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

Students will design and create a water filtration device with commonly found items in their house, Plastic bottles, coffee filters, scraps of cloth,, paper towels. To show the importance of clean water in an environment using the details in the literature piece The Water Princess.

This lesson employs direct instruction and small-group discussion to help students learn new vocabulary skills while reading Patricia Polacco?s Pink and Say.

This resource contains activities to help students draw conclusions/make inferences. Such activities include: guess the emotion, you are what you bring, using pictures, and links to additional resources.

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.

In this lesson, students overcome their fears by using a traditional poem to teach students about alliteration. After reading the book, A My Name Is... by Alice Lyne, students use a variety of print and online resources to brainstorm their own alliterative word lists. They then create a poetry link that uses the traditional poem they have read together as a framework for their own poems.

In this lesson, collaborative groups will read a variety of American tall tales, then report elements of their story to the whole class. Students add story information to a collaborative, whole-class character study matrix that summarizes all the stories. In a writing activity, students compare two characters of their choice. The lesson process is applicable to any set of related texts.

In this lesson, students will learn how to ask questions while they are reading to
stimulate their thinking. Students will learn how to infer to answer questions that the author does not answer. This lesson is part of the 'Making Inferences' unit and is on pages 46-48.

In this lesson, students will learn how to answer questions by inferring. This lesson is on pages 25-28 and is part of the Asking Questions unit.

In this activity, students read a story and answer questions about the text. The resource contains guided reading and assessment questions.

This lesson will teach how characters evolve across a story, and that often times the important changes are subtle. This lesson uses accountable-talk during a read aloud of One Green Apple by Eve Bunting to demonstrate how, as readers, students can use the traits of their character as a lens through which to interpret deeper, more significant changes stirring within. They will ultimately use those observations about their characters to author an epilogue for their books. The epilogue will allow students to demonstrate what they have learned about their main character, and it will allow the teacher to assess how well the students understand their characters and the changes their characters experienced across the text.

In this activity, Glenna Marra tells the story of Amanda Clement, the first woman who was paid to umpire a baseball game. The resource contains guided reading and assessment questions.

In this lesson, students compare the classic tale with a version set in the pre–Civil War South, Moss Gown by William Hooks, noting the architecture, weather, time period, and culture as depicted in the text and illustrations. Internet research projects and Story Map graphic organizers then provide background for a discussion of how the setting of a story affects the characters and plot. Students read one or more other versions of the Cinderella story and compare them using a Venn diagram. During the final two sessions, students plan, write, and peer edit their own Cinderella stories.

Students examine books, selected from the American Library Association Challenged/Banned Books list, and write persuasive pieces expressing their views about what should be done with the books at their school.

In this activity, students read a story and answer questions about the text. The resource contains guided reading and assessment questions.

In this activity, students read a story and answer questions about the text. The resource contains guided reading and assessment questions.

This resource, Character Perspective Charting, is an instructional method designed to reflect the actual complexity of many stories and is a practical instructional alternative to story mapping. This strategy delineates the multiple points of view, goals, and intentions of different characters within the same story. By engaging in Character Perspective Charting, students can better understand, interpret, and appreciate the stories they read.

In this activity, students read a story and answer questions about the text. The resource contains guided reading and assessment questions.

In this activity, Gunnell describes watching kite fighting as a young girl. The resource contains guided reading and assessment questions.

In this lesson, students will see how artistic materials can extend knowledge. This lesson provides opportunities for students to explore and experience the meaning potential of everyday writing and drawing tools in their own writing. The lesson can adapted for older students.