In 4th grade, we have six main reading units:
- Launching Readers Workshop : Students are introduced to the routines, procedures, and processes of reading workshop. In addition, they define and practice academic strategies, including: analyzing, evaluating, summarizing, comparing and contrasting, predicting, explaining, and inferring.
- Elements of Fiction : Students learn the elements of realistic fiction including character, setting, plot, and theme. The short stories in this unit represent a variety of cultures and writing styles.
- What Does it Mean to Be an American? : Students will learn about American people's varied backgrounds, geographic regions and ethnic groups, that American values include freedom and fairness, that Americans strive to achieve better lives for themselves and their families, and that some Americans may struggle because of prejudice and discrimination.
- Biography : Students read about people who have made a difference in the world. They learn common text features and characteristics of biographies and compare and contrast different biographies on the same person.
- The Civil Rights Movement : Students are given an opportunity to study an important era of American history. Through literature, picture books and first person accounts, students are able to understand a complex time in history.
- Tall Tales : Students learn the characteristics of Tall Tales, a type of folk literature told with exaggeration and humor. Tall tales follow a predictable pattern and the hero in each tale has traits and abilities that are admired by others. By reading tales from different regions, students will see that folktales are similar in their narrative structures and essential elements of the genre, while they differ in cultural details.