4th Grade English Language Arts: Complete Curriculum of Fourth Grade ELA
4th Grade ELA is a full curriculum of four units of fourth grade English Language Arts taught to the common core standards, covering literature, foundational skills, writing, speaking, and listening.
Beth Foster | Humanities Educator
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What's included
80 live meetings
33 hrs 20 mins in-class hoursHomework
2-4 hours per week. There is daily homework to be completed outside of class time. Homework includes reading and writing assignments, as well as worksheets and other learning projects.Assessment
All student workbooks are graded throughout the course. Weekly homework is assessed as follows for learners seeking a letter grade and letter of completion: 15 Percent: Reading Quiz 15 Percent: Spelling Word Project 15 Percent: Grammar Quiz 15 Percent: Grammar Worksheet/Project 15 Percent: Class Participation 25 Percent: Writing Assignment Letters of completion with final grade will be issued to students who complete the course with a C (70 Percent) or greater.Letter Grade
Students who complete the course with a C (70 percent or greater) will receive a letter of completion with their letter grade within a month of the course's last meeting.Certificate of Completion
Students who complete the course with a C (70 percent or greater) will receive a certificate of completion within a month of the course's last meeting.Class Experience
US Grade 4
𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀: ❶ 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 If the class fee is a barrier to your learner's enrollment, message me for more information about payment plan options and scholarship opportunities. ❷ 𝗘𝗻𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀 Learners registering for both the social studies and English Language Arts course of the same grade level in the same school year will be refunded $100 of their course fee. The refund will be made in the week before class meetings begin, at the time workbook links are being distributed to students. For learners on the payment plan, the $100 refund will be applied to the fourth payment. ❸ 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲 During Unit 1, we have four class meetings per week for five weeks, followed by a two-week fall break. We return for Unit 2, with four class meetings per week for three weeks and then a one-week break for the Thanksgiving Holiday. We return for the final two weeks of Unit 2, and then have a six-week winter break. Returning at the end of January, Unit 3 has four meetings per week for five weeks followed by a two-week spring break. After spring break, we finish up the school year by completing Unit 4 with four meetings per week for five weeks. ❹ 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 Students will receive a virtual interactive workbook before the course begins. The workbook is created using Google Slides. Students will complete homework in the workbook and the teacher also provides feedback on homework in the workbook. ❺ 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 No refunds of course fees are given after the workbooks are distributed. ❻ 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗹 Learners enrolled in any of my semester courses are invited to attend study hall, held on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons during the semester, at no additional cost. This is a time when students can get extra help with assignments, ask questions, work with classmates on group projects, or just log in and work on homework with other learners. ❼ 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 Homework is assigned following each class meeting. Most students will need some adult assistance with the homework. Students are welcome to attend the course and complete as much or as little homework as they and their adult wish. In order to receive a letter of completion, however, students must complete homework in order to earn at least a 70 percent of better on their final grade. ········································································ 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗘 𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗨𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗦 Fourth Grade English Language Arts is taught to common core standards, covering literature, foundational skills, writing, speaking and listening. Students practice reading for fluency, comprehension and vocabulary. They will learn to look for the theme, describe characters and settings, draw inferences from the text, and compare the point of view of different characters. There is a strong focus on grammar, which includes subject-verb agreement, using complete sentences and avoiding run-on sentences and fragments, and correctly using commonly confused words. There are also weekly writing assignments with students practicing opinion writing, storytelling, poetry, dialogue, using a dictionary and more. Teaching will include lecture with slides, videos and other multi-media presentations, along with discussion, learning games and activities, worksheets and quizzes. 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀: On Mondays we will begin by sharing and discussing the previous week’s writing assignment. We will then have a discussion about the literature in the reading assignment and an introduction of the week’s vocabulary words. The week’s spelling word list will be introduced and students will be assigned a spelling word project for homework. Monday’s main focus will be a grammar lesson introducing the week’s new grammar concept. Monday homework will include a reading assignment and spelling word project. 𝗧𝘂𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀: On Tuesdays we will share our spelling word homework from Monday and review our grammar concept with grammar homework assigned. Tuesday’s main focus will be reading aloud from the week’s literature assignment with student’s reading paragraph about. Tuesday homework will include a reading assignment and grammar project or worksheet. 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀: Wednesdays are 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗬! On Wednesdays we play games to practice the week's spelling words and vocabulary words. Wednesday homework will include a reading assignment and preparing for Thursday’s spelling quiz. 𝗧𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀: On Thursdays we will have our weekly spelling quiz and do a final review of the week’s grammar concept. The week’s writing assignment will be made and discussed. Our main focus on Thursday will be a writing lesson. Weekend homework will include a reading assignment, writing assignment, reading quiz, and grammar quiz. This class is for learners who just want to practice their English Language Arts Skills, as well as students who want to get a letter of competition. There is 3-4 hours of homework to be completed each week. See the rubric below for how the learner will be evaluated. ———————————————— 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁 𝟭: 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆-𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒆 (Students will need a paper or electronic copy of Lynne Kelly's 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒆) 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟲-𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟳 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭: Grammar Concept: Possessive, relative, subject and object pronouns Writing Lesson: Similes Monday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 1-2 Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 3-4 Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 5-6 Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 7-9 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟮: Grammar Concept: Action, helping, linking verbs Writing Lesson: Metaphors Monday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 10-11 Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 12-13 Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 14-15 Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 16-20 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟯: Grammar Concept: Subject-verb agreement Writing Lesson: Personification Monday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 21-22 Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 23-24 Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 25-26 Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 27-32 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟰: Grammar Concept: Verb tenses Writing Lesson: Descriptive language Monday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 33-34 Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 35-36 Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 37-38 Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 39-43 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟱: Grammar Concept: Adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, and articles Writing Lesson: Book report Monday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 44-45 Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 46-47 Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 48 and End Notes Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: No Homework, End of Unit Break 𝗙𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞: 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁 𝟮: 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 (PDFs will be provided for reading assignments) 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟰-𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟮 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟲: Grammar Concept: Prepositions Writing Lesson: Idioms and proverbs Monday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from Africa Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from Africa Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from Africa Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from Asia 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟳: Grammar Concept: Types of sentences Writing Lesson: Comparing Monday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from Asia Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from Asia Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from Australia Thursday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from Australia 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟴: Grammar Concept: Subject, predicate, and direct object Writing Lesson: Opinion Monday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from Australia Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from Europe Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from Europe Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from Europe 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸: 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟵: Grammar Concept: Sentence fragments and run-on sentences Writing Lesson: Narrative Monday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from North America Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from North America Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from North America Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from South America 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭𝟬: Grammar Concept: Combining sentences and compound sentences Writing Lesson: Brainstorming your research topic Monday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from South America Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from South America Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Traditional stories from the Arctic Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: No Homework, End of Unit Break 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞: 𝗦𝗶𝘅 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁 𝟯: 𝗣𝗼𝗲𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 (PDFs will be provided for reading assignments) 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟳-𝗙𝗲𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟳 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭𝟭: Grammar Concept: Punctuation Writing Lesson: Doing your research and citing your sources Monday Night Reading Assignment: 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒔, Scenes 1-3 Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒔, Scenes 4-6 Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒔, Scenes 7-9 Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒔, Scenes 10-12 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭𝟮: Grammar Concept: Contractions, negative words, and double negatives Writing Lesson: Main idea Monday Night Reading Assignment: 𝑪𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂, Act 1: Scene 1 Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: 𝑪𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂, Act 1: Scene 3 Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: 𝑪𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂, Act 1: Scene 3 Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: 𝑪𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂, Act 2: Scene 1-2 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭𝟯: Grammar Concept: Regular and irregular plurals Writing Lesson: Supporting details and facts Monday Night Reading Assignment: 𝑪𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂, Act 2: Scene 3 Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: 𝑪𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂, Act 3: Scene 1 Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: 𝑪𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂, Act 3: Scene 2 Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Poetry reader 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭𝟰: Grammar Concept: Possessives Writing Lesson: Creating an outline Monday Night Reading Assignment: Poetry reader Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Poetry reader Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Poetry reader Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Poetry reader 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭𝟱: Grammar Concept: Comparative adjectives and adverbs Writing Lesson: Introduction Monday Night Reading Assignment: Poetry reader Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Poetry reader Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Poetry reader Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: No Homework, End of Unit Break 𝗦𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞: 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁 𝟰: 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗲𝘅𝘁 (PDFs will be provided for reading assignments) 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟭𝟳-𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟭𝟳 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭𝟲: Grammar Concept: Synonyms, antonyms, homophones, homographs Writing Lesson: Conclusion Monday Night Reading Assignment: History Reader-The Kingdom of Kush Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: History Reader-The Kingdom of Aksum Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: History Reader-The Qin Dynasty Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: History Reader-The Tang Dynasty 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭𝟳: Grammar Concept: Commonly confused words (to, too, two, their, there, etc.) Writing Lesson: First Draft Monday Night Reading Assignment: Science Reader Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Science Reader Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Science Reader Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Science Reader 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭𝟴: Grammar Concept: Tricky verbs Writing Lesson: Editing and revising Monday Night Reading Assignment: News article Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: News article Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: News Article Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: News article 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭𝟵: Grammar Concept: Capitalization rules Writing Lesson: State your opinion Monday Night Reading Assignment: Social studies reader-The United States, a Democratic Republic Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Social studies reader-The Executive Branch Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Social studies reader-The Legislative Branch Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Social studies reader-The Judicial Branch 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟮𝟬: Grammar Concept: Review Monday Night Reading Assignment: Biography Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Biography Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Biography
Learning Goals
Fourth Grade English Language Arts is taught to common core standards, covering literature, foundational skills, writing, speaking, and listening. Students practice reading for fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. They will learn to look for the theme, describe characters and settings, draw inferences from the text, and compare the point of view of different characters. There is a strong focus on grammar, which includes subject-verb agreement, using complete sentences and avoiding run-on sentences and fragments, and correctly using commonly confused words. There are also weekly writing assignments with students practicing opinion writing, storytelling, poetry, dialogue, using a dictionary and more.
