This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 4th grade ELA content.

In this lesson, traditional stories of the Native peoples (i.e., narrative text) introduce students to the study of animals in Alaska (i.e., expository text). Students use the Internet to listen to a Yu'pik tale told by John Active, a Native American living in Alaska. They also use online resources to find facts about animals in Alaska. Students compare and contrast the two types of text in terms of fiction and nonfiction. The narrative stories provide students with a context to begin studying a content area topic; this lesson emphasizes the integration of curriculum.

This informational text explains that while both the Arctic and Antarctica are cold, Antarctica is much colder and drier - a polar desert. The text is written at a grades four through five reading level. This version is a full-color PDF that can be printed, cut and folded to form a book. Each book contains color photographs and illustrations.

This is a multi-day culminating activity based on unit 2 of the 4th grade Wonders curriculum. Students will work in groups to research a chosen animal off of a given list. After researching the animal, they will create a visual using four nonfiction text features to describe the animal. Students will connect a Makey Makey to their presentation and record audio describing each section. After projects are complete, students will participate in a gallery walk. A rubric accompanies this activity so teachers have guidelines on how to assess student work.

This lesson is for Grades 4 - 5 on literacy. At Home Learning Lessons are a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, PBS North Carolina, and the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation.  Each lesson contains a video instructional lesson, a PDF lesson plan with a transcript, and a PDF file of extension activities.

In this activity, students will organize electricity-related vocabulary words into a web or cluster design.

Students will complete various hands on activities throughout the week to demonstrate what they have learned about using context clue stragtegies. 

This lesson contains a one-day rotation lesson for teaching context clues. The following standard will be covered in this lesson: 

In this lesson, students review types of context clues and practice using them to define vocabulary words.

Students will identify why and how Feynman started to look at the world through the eyes of a scientist. Students will both learn how memoirs can be as deeply revealing as fiction and how to unpack the meaning of a first person narrative.

In this lesson after viewing the video, students develop an informed opinion about which animal makes a better pet, cats or dogs. Students complete a T-chart and use information from the video to write an opinion paragraph. A rubric for assessment is included.

Students will research on the computer. Students will create a poster about their Australian animal. This lesson was developed by Sara Kull as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

Students will read through a nonfiction text picking out key ideas and details. Students will create their own note taking sheet using boxes and bullets based on teacher modeling. This lesson was developed by Sara Kull as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

Teacher will introduce nonfiction using any book on Australia and Oceania. Teaching Point: Readers summarize chunks of text by pausing and saying to themselves "What is the one big thing that this text is teaching, and how do other details support this idea?" This lesson was developed by Tina Deal as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

This article illustrates the question how and why blowfish can pump themselves up to more than double their volume. It provides details about the scales which have turned into spikes that so that the fish can turn it into ball in situations of danger. The article also mentions that the fish is very poisonous but yet considered a delicacy in Japan with the poisounous parts cut out. The article is written for native speakers age 8 and up.

This scientific article explains the ethymology, the origin, and the retrieval of fossiles in quarries. An audio link provides an impression of children looking for fossiles in a quarry. The article is written for native speakers age 8 and up. The audio is spoken at a natural pace.

This article startswith illuminating the spectrum of visible and invisible light. It then defines the electromagnetic nature of light in form of minute energy packages. In the last section the text focuses on the danger of sunlight, which is mostly in the invisible part of the spectrum - the ultraviolet light. The article is written for native speakers age 8 and up.

This article opens with the question how to not lose orientation on an ocean with no landmarks nearby. The next section explains how longitudes and latitudes help for orientation in combination with information about time and the position of the sun. The last paragraph illustrates why longitudes were established only 250 years ago due to lack of exact clocks. The article is written for native speakers age 9 and up.

This article compares naturally occuring magnets with industrially produced magnets. It then explains how magnets attract metals and how a compass works. The text is written for native speakers age 8 and up.

This scientific article provides an overview over static electricty. It starts with the discovery of static electricity and the ethymology of the word "electron." Then two different experiments are explained based on static electricity. In the last part the article explains the phenomenon on a molecular level. The text is written for native speakers age 9 and up.