English Language Arts — Grade 4

Writing a ghost story/mystery

Building upon the students' knowledge base of Blackbeard the Pirate, the numerous shipwrecks off of the N.C. coast, myths, and legends of the Carolinas, and/or The Lost Colony, students will write a ghost story or mystery narrative of their own.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By laura ritchie.

Where do the Lumbee live?

In Teaching about North Carolina American Indians, page 2.8

Introduction Knowing the location of a community, city, state or nation is important. More important, however, is understanding of the personality of the location. Robeson County, home of the Lumbee Tribe, is more than a North Carolina county that...

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 and 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Gazelia Carter.

Weaving picture books into narrative writing

Children's picture books are the perfect medium for mini-lessons in narrative writing. Teachers provide books which demonstrate the qualities the students need to develop in their own writing.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts)

By Jan Caldwell.

Walking in the woods with Owl Moon

This is an integrated project using the book Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. Students will use the story to write a personal narrative, understand the elements of a story, and practice answering open-ended questions.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts)

By Birty Lightner.

Truth or care? Saving Shiloh

The students will be able to explain the importance of responsible citizenship and identify ways they can participate in civic affairs after reading the novel Shiloh and completing research of their own on animal abuse. Through this research, they will be responsible for gathering facts to support their stances on the dilemma Marty faces when deciding whether to return Shiloh to his owner or secretly keep him in order for him to be safe. Students will have real-world experience when they create and are reponsible for caring for their own pet.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts, English Language Development, Guidance, and Social Studies)

By Leah Shomaker and Mary Shomaker.

Quilts

This lesson plan in designed to be one part of a fourth grade social studies unit on the Appalachian Mountains. It is based on the mountain custom of quilt making. This plan uses the book The Quiltmakers Gift by Jeff Brumbeau. It also uses the book internet site and other related sites. Enrichments of this lesson would be to display quilts, have a real quilt maker visit, have the class create their own paper quilt, etc.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Barbara Waters.

Observing connections: Art, poetry and the environment (Lesson 1)

Students will explore the poem of Pat Lowery Collins, “I Am An Artist” and create their own poem from what they see and experience. They will then illustrate their poems with a visual design. This is the first lesson in a series of three in which students are creating art based on their observations: Observing Connections —Art, Poetry, and the Environment (Lesson 1); Observing Connections—Changing Landscapes (Lesson 2); Observing Connections—North Carolina Pottery and Face Jugs (Lesson 3)

Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 Visual Arts Education and English Language Arts)

By Lisa Mitchell.

Native American poetry workshop

This week-long set of lessons uses four different center activities to help students respond to poetry written by American Indians. This lesson plan was written with ESL (English as a second language) students in mind, so there are many opportunities to practice vocabulary, discuss and talk with others, and model expectations.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Liz Mahon.

Narrative writing: Using exact words

The learner will recognize exact verbs in literature and then use more exact verbs when writing a narrative.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts)

By Georgette Rush.

Let's hunt for vivid vocabulary!

This activity will be used to encourage students to focus on using an enriched vocabulary. During an oral reading of the book A Bad Case of Stripes, the students will search and identify various nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, dialogue tags, and transition words.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts)

By Susan Byrd.

Legends: Dramatic story telling

In Teaching about North Carolina American Indians, page 10.1

Introduction The act of storytelling makes learning exciting. Participating in a dramatic presentation of American Indian Legends allows class members to create, learn, and teach. Learning Outcomes Students will select an American...

Format: lesson plan (grade 4, 6, and 8 English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Theater Arts Education)

By Linda Tabor.

Connecting folktales and culture in North Carolina and beyond

Students will explore connections to North Carolina culture as they engage in reading and analyzing three folktales of North Carolina Literary Festival author, William Hooks. After comparing these stories to other versions of the traditional tales, students will become authors and storytellers themselves as they rewrite a tale from a new cultural point of view. Opportunities are also included to extend this study to world cultures and folktales.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Jeanne Munoz.

Bubba: A Cinderella story

This lesson focuses on the whimsical interpretation of the Cinderella story. Students explore the story Bubba, the Cowboy Prince, through rich text and interpretations of the story.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and English Language Development)

By Jennifer Fessler and Karen Wright.

Awesome action words

Good writers use precise verbs to make stories interesting and vivid. In this lesson, students will learn to replace boring, redundant, generic verbs with more precise “Awesome Action Words.”

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts and English Language Development)

By DPI Writing Strategies.

Along the Trail of Tears

A part of history is often forgotten when teaching younger students. This is the relocation of the Cherokee Indians when the white settlers wanted their property. The US Government moved whole groups of Indians under harsh conditions. This trip became known as the Trail of Tears. Using this as a background students will explore and experiment with persuasive writing as they try to express the position of Cherokee leaders.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Glenda Bullard.

Resources on the web

What's in a mystery? Exploring and identifying mystery elements

This lesson teaches students about plot structure, character, and setting through an exploration of mystery books. Prior to reading a mystery book to the class, the teacher engages students in a brainstorming activity about the characteristics of the mystery... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

What makes poetry? Exploring line breaks

In this lesson, students read several poems and experiment with line breaks and how they affect rhythm, sound, meaning, appearance, and can substitute for punctuation in poetry. After students brainstorm and discuss characteristics of poetry, they look... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

What a character!

In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students analyze how a character's personality traits, actions, and motives influence the plot of a story. Students also learn how storytellers use their face, body, and voice, as well as the five senses to enhance the telling of... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts and Theater Arts Education)

Provided by: ArtsEdge

Using writing and role-play to engage the reluctant writer

In this lesson from ReadWriteThink, students explore the different characters in the story The Three Little Javalinas and then select one of the characters to write a letter to the author in role. Writing in role allows students to understand... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Using "Snowflake Bentley" as a framing text for multigenre writing

Students work together to create their own multi-genre piece about winter, using Snowflake Bentley as a model. After students participate in a brainstorming activity about winter and books they have read about snow, they categorize... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink