of genres, including poetry, reader’s theatre, traditional folktales and traditional myths

Word Study

* Use prefixes, suffixes, and roots/bases to determine meaning
* Broaden vocabulary through context clues, analogies, and homophones

Writing

* Writing process/Genres: Use stages of the writing process -prewriting (brainstorming and organizing), drafting, revising, editing, proofreading, conferencing and publishing- to develop body paragraph support, leads, theses, and effective conclusions for narrative and expository essays, extended reading responses, and poetry

* Grammar: Apply the rules of grammar to the process of writing and diagram sentences while focusing on the study of compound sentences, helping verbs, antecedent agreement pronouns, possessive plural nouns, adverbs, adjectives relating to character traits, quotation marks used or dialogue and apostrophes

Research

* Continue to bolster research skills such as organizing information from a variety of resources, citing sources, determining the accuracy, credibility and currency of various sources, and preparing and delivering oral presentations based on information

Speaking and Listening

* Refine listening comprehension and listening behaviors such as evaluating speakers by offering constructive feedback, answering questions from audience/teacher post presentation, summarizing and executing oral directions, and using bullet-pointed note cards to guide presentation