Syllabus
Curriculum
Follows Teacher-Created CurriculumStandards
Aligned with Common Core State Standards (CCSS)4 Units
80 Lessons
over 20 WeeksUnit 1: 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆-𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒆
Lesson 1:
Introductions and Class Agreements
𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭:
Grammar Concept: Possessive, relative, subject and object pronouns
Writing Lesson: Similes
Monday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 1-2
Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 3-4
Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 5-6
Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 7-9 25 mins online live lesson
Lesson 2:
Read Aloud | Grammar: Pronouns
𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭:
Grammar Concept: Possessive, relative, subject and object pronouns
Writing Lesson: Similes
Monday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 1-2
Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 3-4
Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 5-6
Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 7-9 25 mins online live lesson
Lesson 3:
GAME DAY to practice spelling and vocabulary words
𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭:
Grammar Concept: Possessive, relative, subject and object pronouns
Writing Lesson: Similes
Monday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 1-2
Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 3-4
Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 5-6
Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 7-9 25 mins online live lesson
Lesson 4:
Spelling Quiz | Writing: Similes
𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭:
Grammar Concept: Possessive, relative, subject and object pronouns
Writing Lesson: Similes
Monday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 1-2
Tuesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 3-4
Wednesday Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 5-6
Thursdays Night Reading Assignment: Chapter 7-9 25 mins online live lesson
Other Details
Parental Guidance
As we study literature, in particular traditional literature, students will engage with stories from different cultures, religions, and times. Learners will be encouraged to recognize that traditional literature often belongs to specific people groups' cultures and histories. We will respect such literature as the oral histories and sacred texts given to people groups by their ancestors. In some traditional literature, learners may encounter brief mentions of violence. Our novel study, 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒆, deals with grief, loss, and bullying. In addition, the history, news, and social studies readers may contain descriptions and discussions of wars, colonization, disease, current events, and death. All subjects and topics will be covered in a manner that is as age-appropriate as possible, but some learners may be especially sensitive to these topics.
Supply List
Students will need either a paper or digital copy of Lynne Kelly's 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒆.
1 file available upon enrollment
External Resources
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
Sources
Students will need either a paper or digital copy of Lynne Kelly's 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒆.
I will provide PDF readers for materials covered in Units 2-4.
For the Unit 2 reader, I have adapted some of the traditional literature we will be reading to be appropriate for a fourth-grade audience. Sources from which traditional literature will be taken or that I have used in adaptations include:
“The Pot of Wisdom: Ananse stories” by Adwoa Badoe
“A Listening Wind: Native Literature from the Southeast” edited by Marcia Haag
“Sky Loom: Native American Myth, Story, and Song” edited by Brian Swann
Grimm’s Complete Fairytales
“The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen” edited by Maria Tatar
"African-American Folktales for Young Readers," edited by Judy Dockrey Young and Richard Alan Young
"The Handy Mythology Answer Book," by David A. Leeming
"Thirty-Three Multicultural Tales to Tell," by Pleasant DeSpain
"Unikkaaqtuat: An Introduction to Inuit Myths and Legends," edited by Neil Christopher
"Old Indian Legends," by Zitkala-Sa
"Year Full Of Stories," by Angela McAllister
Content in the Unit 4 history reader was compiled by me. Among the many sources I consulted in compiling the information are:
PBS Learning Media
BlackPast.org
World History Encyclopedia
World Atlas
National Geographic
Smithsonian Magazine
"Dynasties of China," by Core Knowledge
"Early Islamic Civilizations and African Kingdoms," by Core Knowledge
"Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa" by George Hatke
"A Military History of China," by David A. Graff
Content in the Unit 4 social studies reader was compiled by me. Among the many sources I consulted in compiling the information are:
ushistory.org
UXL Civics, 1st Edition
"United States Studies," MI Open Book Project
Reading assignments for the news article and biography sections will be drawn from NewsELA articles.
Joined July, 2020
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Teacher expertise and credentials
2 Degrees
Master's Degree in History from Gettysburg College
Bachelor's Degree in English from Campbellsville University
I have a master of arts degree in American history, and bachelor of arts degrees in political science, English, and communications with a journalism emphasis. I am lead teacher at The Foster Woods Folk School, which focuses on humanities education within an ecosocial justice framework aimed at celebrating and improving our connections as a global community of humans and non-humans living on Planet Earth. In this role, I work with learners of all ages with a primary focus of working with learners in grades three through 12. I was the director of a social justice center for three years during which time I routinely taught about and facilitated conversations about historical and current political events for both teen and adults participants. Before that, I was a newspaper editor and reporter for 15 years. I have been teaching history, social studies, and English Language Arts classes for several years. Reviews
Live Group Course
$600
for 80 classes4x per week, 20 weeks
25 min
Completed by 34 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 8-13
2-10 learners per class
