English Language Arts Curriculum
Northern Illinois District
Grade 4
I. Reading Skills
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to read with understanding and fluency.
Learning Standard A: Apply word analysis and vocabulary skills to comprehend selections.
Word analysis and Vocabulary
Objective 1: Read and comprehend unfamiliar words using root words, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, homonyms, prefixes, suffixes, word origins, and derivations.
Objective 2: Clarify word meaning using context clues and a variety of resources including glossaries, dictionaries, and thesauruses.
Objective 3: Develop word analysis by using strategies involving analogies, multiple word meanings, and connotation and denotation.
Objective 4: Apply phonics skills to pronounce a word.
Learning Standard B: Apply reading strategies to improve understanding and fluency.
Reading skills
Objective 1: Establish purposes for reading, survey materials, ask questions, make predictions, connect, clarify, and extend ideas.
Objective 2: Identify structure (e.g. description, compare/contrast, cause and effect, sequence) of nonfiction texts to improve comprehension.
Objective 3: Continuously check and clarify for understanding both inferred and literal comprehension (e.g., in addition to previous skills, clarify terminology and seek additional information).
Text features
Objective 4: Recognize the author’s use of literary elements.
Objective 5: Identify the author’s purpose for writing (e.g., to entertain, inform, persuade, or explain).
Objective 6: Use text features such as captions, titles, pictures, bold faced words, and graphs to develop better understanding.
Fluency
Objective 7: Use appropriate expression, tone, volume, and rate to suit purpose and difficulty of text.
Objective 8: Use punctuation cues to increase fluency and proper inflection.
Objective 9: Apply articulation and proper enunciation.
Learning Standard C: Comprehend a broad range of reading materials.
Comprehension strategies
Objective 1: Identify answers to literal questions.
Objective 2: Develop deductive reasoning in answering inferential questions.
Objective 3: Use text-based support and personal experience to make connections and identify evidence for inferences, critical judgments, comparisons, opinions, conclusions, cause and effect, and interpretations (e.g., motives of characters, consequences of actions).
Objective 4: Sequentially organize the events of a story.
Objective 5: Identify, connect, compare, and contrast story elements.
Objective 6: Recognize the main idea and summarize the text.
Objective 7: Explain how authors and illustrators use text and art to express their ideas (e.g., points of view, design hues, metaphor).
Objective 8: Connect information presented in tables, maps, and charts to printed or electronic text.
Objective 9: Use graphic organizers to enhance comprehension.
Genre
Objective 10: Read from a variety of sources including fiction and nonfiction.
Objective 11: Distinguish fiction from nonfiction using context clues.
II. Literature
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to read and understand literature representative of various societies, eras, and ideas.
Learning Standard A: Understand how literary elements and techniques are used to convey meaning.
Literary elements
Objective 1: Identify and describe theme, character, plot, setting, tone, and point of view.
Objective 2: Identify literary elements such as characterization, narration, and dialogue in a variety of literary works.
Literary techniques
Objective 3: Identify literary techniques as in state standard 1b.
Objective 4: Identify the features of specific genres.
Objective 5: Identify and define literary terms such as simile, idiom, imagery, personification, onomatopoeia, etc.
Learning Standard B: Read and interpret a variety of literary works.
Objective 1: Respond to literary material by making inferences and drawing conclusions.
Objective 2: Apply prior knowledge and personal experience to make connections to fiction and nonfiction text.
III. Written Communication
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to write to communicate for a variety of purposes.
Learning Standard A: Use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and structure.
Grammar
Objective 1: Identify subject and predicate of a sentence.
Objective 2: Identify the parts of speech in a sentence.
Objective 3: Correctly use plurals and possessives.
Objective 4: Correctly use the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs.
Spelling
Objective 5: Demonstrate knowledge of word analysis by correctly spelling a word list.
Objective 6: Incorporate spelling rules when adding affixes.
Objective 7: Apply strategies in learning to spell unfamiliar words.
Punctuation and capitalization
Objective 8: Correctly use the rules for punctuating the ends of sentences.
Objective 9: Incorporate the correct usage of commas, apostrophes, quotation marks, and underlining.
Objective 10: Correctly incorporate the capitalization rules within a sentence or paragraph.
Sentence structure
Objective 11: Identify and use the four types of sentences.
Objective 12: Apply correct knowledge of subject-verb agreement.
Objective 13: Identify and write simple and compound sentences.
Objective 14: Identify run-on sentences and fragments.
Paragraph structure
Objective 15: Correctly compose a paragraph with a topic sentence followed by supporting sentences.
Objective 16: Learn to write an introductory and concluding paragraph.
Objective 17: Properly indent the first word of every paragraph.
Objective 18: Correctly write dialogue.
Handwriting
Objective 19: Correctly form both manuscript and cursive letters.
Objective 20: Write letters in a legible format including proper spacing and line usage.
Learning Standard B: Compose well-organized and coherent writing for specific purposes and audiences.
Process writing
Objective 1: Write according to a pre-stated purpose: explanatory, narrative, persuasive, or narrative.
Objective 2: Brainstorm ideas and use prewriting strategies to generate ideas.
Objective 3: Use the writing process (pre-write, draft, revise, edit, and publish) to produce a written piece.
Support and elaboration
Objective 4: Support topic sentences using detailed sentences, factual information, or further examples.
Organization
Objective 5: Use graphic organizers to organize ideas and plan writing strategies.
Objective 6: Develop introductory and conclusion paragraphs.
Objective 7: Use transitional words and time order words.
Editing
Objective 8: Edit for clarity, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.
Objective 9: Edit for paragraph format (i.e., indenting and dialogue).
Learning Standard C: Communicate ideas in writing to accomplish a variety of purposes.
Modes of writing
Objective 1: Write for a variety of purposes and for specified audiences: narrative, explanatory, persuasive.
Objective 2: Begin research process for writing a short research paper.
Objective 3: Write in a variety of styles including journals, poetry, book reports, and friendly letters.
Visual presentation
Objective 4: Use technology to produce a finished product.
Objective 5: Enhance written assignments through illustrations or visual documentation.
Purpose for writing
Objective 6: Write for specified audiences.
Objective 7: Write for specified purposes.
IV. Oral Communication
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to listen and speak effectively in a variety of situations.
Learning Standard A: Listen effectively in formal and informal situations.
Objective 1: Restate and carry out oral instructions.
Objective 2: Listen for specific purposes: pleasure, information, or directions.
Objective 3: Summarize or paraphrase what was heard in a formal or informal situation.
Objective 4: Ask questions or respond to questions in oral presentations.
Learning Standard B: Speak effectively using language appropriate to the situation and
audience.
Objective 1: Deliver an oral presentation using enunciation, correct flow and volume, correct language, and eye contact.
Objective 2: Participate in class and group discussions.
Objective 3: Stay focused on a topic or subject.
V. Application of the Language Arts
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to use the language arts to acquire, assess, and communicate information.
Learning Standard A: Locate, organize, and use information from various sources to answer questions, solve problems, and communicate ideas.
Objective 1: Identify the correct resource for gathering information (encyclopedia, thesaurus, atlas, Web).
Objective 2: Generate questions of interest and narrow the focus of investigation.
Objective 3: Effectively use the dictionary by applying alphabetical order and guide words.
Learning Standard B: Analyze and evaluate information acquired from various sources.
Objective 1: Distinguish fact from author opinion.
Objective 2: Correctly cite sources used.
Objective 3: Avoid plagiarism.
Learning Standard C: Apply acquired information, concepts, and ideas to communicate in a variety of formats.
Objective 1: Use information gathered to organize and report in oral or written form.
Objective 2: