District 11 Educational Support Services
Literacy & Language Arts

Grade 4, Quarter 3: March Unit

Overview                                                                              
At this point in the school year, the ability to write a multi-paragraph is imperative for fourth graders. They must plan and write to a given prompt with a well developed topic sentence, supporting details, and a strong conclusion. Embedded transitions enrich the quality of their writing.

 

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Standards

Enduring Understandings - important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the instruction received this year.

  • Different strategies and skills are required to understand a variety of materials.

  • People apply critical thinking skills when reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.

  • People access, read, evaluate, and use a variety of resources to get information.

  • Throughout history, humans have used literature as a record of their experiences.

Essential Questions - most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer after completing learning activities.

  • What does it mean to "understand"? Why do we need to understand what we read or hear? How do we use strategies and skills to understand a variety of materials?

  • What is critical thinking? Why is critical thinking important? How do we apply critical thinking skills?

  • Why do I need a variety of resources? How do I access information and use it responsibly? How do I evaluate resources?

  • How and why do humans use literature to record their experiences? How has history influenced literature and vice versa?

CSAP Tested Standards
Highest Frequency High Frequency Other Standards & E-skills

Reading

Fluency
: Use word recognition skills, strategies (e.g., predict) and resources to include, context clues, phonemic awareness, and structural analysis to decode.  Apply word attack to read new and unfamiliar words.

Standard 1: Comprehension

1.a Use a full range of strategies to comprehend a variety of texts.
1.b Summarize long text passages.
1.c Identify supporting details and main idea.
1.d Draw inferences using contextual clues.
1.e Identify sequential order in expository text.
1.f Set a purpose for reading.
1.g Use bold print, italics, titles, sub-titles, quotations, and underlined words to comprehend text.
1.h Use word recognition skills and resources (for example, phonics, context clues, picture clues, reference guides, roots, prefixes and suffixes of words) for comprehension. 
(Students will understand and generate vocabulary specific to content. Students will use a range of strategies to build oral and reading vocabulary to include sight words and multi-syllabic words)
Fourth grade students will read all Kindergarten words, First Grade words, Second Grade words, Third Grade words and: At the end of quarter three, students will be able to read 150 of D11 sight words.

Standard 4: Thinking Skills
4.a Determine author’s purpose.
4.c Differentiate fact from opinion.
4.d Make predictions and draw conclusions about stories.
4.e Identify sequential order in expository text.
4f Recognize the author’s point of view.

Standard 5: Research

5.a Use organizational features of printed text (for example, page numbering, alphabetizing, glossaries, chapter heading, table of contents, indexes, captions) to locate information.
5.c Take notes, outline, and identify main ideas in resource materials.
5.d Sort information as it relates to a specific topic or purpose.

Standard 6:  Literature

6.b Identify setting, plot, character, problem, and solution.
6.c  Use new vocabulary from literature in another context.

Writing: Writes for a Variety of Purposes

When given a prompt for new writing, students will use the writing process:  plan, draft, revise, edit.
Generate topics and develop ideas for variety of purposes and audiences. 
Address authentic audiences by publishing a class newsletter, writing a letter to an adult, writing a book report, etc.

Conventions, Mechanics, and Grammar

Write complete sentences sentences.
Know subject/verb agreement.
Spell frequently used words correctly.
Use upper and lower case letters correctly.
Use punctuation correctly.

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4th/5th Grade Rubric


During the 2007-2008 school year,  Literacy Resource Teachers and classroom teachers will be correlating textbook pages to the emphasized standards for each month. Also, teachers will be developing District 11 Diamond Lessons for each quarter.

 

Reading Programs

McMillan McGraw Hill

Open Court

Scholastic

Scott Foresman

Pearson

         

 

Writing Programs

Writers Advantage

Lucy Calkins

 

 

 

Lessons

Lesson 1: Lesson 1 title

Duration: @ 1 class period

Standard: 
District Indicator:

Enduring Understanding:
Essential Questions:
 
Assessment:

Activities

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Resources

Differentiation
Extension:
Extension
Support:
Support