GLEN RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Curriculum Guide

Course Title: Language Arts

Subject: Language Arts

Grade Level: Grade 4

Department/School: Language Arts/ Ridgewood Avenue School

Duration: Full Year

Number of Credits: N/A

Prerequisite: N/A

Elective or Required: N/A

Authors: Stacy Amanna

Geni Sackson

Date Submitted: Summer 2006

Course Description

The purpose of this course in Language Arts is to build on the reading, writing, listening, speaking and viewing skills of the current fourth grade students. With the use of a quality literature anthology, a coordinating grammar and writing program, enrichment materials, age appropriate novels, and technology students in the fourth grade will build skills that will strengthen their ability to communicate and demonstrate their thinking.

GLEN RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

LANGUAGE ARTS MISSION STATEMENT

In order to pursue interdisciplinary lifelong learning, students need the skills to communicate effectively. Through a challenging, sequential academic curriculum, the Glen Ridge Language Arts Literacy Program provides all students with varied and integrated experiences. The skills of reading, writing listening, speaking, viewing, presenting, and researching will enable them to effectively participate in school and in society, respectful of various points of views while displaying creative and critical thinking skills.

Goals of the Glen Ridge Language Arts Literacy Program

Provided with an environment that encourages creativity as well as expression of unique feelings and thoughts, students will:

• become competent critical readers who learn to analyze, evaluate, reflect upon and respond to the ideas of others;
• approach reading with an appreciation for a variety of literary styles, genres and contexts;
• implement the writing process including: pre-writing, drafting, revising; proofreading, and publishing;
• write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for different audiences and purposes;
• apply appropriate conventions of spelling, grammar, punctuation and language usage;
• speak for a variety of real purposes and audiences;
• listen interactively in diverse situations to information from a variety of sources;
• view, understand, and construct meaning from non-textual sources;
• gather, evaluate, synthesize and cite data from a variety of technological sources and print materials, and
• share, display, and/or publish individual and collaborative products.

New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards

All skills of the New Jersey Core Content Curriculum Standards for Language Arts Literacy and the NJASK 4 are met or exceeded and referenced throughout the curriculum.

Goal: (Reading) All students will understand and apply the knowledge of sounds, letters and words in written English to become independent and fluent readers, and will read a variety of materials and texts with fluency and comprehension. Standard 3.1

Objectives: By the end of Grade 4, students will:

• Recognize that printed materials provide specific information.
• Identify differences of various print formats, including newspapers, magazines, books, and reference resources.
• Recognize purposes and uses for print conventions such as paragraphs, end-sentence punctuation, and bold print.
• Identify and locate features that support text meaning (e.g., maps, charts, illustrations).
• Demonstrate a sophisticated sense of sound-symbol relationships, including all phonemes (e.g., blends, digraphs, diphthongs).
• Use letter-sound knowledge and structural analysis to decode words.
• Use context to accurately read words with more than one pronunciation.
• Use letter-sound correspondence and structural analysis (e.g., roots, affixes) to decode words.
• Know and use common word families to decode unfamiliar words.
• Recognize compound words, contractions, and common abbreviations.

• Recognize grade-level words accurately and with ease so that a text sounds like spoken language when read aloud.
• Read longer text and chapter books independently and silently.
• Read aloud with proper phrasing, inflection, and intonation.
• Use appropriate rhythm, flow, meter, and pronunciation in demonstrating understanding.

• Set purposes for reading and check to verify or change predictions during/after reading.
• Monitor comprehension and accuracy while reading in context and self-correct errors.
• Use pictures and context clues to assist with decoding of new words.
• Develop and use graphic organizers to build on experiences and extend learning.

• Use knowledge of word meaning, language structure, and sound-symbol relationships to check understanding when reading.
• Identify specific words or passages causing comprehension difficulties and seek clarification.
• Select useful visual organizers before, during, and after reading to organize information (e.g., Venn diagrams).

