4th Grade ELA (Colorado Academic Standards)

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

• RWC.4.1.1 Listen closely to others, then ask meaningful questions. (being checked)
  • 1. Join a range of discussions with different partners on grade 4 topics, building on others' ideas and sharing your own.
  • 1.a. Come to discussions prepared from reading or study and use that to explore ideas.
  • 1.b. Follow agreed discussion rules and carry out assigned roles.
  • 1.c. Ask and answer focused questions to clarify or extend information, linking to others' comments.
  • 1.d. Sum up key points of the discussion and explain your own thinking in light of it.
  • 2. Paraphrase parts of a read-aloud or information shown visually, numerically or orally.
  • 3. Identify the reasons and evidence a speaker gives for particular points.
• RWC.4.1.2 Plan how to share information well in casual and formal settings. (being checked)
  • 1. Give a report, story or account of an experience in an organized way with facts and detail, speaking clearly at a steady pace.
  • 2. Add audio or visual displays to presentations when they help develop main ideas or themes.
  • 3. Tell formal settings such as presentations from informal ones such as small-group talk and use formal English when it fits.

Standard 2: Reading for All Purposes

• RWC.4.2.1 Use strategies to understand and explain stories, dramas and poems. (being checked)
  • 1. Key ideas and details
  • 1.a. Cite details and examples when explaining what a text says and when making inferences.
  • 1.b. Use details to find the theme of a story, play or poem, then summarize it.
  • 1.c. Describe a character, setting or event in depth using details such as thoughts, words or actions.
  • 1.d. Explain how a plot develops: where the central conflict begins, the events and how it is resolved.
  • 2. Craft and structure
  • 2.a. Work out word and phrase meanings in context, including allusions to mythology such as Herculean.
  • 2.b. Explain how poems, dramas and prose differ, using features such as verse, rhythm, cast lists and stage directions.
  • 2.c. Compare the point of view from which stories are told, including first and third person.
  • 3. Integration of knowledge and ideas
  • 3.a. Connect a story or drama to its visual or spoken version, noting where each reflects the text.
  • 3.b. Compare how similar themes or patterns, such as good versus evil, appear in myths from different cultures.
  • 4. Range of reading and text complexity
  • 4.a. By year's end, read grade 4–5 literature fluently, with support at the high end.
  • 4.b. Read familiar texts aloud accurately, fluently and with expression.
• RWC.4.2.2 Use strategies to understand and explain informational texts. (being checked)
  • 1. Key ideas and details
  • 1.a. Cite details when explaining what a text says directly and when inferring.
  • 1.b. State the main idea and key supporting details, then summarize.
  • 1.c. Explain events, procedures, ideas or concepts in history, science or technical texts: what happened and why.
  • 2. Craft and structure
  • 2.a. Work out general academic and subject-specific words in grade 4 texts.
  • 2.b. Identify how a text is organized: time order, comparison, cause and effect or problem and solution.
  • 2.c. Compare firsthand and secondhand accounts of one event, noting differences in focus and detail.
  • 3. Integration of knowledge and ideas
  • 3.a. Interpret charts, diagrams and other visual, oral or numeric information and explain how it helps.
  • 3.b. Describe how a writer backs up points with reasons and evidence.
  • 3.c. Combine information from two texts on one topic to write or speak about it knowledgeably.
  • 4. Range of reading and text complexity
  • 4.a. By year's end, read grade 4–5 history, science and technical texts, with support at the high end.
• RWC.4.2.3 Use spelling patterns and word parts to decode long words and work out new vocabulary. (being checked)
  • 1. Use grade-level phonics and word analysis to decode words.
  • 1.a. Use letter-sound links, syllable patterns and word parts to read unfamiliar long words in and out of context.
  • 2. Read accurately and fluently enough to understand.
  • 2.a. Read on-level text with a purpose and understand it.
  • 2.b. Read grade-level prose and poetry aloud accurately, at a good pace and with expression.
  • 2.c. Use context to check or fix word reading and meaning, rereading as needed.
  • 3. Work out unknown and multiple-meaning words from grade 4 texts using flexible strategies.
  • 3.a. Use context such as definitions, examples or restatements to infer meaning.
  • 3.b. Use common Greek and Latin roots and affixes as clues to meaning.
  • 3.c. Decode words with common prefixes such as un- or dis- and endings such as -ful or -ness.
  • 3.d. Recognize irregular past-tense verbs whose spelling changes.
  • 3.e. Decode multisyllable words with or without inflectional or derivational endings.
  • 3.f. Infer word meanings from explanations within the text.
  • 3.g. Use dictionaries, glossaries and thesauruses to find pronunciation and precise meanings.
  • 4. Show understanding of figurative language, word relationships and shades of meaning.
  • 4.a. Explain simple similes and metaphors in context.
  • 4.b. Understand common idioms, adages and proverbs.
  • 4.c. Show word understanding through antonyms and synonyms.
  • 5. Use grade-level academic and subject words accurately, including precise verbs for actions and feelings.

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

• RWC.4.3.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, backing a view with reasons and facts. (being checked)
  • 1. Clearly introduce the topic or text, give an opinion and group related ideas to suit the purpose.
  • 2. Give reasons supported by facts and details.
  • 3. Link opinion and reasons with words and phrases such as for instance or in addition.
  • 4. Write a concluding statement or section that supports the opinion.
• RWC.4.3.2 Write informative texts with suitable structures, facts, definitions, details and subject vocabulary. (being checked)
  • 1. Introduce the topic, group information into paragraphs or sections and add headings, pictures or media when useful.
  • 2. Choose a suitable text structure such as sequence, chronology, description, explanation or contrast.
  • 3. Arrange relevant ideas and facts to get a main idea across or support a claim.
  • 4. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, details, quotations or examples.
  • 5. Link ideas within categories with words such as another, for example, also or because.
  • 6. Use precise words and subject vocabulary to explain the topic.
  • 7. Write a concluding statement or section tied to the information.
• RWC.4.3.3 Write engaging real or imagined narratives with vivid detail and dialogue that follow linked events in order. (being checked)
  • 1. Set the scene, introduce the narrator or characters and order events naturally.
  • 2. Use dialogue and description to show events and characters' reactions.
  • 3. Use varied transitions to manage the order of events.
  • 4. Use concrete words and sensory details to convey experiences precisely.
  • 5. Write a conclusion that follows from the events.
• RWC.4.3.4 Understand why and how writers use grammar and mechanics to make meaning clear. (being checked)
  • 1. Use standard English grammar in writing and speaking.
  • 1.a. Use relative pronouns such as who and which and relative adverbs such as where and why.
  • 1.b. Form and use progressive tenses such as was walking or will be walking.
  • 1.c. Use modal verbs such as can, may and must for different conditions.
  • 1.d. Order adjectives in the usual way, e.g. size before color.
  • 1.e. Form and use prepositional phrases.
  • 1.f. Use compound subjects and verbs to make sentences flow.
  • 1.g. Write complete simple, compound and complex sentences.
  • 1.h. Find and fix inappropriate fragments and run-on sentences. (being checked)
  • 1.i. Use commonly confused words such as to, too and two correctly.
  • 2. Use standard capitalization, punctuation and spelling when writing.
  • 2.a. Use capital letters correctly.
  • 2.b. Use commas and quotation marks for direct speech and quotations from a text.
  • 2.c. Put a comma before a coordinating conjunction joining clauses in a compound sentence.
  • 2.d. Spell grade-level words correctly, checking references when unsure.
  • 3. Use knowledge of language when writing, speaking, reading and listening.
  • 3.a. Choose words and phrases that express ideas precisely.
  • 3.b. Choose punctuation for effect.
  • 3.c. Tell formal English settings such as presenting ideas from informal ones such as small-group talk.
  • 4. Produce clear, organized writing suited to task, purpose and audience.
  • 5. With help from peers and adults, improve writing by planning, revising and editing.
  • 6. With some help, use technology to publish and collaborate, typing at least a page in one sitting.
  • 7. Write routinely over long periods for research and revision and in short bursts for many tasks and audiences.

Standard 4: Research Inquiry and Design

• RWC.4.4.1 Use varied sources to gather and share understanding of open-ended research questions. (being checked)
  • 1. Do short research projects that look at different sides of a topic.
  • 1.a. Choose a topic and write open-ended research questions.
  • 1.b. Share a short report of findings with an audience.
  • 2. Recall experiences or collect facts from print and digital sources, take notes, sort them and list sources.
  • 3. Use evidence from stories or nonfiction to support analysis, reflection and research.
  • 3.a. Use grade 4 reading skills on literature, e.g. describing what a character thinks, says or does.
  • 3.b. Apply grade 4 reading standards to nonfiction, e.g. explaining how an author supports points with reasons and evidence.