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How to learn Grade 4: English language arts

Vermont academic standards: English language arts, Grade 4

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1. Language Standards

  1. Discussing and Questioning New Words: Ask and answer questions about unknown words in texts; discuss word meanings and link new vocabulary to words already known
  2. Domain Vocabulary Across Subject Areas: Acquire and use accurately academic and domain-specific vocabulary relevant to grade-level topics, including words that signal precise meaning in informational texts across subject areas
  3. Advanced Figurative Language: Understand and interpret figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meaning — including allusion, irony, pun, oxymoron, and extended metaphor — and distinguish between connotation and denotation when analysing or choosing words
  4. Using New Vocabulary: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, being read to, and responding to texts in own speech and writing
  5. Bullet Point Punctuation: Punctuate bullet points consistently to list information clearly, applying conventions for capitalisation, end punctuation, and parallel structure across items
  6. Standard English: Know and understand the differences between spoken and written language — including differences in formality, register, grammar, and vocabulary — and between Standard English and other varieties of English, using Standard English confidently in writing and speech

2. Speaking and Listening Standards

  1. Adapting Speech to Context: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, using formal English when appropriate to task and situation while adjusting tone, vocabulary, and style for different audiences
  2. Multimedia Presentations: Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes
  3. Reporting & Recounting: Report on a topic or recount an experience with organised facts and descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace
  4. Identifying Reasons Behind a Speaker's Points: Identify the reasons and evidence a speaker provides to support particular points, evaluating whether the reasoning is logical and the evidence is relevant
  5. Paraphrasing What You Hear: Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, capturing the key ideas accurately in one's own words
  6. Group discussions: Participate actively in collaborative conversations staying on topic; continue a conversation through multiple exchanges; maintain attention in discussions

3. Writing Standards

  1. Writing for an audience: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organisation are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience, maintaining a consistent style and structure throughout
  2. Literary Evidence in Writing: Draw evidence from literary texts to support analysis, reflection, and research in writing, applying grade-level reading standards to literature
  3. Evidence-Based Writing: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research in writing, applying grade-level reading standards to non-fiction
  4. Short Research Projects: Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic, gather information from print and digital sources, and take brief organised notes
  5. Research & Note-Taking: Gather relevant information from print and digital sources, summarise or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a basic bibliography or list of sources
  6. Sharing and Publishing Your Writing: Read own writing aloud clearly enough to be heard by peers and the teacher; use digital tools to produce and publish writing
  7. Revising and editing (age 7+): Evaluate and edit writing by assessing effectiveness, proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary for consistency, and proof-reading for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors at Y3-4 level
  8. Narrative Writing: Write narratives with developed settings, characters and plot, using dialogue and description to develop experiences and show character responses to situations
  9. Basic Informational Writing: Compose informative or explanatory texts that introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section
  10. Developed Informational and Explanatory Writing: Write informative and explanatory texts that examine a topic and convey ideas clearly — organising information logically with headings and formatting, developing the topic with relevant facts, definitions, details, and quotations, and using precise vocabulary
  11. Structured Opinion Writing: Compose opinion pieces that introduce a topic, state a clear point of view, provide organised reasons linked with connecting words, and include a concluding statement or section

4. Reading Standards: Foundational Skills

  1. Reading with Expression and Accuracy: Read aloud with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression (prosody), re-reading familiar texts to build fluency and confidence, and using context to self-correct

5. Reading Standards for Informational Text

  1. Interpreting visual information in texts: Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively in informational texts (e.g., charts, graphs, diagrams, timelines, animations) and explain how it contributes to understanding the text
  2. Combining information from texts: Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably, combining and comparing what each source contributes
  3. How authors support their points: Explain how an author of an informational text uses reasons and evidence to support particular points, evaluating whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient
  4. Supporting ideas with evidence: Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which specific points
  5. Firsthand and Secondhand Accounts: Compare and contrast a firsthand account (autobiography, diary, letter) with a secondhand account (biography, textbook, news report) of the same event or topic, identifying differences in focus and information provided
  6. Structure of information texts: Describe the overall structure of an informational text (chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) and explain how the author's chosen structure helps convey information and ideas
  7. Comparing Structure in Information Texts: Compare and contrast the overall structure of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more informational texts, identifying patterns such as chronology, comparison, cause/effect, or problem/solution
  8. Explaining Events & Ideas: Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in an informational text, including what happened and why, by citing specific textual evidence about causes, effects, and steps in a process
  9. Summarising Non-Fiction Main Ideas: Determine two or more main ideas of an informational text and explain how they are supported by key details, then summarise the text without personal opinions
  10. Main Topic & Key Details: Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph informational text, determine the focus of specific paragraphs, and explain how key details support the main idea

6. Reading Standards for Literature

  1. Themes Across Cultures and Traditions: Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes, topics, and story patterns (e.g., good vs evil, quest narratives, trickster tales) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures
  2. Text & Media Connections: Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions from the text
  3. Narrator's Point of View: Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including distinguishing between first-person and third-person narration and explaining how the narrator's perspective shapes the reader's understanding
  4. Poems, Drama & Prose: Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, identifying structural elements unique to each form: verse, rhythm, and meter in poetry; cast of characters, dialogue, and stage directions in drama; chapters and paragraphs in prose
  5. Cultural Allusions and Word Meaning: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as used in literary texts, including understanding references to mythology and cultural allusions (e.g., Herculean, Achilles' heel)
  6. In-Depth Character and Setting Analysis: Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details from the text such as a character's thoughts, words, actions, and interactions
  7. Finding Theme and Summarising: Determine the theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, and provide an objective summary that captures the key events without personal opinions