• Spell previously studied words and spelling patterns accurately.
• Use pictures and context clues to assist with meaning of new words.

• Infer word meanings from learned roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
• Infer specific word meanings in the context of reading passages.
• Identify and correctly use antonyms, synonyms, homophones, and homographs.
• Use a grade-appropriate dictionary (independently) to define unknown words.
• Use a grade-appropriate dictionary with assistance from teacher.

• Recognize the purpose of text.

• Discuss underlying themes across cultures in various texts.
• Distinguish cause and effect, fact and opinion, main idea, and supporting details in nonfiction texts (e.g., science, social studies).
• Interpret information in graphs, charts, and diagrams.
• Ask how, why, and what if questions in interpreting nonfiction texts.
• Recognize how authors use sarcasm, humor, and imagery to extend meaning.
• Discuss underlying theme or message in interpreting fiction.
• Summarize major points from fiction and nonfiction text.
• Draw conclusions and inferences from text.
• Recognize the first-person “I” point of view.
• Compare and contrast story plots, characters, settings, and themes.
• Participate in creative responses to texts.
• Read regularly in materials appropriate for their independent reading level.
• Read and comprehend both fiction and nonfiction that is appropriately designed for their grade level.
• Cite evidence from text to support conclusions.
• Understand author’s opinions and how they address culture, ethnicity, gender, and historical periods.
• Follow simple multiple-steps in written instructions.
• Recognize an author’s point of view.
• Identify and summarize central ideas in informational texts.
• Recognize differences among forms of literature, including poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction.
• Recognize literary elements in stories, including setting, characters, plot, and mood.
• Identify some literary devices in stories.
• Identify the structures in poetry.
• Identify the structures in drama.
• Read regularly in materials appropriate for their independent reading level.
• Use library classification systems, print or electronic, to locate information.
• Draw conclusions from information and data gathered.
• Read a variety of nonfiction and fiction books and produce evidence of understanding.
• Investigate a favorite author and produce evidence of research.
• Read independently and research topics using a variety of materials to satisfy personal, academic, and social needs, and produce evidence of reading.

Goal: (Writing) All students will write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for different audiences and purposes. Standard 3.2

Objectives: By the end of Grade 4, students will:

• Generate possible ideas for writing through recalling experiences, listening to stories, reading, brainstorming, and discussion.

• Generate possible ideas for writing through talking, recalling experiences, hearing stories, reading, discussing models of writing, asking questions, and brainstorming.
• Examine real world examples of writing in various genres to gain understanding of how authors communicate ideas through form, structure, and author’s voice.
• Use graphic organizers to assist with planning.
• Compose first drafts from prewriting work.
• Revise a draft by rereading for meaning, narrowing the focus, sequencing, elaborating with detail, improving openings, closings, and word choice to show voice.
• Participate with peers to comment on and react to each other’s writing.
• Build awareness of ways authors use paragraphs to support meaning.
• Begin to develop author’s voice in own writing.
• Develop an awareness of form, structure, and author’s voice in various genres.
• Use reference materials to revise work, such as a dictionary or internet/software resource.
• Edit work for basic spelling and mechanics.
• Use computer word-processing applications during parts of the writing process.
• Understand and use a checklist and rubric to improve writing.
• Reflect on own writing, noting strengths and areas needing improvement.
• Use strategies such as reflecting on personal experiences, reading, doing interviews or research, and using graphic organizers to generate and organize ideas for writing.
• Draft writing in a selected genre with supporting structure according to the intended message, audience, and purpose for writing.
• Revise drafts by rereading for meaning, narrowing the focus, elaborating, reworking organization, openings, and closings, and improving word choice and consistency of voice.
• Review and edit work for spelling, mechanics, clarity and fluency.
• Use a variety of reference materials to revise work, such as a dictionary, thesaurus, or internet/software resources.
• Use computer writing applications during most of the writing process.
• Understand and apply elements of grade-appropriate rubrics to improve and evaluate writing.
• Reflect on one’s writing, noting strengths and areas needing improvement.
• Write a descriptive piece, such as a description of a person, place, or object.
• Write a narrative piece based on personal experience.
• Write a nonfiction piece and/or simple informational report across the curriculum.
• Present and discuss writing with other students.
• Apply elements of grade-appropriate rubrics to improve writing.
• Develop a collection of writings.

