Lucinda H. Kennaley has written for Highlights. In this short story, a boy goes on his first dive for pearls in the Arabian Gulf. As students read, they take notes on how Omer feels about his first dive.

The students will know poetry elements in the context of several sample poems. 

Created in WRESA GLAD training by Andy Erickson of Lake Lure Classical Academy for 4th grade ELA. Students explore various poems to identify elements of poetry.  

This is an ELA unit on Poetry. This unit support students' understanding of major differences between poems, drama, and prose. Students also learn about the structural elements of poems and drama when writing or speaking about a text.

Using 3 different short poems, this graphic organizer provides opportunities for teacher model and student practice on part of the RL 4.5 standard and L.4.5 standard.

This resource helps students learn the elements of poetry through shared practice of multiple poems by Shel Silverstein. It includes an assessment using Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" poem.

Students will work in small groups to research genres of literature and then create digital posters to share their information with the class and/or school library.

Lyman Frank Baum (1856-1919), also known as L. Frank Baum, was an American author, best known for his children’s books. Baum is the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the Oz series. In this excerpt from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, Toto, and the Scarecrow meet the Tin Woodman. As students read, they take notes on how Dorothy reacts to meeting the Tin Woodman and why she reacts this way.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 4th Grade English Language Arts.

This resource accompanies our Rethink 4th Grade ELA course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning.  

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 4th Grade English Language Arts. 

Pam Calvert is an award-winning children’s author and has written for Highlights. Calvert’s story is based on a legend from the Island of Guam, told by the original occupants of the island, the Chamorros. In the legend, a large fish threatens to eat the island. As students read, they take notes on how Nineti responds to the threat of the fish.

In this lesson, students write theme poems using their content knowledge and sensory awareness of a familiar object. Students first learn about the characteristics and format of a theme poem. They then engage in an online interactive activity in which they select a graphic of a familiar object (e.g., the sun, a heart, a balloon), build a word bank of content area and sensory words related to the object, and write poems within the shape of the object. Finished poems are printed and displayed in class.

In this activity, students learn about Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) who was a scientist, engineer, and inventor who was born in Scotland but became an American citizen in 1882. He invented the telephone in 1876, after years of putting in effort and proving his determination to technology. In his later years, he famously considered his invention a distraction, refusing to keep a telephone in his study. As students read, they take notes on how communication technology has changed over time.

In this lesson, students explain the major difference between poems, drama, and prose when writing or speaking about a text.

Mehded Maryam Sinclair has written for Highlights. In this folktale, Nasreddin Hodja wonders why watermelons and walnuts grow the way they do. Hodja’s character is a repeating figure in folktales from the Muslim world. As students read, they take notes on what happens to Hodja.

In this activity, students learn about Orville Wright (1871-1948) and Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) who were American inventors. They were aviation experts who are credited with building the world’s first successful airplane. As students read, they identify the challenges the brothers faced when engineering the first airplane.

In this lesson, students get to flex their writing muscles as they use a variety of writing genres to create a zine of their own: letter writing, persuasive writing, narrative, acrostic poetry, comic writing, and biography/autobiography. Students choose a prominent figure from popular culture as the focus for a multigenre zine and then plan the project using the Facts–Questions–Interpretations method. Students then write in each of the listed genres about their chosen subjects, using a variety of ReadWriteThink.org tools. Finally, students design covers for their projects, and the teacher binds all the printed documents into individual zines.