4th grade English Language Arts
14 units matched to the Alabama Course of Study. Kids see this subject as “Reading & Writing”.
Focus areas
- Reading: theme, inference, point of view and comparing texts
- Writing, speaking and listening: writing with reasons and evidence, and research
- Vocabulary and language: building word knowledge and using grammar, spelling and punctuation
Units
Unit 1
Reading Detectives
Reading short original stories and articles, then finding the main idea and key details, making inferences from clues, working out word meanings and choosing the best summary.
Content standard: 4.20; 4.21 · main idea, details and summaries
Unit 2
Text Features
Using the parts of a nonfiction book to find information: reading a table of contents and index, knowing what glossaries, captions, labels and timelines are for, and choosing headings.
Content standard: 4.23 · headings, glossaries, maps and indexes
Unit 3
Figurative Language
Spotting similes, metaphors, personification, onomatopoeia and alliteration (plus hyperbole at the stretch level), and explaining what figurative phrases really mean.
Content standard: 4.10; 4.R5 · similes, metaphors and idioms
Unit 4
Point of View
Telling first-person stories (I, me, we) from third-person stories (he, she, they), finding pronoun clues, and noticing when dialogue uses “I” in a third-person story.
Content standard: 4.17; 4.18 · first- and third-person narration
Unit 5
Parts of Speech
Naming the job each word does in a sentence, with a focus on Grade 4's pronouns, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions. Easier levels stick to nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns.
Content standard: 4.39 · pronouns, adverbs and other parts of speech
Unit 6
Super Sentences
Joining sentences with and, but, or and so; spotting and fixing fragments and run-ons; and choosing verbs that agree with the subject and match the tense.
Content standard: 4.38 · compound sentences, fragments and run-ons
Unit 7
Word Builders
Using word parts to work out meanings: prefixes like re- and mis-, suffixes like -able and -ment, finding the base word, and (at the stretch level) roots such as port and tele.
Content standard: 4.3; 4.4 · prefixes, suffixes and roots
Unit 8
Sound-Alikes
Choosing between words that sound alike (there/their/they're, to/too/two, its/it's) and using context to tell which meaning of a word like “bark” or “bow” is meant.
Content standard: 4.11; 4.R2 · homophones and homographs
Unit 9
Paragraph Power
Choosing topic and concluding sentences, finding the sentence that doesn't belong, using transition words, identifying cause and effect, and putting sentences in order.
Content standard: 4.36; 4.R4 · topic sentences, details and transitions
Unit 10
Grammar Gears
Choosing who, which, that and whose, using have, has and had with the right verb form, telling questions from commands, and using my, your, their, this and these.
Content standard: 4.39 · relative pronouns and verb forms
Unit 11
Tall Tales, Myths & Plays
Your child tells tall tales, myths and legends apart, reads the parts of a play (character tags, acts, scenes, stage directions) and explains why writers use anecdotes.
Content standard: 4.15; 4.19 · tall tales, myths, legends and the parts of a play
Unit 12
Poems and Plays
Your child names the parts of poems and plays (verse, stanza, rhythm, meter, cast, scene, dialogue, stage directions) and explains how they differ from stories.
Content standard: 4.25; 4.26 · the parts of poems and plays, rhythm and rhyme
Unit 13
Media and Sources
Children practice naming the target audience and purpose of a message, spotting techniques like close-ups and “hurry” words, telling facts from opinions, searching with keywords and judging whether a source is reliable.
Content standard: 4.33; 4.R3 · searching, judging sources and reading the purpose of media messages
Unit 14
Spelling Rules
Children practice US spelling rules for adding endings (doubling, dropping e, changing y to i), plurals and common tricky words.
Content standard: 4.4; 4.7 · spelling words correctly using rules for endings, plurals and common words
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