• Create narrative pieces, such as memoir or personal narrative, which contain description and relate ideas, observations, or recollections of an event or experience.
• Write informational reports across the curriculum that frame an issue or topic, include facts and details, and draw from more than one source of information.
• Craft writing to elevate its quality by adding detail, changing the order of ideas, strengthening openings and closings, and using dialogue.
• Build knowledge of the characteristics and structures of a variety of genres.
• Sharpen focus and improve coherence by considering the relevancy of included details, and adding, deleting, and rearranging appropriately.
• Write sentences of varying lengths and complexity, using specific nouns, verbs, and descriptive words.
• Recognize the difference between complete sentences and sentence fragments and examine the uses of each in real-world writing.
• Improve the clarity of writing by rearranging words, sentences, and paragraphs.
• Examine real-world writing to expand knowledge of sentences, paragraphs, usage, and authors’ writing styles.
• Provide logical sequence and support the purpose of writing by refining organizational structure and developing transitions between ideas.
• Engage the reader from beginning to end with an interesting opening, logical sequence, and satisfying conclusion.
• Use Standard English conventions that are developmentally appropriate to the grade level: sentences, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

• Use Standard English conventions that are appropriate to the grade level, such as sentence structure, grammar and usage, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and handwriting.
• Use increasingly complex sentence structure and syntax to express ideas.
• Use grade appropriate knowledge of English grammar and usage to craft writing, such as subject/verb agreement, pronoun usage and agreement, and appropriate verb tenses.
• Study examples of narrative and expository writing to develop understanding of paragraphs and indentation.
• Develop knowledge of English spelling through the use of patterns, structural analysis, and high frequency words.
• Write legibly in manuscript or cursive to meet district standards.
• Use punctuation correctly in sentences, such as ending punctuation, commas, and quotation marks in dialogue.
• Use capital letters correctly in sentences, for proper nouns, and in titles.
• Indent in own writing to show the beginning of a paragraph.
• Spell grade-appropriate words correctly with particular attention to frequently used words, contractions, and homophones.
• Use knowledge of base words, structural analysis, and spelling patterns to expand spelling competency in writing.
• Use a variety of reference materials, such as a dictionary, grammar reference, and internet/software resources to edit written work.

• Write for different purposes (e.g., to express ideas, to inform, to entertain, to respond to literature, to question, to share) and a variety of audiences (e.g., self, peers, community).
• Study the characteristics of a variety of genres, including expository, narrative, poetry, and reflection.
• Develop fluency by writing daily and for sustained amounts of time.
• Generate ideas for writing in a variety of situations and across the curriculum.
• Write to express thoughts and ideas, to share experiences, and to communicate socially.
• Write the events of a story sequentially.
• Produce writing that demonstrates the use of a variety of sentence types, such as declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative.
• Respond to literature through writing to demonstrate an understanding of text.
• Write narrative text.
• Write nonfiction text.
• Study the characteristics of a variety of genres, including expository, narrative, poetry, and reflection.
• Develop independence by setting self-selected purposes and generating topics for writing.
• Write independently to satisfy personal, academic, and social needs (e.g., stories, summaries, letters, or poetry).
• Use writing to paraphrase, clarify, and reflect on new learning across the curriculum.
• Respond to literature in writing to demonstrate an understanding of the text, to explore personal reactions, and to connect personal experiences with the text.
• Write narratives that relate recollections of an event or experience and establish a setting, characters, point of view, and sequence of events.
• Write informational reports that frame a topic, include facts and details, and draw information from several sources.
• Write formal and informal letters for a variety of audiences and purposes.
• Use a variety of strategies to organize writing, including sequence, chronology, and cause/effect.
• Demonstrate higher-order thinking skills through responses to open-ended and essay questions in content areas or as responses to literature.
• Use relevant graphics in writing (e.g., maps, charts, illustrations).
• Demonstrate the development of a personal style and voice in writing.
• Review scoring criteria of a writing rubric.

