English Language Arts Grade 4
Educational Links

Reading: Literature Standard 3

Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).

• Alliteration All Around
  In this lesson, students learn about alliteration from picture books by author / illustrator, Pamela Duncan Edwards. Using the books' illustrations for inspiration, students write original alliterative sentences and share them with the class. As the lesson continues, students practice using alliteration to create acrostic poems, alphabet books, number books, and tongue twisters.
• Balancing Three Branches at Once
  This page contains 4 EDSITEment lessons in which students use primary source documents to investigate of how the three branches of the American government can check each other.
• Bright Morning: Exploring Character Development
  In this lesson from ReadWriteThink, students explore characters in their reading, identifying traits and pointing to textual support. This lesson uses "Sing Down the Moon" by Scott O'Dell; however, any fictional text can be adapted to the lesson.
• Can You Haiku?
  Haiku show us the world in a water drop, providing a tiny lens through which to glimpse the miracle and mystery of life. Combining close observation with a moment of reflection, this simple yet highly sophisticated form of poetry can help sharpen students' response to language and enhance their powers of self-expression. In this lesson, students learn the rules and conventions of haiku, study examples by Japanese masters, and create haiku of their own.
• Celebrate Kate DiCamillo's birthday today
  Kate DiCamillo often writes about animals, such as the title characters in Mercy Watson to the Rescue, Because of Winn-Dixie,The Tale of Despereaux, and The Tiger Rising. Have your students examine the characters in these stories, looking for character traits, examples of personification, and similarities and differences.
• Character Detectives: Gathering Evidence
  In this video lesson, students examine characters' speech, actions, thoughts, and feelings. (4 minutes)
• Characters in Because of Winn-Dixie: Making Lists of Ten
  Students will discuss characters and characterization in a text; work in cooperative groups; use a bookmark to document their findings while reading; identify and analyze the listing technique presented in Because of Winn-Dixie; create a list of ten things about a character.
• Critical Perspectives: Reading and Writing About Slavery
  In this lesson, students critically examine the perspectives of slaves and slave owners.
• Demonstrating Comprehension Through Journal Writing
  Students will Listen to a story and respond in writing; learn and use several comprehension strategies including self-questioning, retelling, predicting, summarizing, and assuming the role of a character to respond to questions in journal format; share journal responses orally to stimulate discussion, express opinions, and deepen their understanding of the story.
• Diamante Poems
  A diamante poem is a poem in the shape of a diamond. It doesn't have to rhyme but each line uses specific types of words like adjectives or -ing words. You and the computer can make a diamante poem together.
• Earth Verse: Using Science in Poetry
  This lesson is a great way to teach both scientific and English content to a class, although the teacher can easily choose another book and subject area. In this lesson, students listen to poems in the book Science Verse by Jon Scieszka.
• Gathering Evidence
  This Teaching Channel video helps students examine characters' speech, actions, thoughts, and feelings. (4 minutes)
• History in Quilts
  Throughout history, women and sometimes men have used the art of quilting for many diverse purposes: to keep warm, to decorate their homes, to express their political views, to remember a loved one. Heighten your students' awareness of how quilts have reflected and continue to reflect the lives of the people who create them, and of how quilts record the cultural history of a particular place and time. This theme of History in Quilts contains two separate lessons that can stand alone or be taught in conjunction with one another.
• It Came From Greek Mythology
  This page contains 6 EDSITEment lessons based around teaching Greek mythology. Students will study basic plots of three Greek myths and discuss three types of themes in Greek myths. They will also explore contemporary uses of terms from Greek mythology and analyze artistic and literary works based on or inspired by Greek myths.
• Lonely as a Cloud: Using Poetry to Understand Similes
  Students will gain knowledge by defining the term simile; apply this knowledge by identifying examples of similes in literature and poetry; practice analysis by examining the purpose and effect of similes in poetry; synthesize their knowledge by using a graphic organizer to create their own similes and then incorporating these similes into their own writing.
• Peace Poems and Picasso Doves
  This lesson, from ReadWriteThink, supports third-grade students as they apply think-aloud strategies to reading, as well as to the composition of artwork and poetry. Activities include collaborative as well as individual work. Technology tools are integrated as students research symbols of peace and as they prewrite, compose, and publish their poetry.
• Reading and Writing About Pollution to Understand Cause and Effect
  In this lesson, students access prior knowledge about water pollution before exploring the topic further using read-alouds. They then complete a sequencing graphic organizer using a story of a fish and its journey from the mountains to a polluted waterway. Finally, students' understanding of cause and effect is reinforced using a hands-on experiment, art project, and graphic organizer.
• Shape Poems
  A shape poem is a poem about an object or thing. It is written in the shape of the object. Make a poem in the shape of a star, a leaf, heart, fish or other shape.
• Shape Poems: Writing Extraordinary Poems About Ordinary Objects
  Students will recognize the characteristics and format of a shape poem; compile a list of content area terms and sensory images (collaboratively as a class and also independently) that relate to a shape or object, as part of the process of brainstorming a word bank for their shape poem; apply spelling knowledge and strategies when brainstorming words for the word bank and writing and revising their shape poem.
• Slave Narratives: Constructing U.S. History Through Analyzing Primary Sources
  In these activities, students research narratives from the Federal Writers' Project and describe the lives of former African slaves in the U.S. - both before and after emancipation.
• Teaching Point of View With Two Bad Ants
  This lesson provides students with the opportunity to use illustrations and text to develop an understanding of the point of view of the characters.
• Telling a Story Through Dance
  In this lesson plan students learn that dancing is one way to tell a story.
• The Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad
  Analyzing archival material such as photos, documents, and posters, students can truly appreciate the phenomenon of the Transcontinental Railroad. They can begin to answer some important questions: Why was the Transcontinental Railroad built? How did it affect Native Americans? Other minorities? How was the environment affected? What were the advantages of railroad travel? Who used the railroads, and why? Who built the railroad?
• Using Historical Fiction to Learn About the Civil War
  This lesson uses the book Meet Addy by Connie Porter to teach the characteristics of historical fiction, the making of inferences, the use of visualization, and Civil War history.
• Using Picture Books to Teach Characterization
  This ReadWriteThink lesson invites students to examine the craft of developing characters through focused experiences with pictures books. Through the careful analysis of character portrayal using the text and illustrations as cues, and online tools such as the ReadWriteThink Story Map, students have the opportunity to build bridges from their own experiences as readers to those skills needed as writers.

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http://www.uen.org - in partnership with Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and Utah System of Higher Education (USHE).  Send questions or comments to USBE Specialist - Sara  Wiebke and see the Language Arts - Elementary website. For general questions about Utah's Core Standards contact the Director - Jennifer  Throndsen.

These materials have been produced by and for the teachers of the State of Utah. Copies of these materials may be freely reproduced for teacher and classroom use. When distributing these materials, credit should be given to Utah State Board of Education. These materials may not be published, in whole or part, or in any other format, without the written permission of the Utah State Board of Education, 250 East 500 South, PO Box 144200, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-4200.