• Course Description

    Reading is a meaning-making process that requires the synthesis of skills to effectively communicate. Students are immersed in daily opportunities to explore, inquire, practice and apply reading strategies and skills in a variety of genres to advance toward grade level reading, in addition to becoming self-motivated readers. They will learn how to effectively use before, during, and after-reading strategies, build vocabulary, improve fluency, and select their own independent reading texts in order to become more informed citizens. Students will independently use their learning to grapple with increasingly complex texts from a variety of genres and time periods to gain a reservoir of literary and cultural knowledge.

    In fourth grade, children delve into complex texts and see significance in details. In the first unit, Interpreting Characters: The Heart of the Story, children study the complexity of characters and explore themes while developing skills such as inference and interpretation. In the second unit, Reading the Weather, Reading the World, children form research teams to delve into topics about extreme weather and natural disasters while developing their skills in cross-text synthesis, practicing close reading, comparing and contrasting, and evaluating sources to determine credibility. Children take on the challenge of researching history in the third unit, Reading History: The American Revolution. Children study multiple points of view, support a position with reasons and evidence, tackle complex texts, and learn strategies for using new domain-specific words. In the final unit for fourth grade, Historical Fiction Clubs, children practice reading analytically, synthesizing complicated narratives, comparing and contrasting themes, and incorporating nonfiction research into their reading.

    Grade Level(s): Fourth Grade

    Related Priority Standards (State &/or National):  K-5 Missouri Learning Standards & ELA Priority Standards

    Essential Questions

    • How do I know when I am stuck?
    • How do I figure out why I am stuck?
    • How do I purposefully apply effective strategies to help comprehend?
    • How do I motivate myself to read complex text?
    • Why am I reading? For what purpose?
    • How has my thinking changed?
    • How can I transfer the strategies to real life experiences?

    Enduring Understandings/Big Ideas

    Students will understand that:

    • Reading is a meaning making process that requires application of self-monitoring strategies to deepen the level of comprehension.
    • Self-directed reading leads to character and knowledge development.
    • Reading helps a reader extend and deepen their knowledge.
    • Reading develops critical thinking skills to evaluate reasoning.
    • Reading provides insights into the human condition.

    Course-Level Scope & Sequence (Units &/or Skills)

    • Unit 1: Interpreting Characters
    • Unit 2: Reading the Weather, Recording the World
    • Unit 3: Reading History
    • Unit 4: Historical Fiction Book Clubs

    * The above adjustments to scope and sequence are pending Board approval on August 22, 2022.

    Course Resources & Materials

    Date Last Revised/Approved: 2014