By the end of FOURTH GRADE

Reading

Students will:

•Read independently every day in class

•Read and respond to a wide variety of literature

•Make observations and formulate questions in response to text

•Identify the plot, it's events, their causes, and how they influence future action

•Use knowledge of the situation, setting, and the character's traits and motivation to determine the causes for a character's actions

•Distinguish between cause and effect, or fact and opinion.

•Expand sight vocabulary both in word recognition and meaning (synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms)

•Interpret and summarize what has been read

•Make predictions using background knowledge; use text to confirm predictions

•Use root words and origins to determine word meaning

•Distinguish and interpret multiple-meaning words

•Respond to text and relate to personal experience

•Use parts of the book (table of contents, glossary, title page, index)

Speaking and Listening

Students will:

•Demonstrate good manners

•Know and use the functions of language (e.g., to inform, to persuade, to entertain)

•Experiment with new vocabulary

•Demonstrate cooperative listening and active participation

Writing

Students will:

•Write daily for 30 minutes

•Writing Domains: Evaluation, Report of Information, Autobiographical Incident, Observation

•Take at least one draft per quarter to final copy

•Create a paragraph including topic sentence with supporting facts and details

•Arrange words in alphabetical order

•Write a complete sentence to answer a question

•Write personal letters including date, salutation, body, closing, and signature

•Use correct grammar: regular and irregular verbs, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions

•Use correct punctuation: parentheses, commas in direct quotations, and apostrophes (possessives and contractions), use underlining, quotation marks, and italics to identify titles

•Use correct capitalization: names of magazines, newspapers, works of art, music, organizations, and first word in quotations when appropriate

•Identify and use subject and predicate of simple sentences

•Develop skills in using a variety of reference materials, (e.g., dictionary and encyclopedia)

•Spell high frequency words and apply spelling rules