English Language Arts 4

Unit 1: Story and Text

Big Idea: texts are built to do a job, are put together out of recognizable parts, and are shaped by the craft choices an author makes. Telling text forms, functions, and genres apart; using text features to navigate a text; recognizing literary elements and devices; and backing up ideas about a text with evidence.

• Forms of text
• Functions of text
• Genres of text

• Using text features

• Theme
• Character
• Setting
• Plot
• Conflict
• Purpose

• Sensory detail
• Figurative language

• Using evidence

Unit 2: Strategies and Processes

Big Idea: strong readers, speakers, thinkers, and writers each rely on their own toolkit of strategies. Using reading strategies to build meaning from a text, oral language strategies to speak and listen well, metacognitive strategies to monitor your own thinking, and the writing process to grow a piece of writing.

• Using contextual clues
• Using phonics and word structure
• Visualizing
• Questioning (reading)
• Predicting
• Previewing text
• Summarizing
• Making inferences

• Focusing on the speaker
• Asking questions to clarify
• Listening for specifics
• Expressing opinions
• Speaking with expression
• Staying on topic
• Taking turns

• Reflecting
• Questioning your own thinking
• Goal setting
• Self-evaluating

• Revising
• Editing
• Considering audience

Unit 3: Language Features, Structure, and Conventions

Big Idea: the smaller building blocks of language — how we say things aloud, how we organize sentences into paragraphs, and the rules of grammar and conventions — give both speech and writing their clarity. Using the features that shape spoken language, building a paragraph around one main idea, forming well-structured sentences, and applying the conventions of written English.

• Tone
• Volume
• Inflection
• Pace
• Gestures

• Topic sentence
• Supporting details

• Sentence structure
• Parts of speech
• Past, present, and future tenses
• Subject-verb agreement

• Punctuation