• Develop a collection of writings (e.g., a literacy folder or a literacy portfolio).

Goal (Speaking) All students will speak in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for different audiences and purposes. Standard 3.3

Objectives: By the end of Grade 4, students will:

• Use vocabulary related to a particular topic.

• Use convincing dialogue to role-play short scenes involving familiar situations or emotions.
• Use figurative language purposefully in speaking situations.
• Use appropriate vocabulary to support or clarify a message.
• Adapt language to persuade, explain, or seek information.
• Use pictures to support an oral presentation.
• Attempt to revise future presentations based on feedback from peers and teacher.
• Speak for a variety of audiences and purposes.
• Prepare, rehearse, and deliver a formal presentation in logical or sequential order, including opening, supportive details, and a closing statement.
• Use notes or other memory aids to structure a presentation.
• Maintain audience interest during formal presentations, incorporating adequate volume, proper pacing, and clear enunciation.
• Participate in a dramatization or role-play across the curriculum.
• Read aloud with fluency.
• Understand and use criteria for a rubric to improve an oral presentation

Goal (Listening) All students will listen actively to information from a variety of sources in a variety of situations. Standard 3.4

Objectives: By the end of Grade 4, students will:

• Connect messages heard to prior knowledge and experiences.
• Exchange information through verbal and nonverbal messages.
• Listen actively for a variety of purposes such as enjoyment and obtaining information.
• Listen attentively and critically to a variety of speakers.
• Interpret vocabulary gained through listening.
• Follow two and three step directions.
• Listen to a story read aloud and/or information from television or film and summarize main ideas.
• Paraphrase information shared by others.
• Demonstrate competence in active listening through comprehension of a story, interview, and oral report of an event or incident.
• Develop listening strategies (e.g., asking questions and taking notes) to understand what is heard.
• Demonstrate competence in active listening by interpreting and applying received information to new situations and solving problems.
• Make inferences based on an oral report or presentation.
• Describe how language reflects specific regions and/or cultures.
• Follow three-and four-step oral directions

Goal: (Viewing and Media Literacy) All students will access, view, evaluate and respond to print, nonprint, and electronic texts and resources. Standard 3.5

Objectives: By the end of Grade 4, students will:

• Begin to demonstrate an awareness of different media forms and how they contribute to communication.
• Identify the central theme and main ideas in different media.
• Interpret information found in pictorial graphs, map keys, and icons on a computer screen.
• Respond to and evaluate the use of illustrations to support text.
• Use graphs, charts, and diagrams to report data.
• Distinguish between factual and fictional visual representations.
• Identify the central theme in a movie, film, or illustration.
• Identify the target audience for a particular program, story, or advertisement.
• Demonstrate an awareness of different media forms and how they contribute to communication.

• Recognize the effects of visual arts on one’s mood and emotions.
• Begin to explore and interpret messages found in advertisements and other texts.
• Understand that creators of both print media and electronic media have a purpose and target audience for their work.
• Explore and interpret various messages found in advertisements and other texts.
• Discuss the emotional impact of photos and how they aid understanding.
• Compare and contrast media sources, such as film and book versions of a story.

• Express preferences for media choices.

Curriculum Description

UNIT 1: LET’S EXPLORE

Objectives:

After completion of unit one, students will be able to:

1. Make inferences and analyze text while reading. (3.1)

2. Identify problem and solution. (3.1)

3. Read aloud grade appropriate material with ease. (3.1)

4. Summarize. (3.1)

5. Identify main ideas and details. (3.1)

6. Analyze character. (3.1)

7. Identify character, setting and plot. (3.1)

8. Use a dictionary to identify unfamiliar words. (3.1)

9. Use context clues to define vocabulary words. (3.1)

10. Identify word parts to find meanings-compound words. (3.1)

11. Read charts, maps, and diagrams to increase comprehension. (3.1)

12. Use strategies to improve fluency-repeated reading, partner reads, choral reading. (3.1)

13. Preview and make predictions while reading to increase comprehension. (3.1)

14. Write for a variety of purposes-personal narrative. (3.2)

15. Respond to literature through personal writing-poetry. (3.2)

16. Utilize the writing process. (3.2)

17. Use graphic organizers to prewrite. (3.2)

18. Use a rubric to evaluate and improve personal writing. (3.2)

19. Speak clearly and with expression. (3.3)

20. Vary reading pace. (3.3)

21. Use appropriate strategies to prepare, rehearse and deliver an oral presentation. (3.3)

22. Look at the speaker to show interest. (3.4)

23. Summarize the details of a narrative. (3.4)

24. Identify and write the four different kinds of sentences. (3.2)

25. Punctuate correctly. (3.2)

26. Identify sentence fragments. (3.2)

27. Adjust volume and tone of voice. (3.3)

28. Demonstrate appropriate listening behavior-eye contact with speaker and age appropriate body language. (3.4)

29. Make inferences based on listening. (3.4)

30. Write sentences containing subjects and predicates. (3.2)

31. Write simple and compound sentences. (3.2)

32. Avoid speech fillers (um, like, so). (3.3)

33. Identify and correct fragments and run-on sentences. (3.2)

34. Write non-fiction text-journal entry.

35. Site evidence from text to support conclusions. (3.1)

36. Learn about searching on the internet. (3.5)

Approximate Duration: Six weeks

Activities:

- Read unit selections and self-selected material, responding in a variety of ways.

- Write a personal narrative about a special place they have explored. Students will utilize the writing process by Prewriting (create a sequence chart), Drafting (write a draft with focus on topic sentence, sensory details, time order words), Revising (focus on ideas and content, word choice, sentence fluency, voice, organization) Proofreading (focus on indent, spelling, punctuation, capitalization), Publishing (type final copy). (3.2)

- Other writing activities may include writing a personal narrative about a problem, writing a cinquain about an animal, writing a personal narrative e-mail telling about a memorable experience, writing a journal entry about how they feel when they are in a park, zoo, or other place with animals. (3.2)

- Other activities may include researching fingerprinting and creating a class fingerprint log.

UNIT 2: TAKE A STAND

Objectives:

After completion of unit two, students will be able to:

1. Identify author’s purpose for writing text. (3.1)

2. Make inferences and draw conclusions about characters and plot. (3.1)

3. Read at different speeds using scanning, skimming, or careful reading as appropriate. (3.1)

4. Set purpose for reading and check to verify or change predictions during/after reading. (3.1)

5. Monitor comprehension and accuracy while reading in context and self-correct. (3.1)

6. Listen for a variety of purposes. (3.4)

7. Summarize an oral story. (3.4)

8. Infer meaning of unfamiliar words by using context clues. (3.1)

9. Use graphs and tables to assist in comprehension of nonfiction texts.

10. Understand author’s opinions and how they address culture, ethnicity, gender, and historical periods. (3.1)

11. Use strategies to monitor comprehension and analyze text-visualization. (3.1)

12. Summarize a selection through revision and confirmation of predictions. (3.1)

13. Compare and contrast characters from text to text. (3.1)

14. Make connections between text to text, text to self, and text to world. (3.1)

15. Read properly with proper intonation and phrasing. (3.1)

16. Write a persuasive letter. (3.2)

17. Use proper and common nouns correctly. (3.2)

18. Listen for persuasive words. (3.4)

19. Use appropriate strategies to prepare, rehearse, and deliver an oral presentation. (3.3)

20. Identify the central themes and ideas in different media. (3.5)

21. Generate questions based on text. (3.1)

22. Explain how illustrations support text. (3.1)

23. Use a dictionary and glossary to define unfamiliar words. (3.1)

24. Identify elements of Author’s Craft-suspense. (3.1)

25. Use text features to increase comprehension-primary sources.

26. Include strong words in their writing. (3.2)

27. Correctly use singular and proper nouns. (3.2)

28. Identify the target audience and purpose of a story, ad, or program. (3.5)

29. Analyze an ad’s message and respond. (3.3; 3.4)

30. Use sound effects as part of an oral presentation. (3.3)

31. Differentiate between fact and opinion. (3.1)

32. Use the parts of a text to locate information. (3.1)

33. Write for a variety of purpose-Expository. (3.2)

34. Use reference materials for research purposes. (3.1)

35. Identify problem and solution in text. (3.1)

36. Identify, understand, and use literary elements in writing-idioms, alliterations, metaphors, and similes. (3.2)

37. Use word origins and base words to find the meaning of an unfamiliar word. (3.1)

38. Use possessive nouns correctly. (3.2)

Activities:

- Read unit selections and self-selected material, responding in a variety of ways.

- Write a persuasive essay convincing classmates to take a stand on a certain issue. Students will utilize the writing process by Prewriting (create a web), Drafting (write a draft with focus on logical order, and opinion words), Revising (focus on ideas and content, word choice, sentence fluency, voice, organization), Proofreading (focus on use of possessive nouns), Publishing (type final draft and present to class) (3.2)

- Other writing activities may include writing a radio ad convincing someone to buy a product; writing in response to a prompt about losing something with special meaning; writing a concrete poem; and writing a book review.

UNIT 3: MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Objectives:

After completion of unit three, students will be able to:

1. Identify author’s purpose. (3.1)

2. Define unfamiliar words using thesaurus-synonyms. (3.1)

3. Make predictions and inferences. (3.1)

4. Summarize. (3.1)

5. Recognize plot elements within text. (3.1)

6. Increase fluency through repeated and choral reading. (3.1)

7. Recognize literary elements-foreshadowing and symbolism. (3.1)

8. Use quotation marks to punctuate dialogue. (3.2)

9. Make inferences based on listening. (3.4)

10. Use body language and expression to make dialogue come to life. (3.3)

11. Apply decoding strategies to read unknown words while working independently. (3.1)

12. Correctly use action verbs.

13. Define unknown words through the use of word parts-prefix. (3.1)

14. Use illustrations and visualization to increase comprehension. (3.1)

15. Read and identify works of different genres. (3.1)

16. Understand figurative language-simile. (3.1)

17. Use text features to navigate non-fictional texts. (3.1)

18. Apply knowledge of word meanings and context clues. (3.1)

19. Demonstrate correct use of verb tenses. (3.2)

20. Identify comparisons by key words-similar, in addition, in the same way, likewise, too. (3.1)

21. Apply strategies to increase comprehension: compare and contrast, summarize.

22. Identify main idea and details in non fiction texts. (3.1)

23. Improve fluency through echo reading. (3.1)

24. Use the library to locate information. (3.1)

25. Write for a variety of purposes-expository brochure. (3.2)

26. Demonstrate correct use of helping and main verbs. (3.2)

27. Write in response to a picture prompt. (3.2)

28. Identify the sequence of events.

29. Describe character traits. (3.1)

30. Make judgments. (3.1)

31. Write for a variety of purposes and audiences-play scene; character sketch. (3.2)

32. Use homophones properly. (3.2)

33. Correctly use linking verbs. (3.2)

34. Recognize figurative language in texts-metaphor. (3.1)

35. Make conclusions. (3.1)

36. Use strategies to navigate text-skim and scan, ask questions. (3.1)

37. Respond to literature in writing to demonstrate an understanding of the text, to explore personal reactions, and to connect personal experiences within the text. (