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Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 5	Unit 6- Review
Unit 7	Unit 8	Unit 9	Unit 10	Unit 11	Unit 12-Review
Unit 13	Unit 14	Unit 15	Unit 16	Unit 17	Unit 18-Review
Unit 19	Unit 20	Unit 21	Unit 22	Unit 23	Unit 24-Review
Unit 25	Unit 26	Unit 27	Unit 28	Unit 29	Unit 30-Review
Unit 31	Unit 32	Unit 33	Unit 34	Unit 35	Unit 36

Reading

The far-reaching goal of my reading program is to teach students to love to read. Through modeling, independent reading and guided reading instruction, students will learn strategies that will assist them in comprehension of the books they choose to read. They will be exposed to a wide variety of genres of literature, and explicitly taught how to select books and topics that are of interest to them. They will learn how to differentiate between genres of literature, and how to recognize if a book is at an appropriate reading level. In short, students will learn how to select books that are "just right." Beginning in September, students are exposed to strategies that will make their experiences as a reader more rewarding. The works of Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis, based on the research cited in Mosaic of Thought by Susan Keene and Ellin Zimmerman have pinpointed and isolated the strategies used by "good readers," and made these strategies accessible to all readers: Making Connections- Readers naturally bring their prior knowledge and experience to reading, but they comprehend better when they think about the connections they make between the text, their lives, and the world at large. Readers also make other kinds of connections: to literary elements and features, to different genre, to different authors, and so on. Questioning  is the strategy that keeps readers engaged. When readers ask questions they clarify understanding and forge ahead to make meaning. Inferring is at the intersection of taking what is known by garnering clues from the text and thinking ahead to make a judgment to discern a theme or speculate about what is to come. Visualizing strengthens our inferential thinking. When we visualize, we are in fact inferring, but with mental images rather than words and thoughts. Determining Importance- Thoughtful readers grasp essential ideas and important information when reading. Readers must differentiate between less important information and key ideas that are central to the meaning of the text. Synthesizing involves combining new information with existing knowledge to form an original idea or interpretation. Synthesizing lies on a continuum. Rudimentary synthesizing involves merely stopping and thinking about what we are reading. Taking stock of meaning and reading for the gist is a step further down that line. Sometimes readers have a true synthesis, an “Aha” of sorts where they achieve new insight and change their thinking. This is the ultimate form of synthesis. ~from Study Guide for Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis

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Some Favorite 4th Grade Authors: Click on the underlined names to visit the author's web-site (* Authors recommended by the MA state frameworks) Avi *Louis Carroll *Eleanor Estes Lois Lowry *Shel Silverstein *Lynne Reid Banks Matt Christopher Ralph Fletcher *Patricia MacLachlan William Steig *L. Frank Baum *Beverly Cleary *Mem Fox *Sterling North *Robert Louis Stevenson *Judy Blume *Andrew Clements *Jean Craighead George Barbara Park *Mildred Taylor *Joseph Bruchac Bruce Coville Kevin Henkes *Patricia Reilly-Giff *E.B. White *Eve Bunting Sharon Creech Karen Hesse Cynthia Rylant *Laura Ingalls Wilder *Betsy Byars Roald Dahl *Joanna Hurwitz *Louis Sachar Chris Van Allsburg *Ann Cameron *Paula Danziger *Gail Carson Levine *Jon Scieszka Jane Yolen Is your favorite author missing? Send me an email and let me know!

Writing

These steps are completed over a number of days, and students may be at different stages at different times:
 

	Prewriting As students work on assigned narrative of expository writing, they begin by brainstorming their initial thoughts about the topic. Some students may use a pre-designed graphic organizer, but most prefer to organize themselves.
	Rough Draft This is when students begin to put their thoughts into complete sentence and paragraph form. Prior to beginning this step, students are provided with 3 or 4 "Focus Correction Areas." These are skill areas in which the student practices what has been taught in class. Focus correction areas are determined based on the needs of individual students or the whole class. In the beginning of the year they are typically mechanics driven (capital letters, end marks, complete sentences), but as the year progresses, FCA's begin to embody style and voice (transitions between paragraphs, strong opening, varied sentence beginnings). Rough drafts are written  on every other line of the paper to provide room for making changes later. Students write in pen so that the revisions they make are obvious.
	Editing/Revising During the editing stage, students reread their rough draft out loud to see if the FCA's have been met. They also look to correct grammatical errors, sentence structure, or parts of their writing that might be unclear to the reader. Revising is the process of making it sound better. Students may realize that a word has been used repeatedly and change it, or change some passive verbs to more exciting ones. This stage is true writing at its best. After this process, I collect the papers, review them, and conduct individualized writing conferences as needed.
	Final Copy Once papers have been revised, edited, and reviewed by me, they are often, but not always, written over as a final copy.

Almost all of a student's formal writing is kept in a cumulative writing folder. This folder allows both the student and myself the opportunity to see the growth that has occurred over the year. It also provides a pool of work from which to pull to practice working on new writing skills.

Students will also write less formally in a journal called their "Writer's Notebook." These assignments are less structured and serve as a "Thinking Outlet." Topics to write about are rarely assigned, as the purpose of this type of writing is primarily to get students to listen to their own thoughts and put ideas on paper. Occasionally students are asked to select pieces of writing to share with their peers in either partner, small group, or whole class meetings. The emphasis on this type of writing comes into focus later in the year, after our formal writing program is up and running. It is important that these informal assignments are an extension of our writing curriculum and not an opportunity to reinforce "bad" writing habits.

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