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4th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 14 of 20

Clues in Texts

Features, perspective and cause

What your child practices

Understanding hyperlinks, bold and italic type, labels and captions, telling who is narrating, spotting personification, and tracing causes and effects.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 4R3 · cause and effect, order and features that explain what happens and why

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Bold and italic type make words stand out. Captions explain pictures. Hyperlinks take you to more information.
  2. First person uses I. Second person uses you. Third person uses he, she or they.
  3. Find causes by asking “why did this happen?”

Example: “You open the door and step into the dark hall.” What point of view is this? The story talks to the reader with “you.” That is second person. Answer: second person

Clues in Texts in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 14 of 20 in 4th grade English Language Arts, after Firsthand or Secondhand? and before Listen, Speak & Read Aloud.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Where in a book would you look to find which page a topic is on?

    • the index
    • the caption
    • the cover

  2. Question 2

    What point of view is this story told in?

    A Trip to the Lake

    You pull on your boots and grab the paddle. The canoe is waiting at the dock.

    You step in carefully. It wobbles, and you hold your breath. Then the water goes still, and you glide out across the lake.

    • third person
    • second person
    • first person

  3. Question 3

    Which words show spatial order?

    • because, so, then
    • above, beside, below
    • first, next, last

  4. Question 4

    In an online article, a word in blue that you can click is called a…

    • caption
    • glossary
    • hyperlink

  5. Question 5

    A picture shows a tall tree at the top and roots at the bottom. What kind of order is this?

    • alphabetical
    • top to bottom
    • smallest to largest

  6. Question 6

    What is the second plot in this passage about?

    Two Plans

    Kenji wanted to build a treehouse. First, he drew a plan and collected boards. Because he had measured twice, the boards fit.

    Meanwhile, his sister Hana planted a garden below the tree. She watered it every morning, so the seedlings grew fast.

    • Hana's garden
    • Kenji's plan
    • a trip to the lake

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