Skip to main content

Ms. Small, Language Arts, 4th

Posts

Week of 11/11/25 📖 Literacy – Text & Graphic Features, Inferencing

In literacy, we are diving deeper into informational text by focusing on:

  • Text features (headings, captions, bold print, diagrams)

  • Graphic features (charts, maps, illustrations)

  • Inferencing skills using evidence + background knowledge

Students will use these skills to understand texts more clearly and identify the author’s purpose behind each feature.

🏡 How You Can Support at Home

  • Read a nonfiction page together and ask:

    • “What text features do you notice?”

    • “How does this diagram or picture help you understand the text?”

  • Practice making inferences:

    • “Why do you think the author included this?”

    • “What can we figure out that isn’t directly stated?”

  • Encourage your child to use evidence to support their thinking.

Week of 10/20/25 Literacy – Making & Confirming Predictions

In Literacy, we’re reading My Diary from Here to There by Amada Irma Pérez. Students are practicing making and confirming predictions and learning how to have meaningful discussions about their reading.

Vocabulary Words: burst, opportunities, immigration, refugees, amazing

🏡 How You Can Support at Home

  • Ask your child what predictions they made about the story and whether those predictions changed as they read.

  • Read a short passage together and model making a prediction.

  • Encourage your child to explain why they made their prediction using clues from the text.

  • Practice spelling words in context (e.g., writing short sentences using each word).

4th Grade Literacy – Week of September 29, 2025

Dear Families,

This week in Literacy, we’ll be reading two exciting texts that help students strengthen comprehension by visualizing what they read and practicing speaking and listening skills to deepen understanding.

📘 Main Selection: Hurricanes: A Force of Nature

Genre: Narrative Nonfiction

  • Students will learn fascinating facts about how hurricanes form and the powerful impact they have on nature and people.

  • We’ll focus on the strategy of visualizing—encouraging students to create mental pictures as they read to better understand the text.

  • During discussions, students will share what they imagined while reading and listen thoughtfully to their classmates’ ideas.

🎭 Paired Selection: Catch Me If You Can

Genre: Play

  • This short play gives students the chance to experience literature in a different format while continuing to practice visualization.

  • Students will take part in expressive reading by performing roles, discussing character actions, and reflecting on group reading.

  • Listening actively to peers will be emphasized as students share perspectives and interpretations.

🗣️ Speaking & Listening Focus

Throughout the week, we’ll continue strengthening speaking and listening skills by encouraging students to:

  • Express their thoughts clearly and respectfully.

  • Listen actively and respond thoughtfully to classmates.

  • Build confidence in sharing ideas in both small groups and whole-class discussions.

🏡 At-Home Connection

You can support your child’s learning this week by asking:

  • “What images did you see in your mind while reading today?”

  • “What was it like reading or listening to the play?”

  • “What did a classmate say that helped you think differently?”

These conversations encourage deeper comprehension and keep your child excited about reading!

✨ Thank you for your continued support as we help students grow into stronger readers, writers, and communicators!

Week of 9/22/25 📖 Literacy – Reading Test & Focus Skills

This week in Literacy, students will take Test #3 covering:

  • Plot

  • Figurative Language

  • Author’s Claim

They will also continue strengthening comprehension strategies by practicing close reading and discussing author’s craft.

📖 Week of 9/15/25 Literacy – Vocabulary & Literary Elements

In Literacy, students are building vocabulary and deepening their comprehension strategies.

Critical Vocabulary Words: absurd, taunt, forfeit, despised, ferocious, elaborately, coveted

Focus Skills:

  • Understanding and analyzing plot

  • Visualizing details to support comprehension

  • Exploring author’s craft and why writers make certain choices

  • Identifying and interpreting figurative language

Parent Tip: Encourage your child to use their new vocabulary words in sentences at home—it helps make the words “stick.”

Week Of 9/8/25 Literacy

Dear Families,

We’re diving into a great month in ELA filled with reading, writing, and exploring the world through our senses! Here's what's happening in class and how you can support your child at home.

📖 September Reading Bookmark

Your child brought home a September Reading Bookmark this week!

  • This activity is optional, but students are encouraged to read for 20 minutes each day.

  • Each day they read, they can color in a section of their bookmark.

👉 Why it matters: Daily reading builds vocabulary, strengthens comprehension, and develops confident, lifelong readers.

🧠 ELA Module 2: How Do Our Senses Help Us Understand the World?

This month, we are continuing Module 2, exploring how our five senses help us understand the world around us.

Key Text This Week:

  • 🎥 Animal Senses (from Animal Atlas)

    • Genre: Informational Video

    • Purpose: Students will recognize the characteristics of digital texts, interpret media messages, and analyze how sound and visuals help convey meaning.

Reading Focus Skills:

  • Asking and answering questions to deepen comprehension.

  • Identifying media techniques used to send messages.

  • Understanding and interpreting figurative language.

  • Analyzing text structure in both print and digital formats.

✍️ Writing Workshop – Personal Narratives

Students are hard at work completing their personal narratives.

  • They are practicing how to organize ideas, use sensory details, and revise their drafts to make their stories stronger and more engaging.

📚 Grammar Focus – Possessive Nouns

This month’s grammar spotlight is on possessive nouns:

  • Singular possessive (e.g., the dog’s bone)

  • Plural possessive (e.g., the dogs’ toys)

Students are learning to use apostrophes correctly to show ownership and to apply this skill in their writing.

🏡 How You Can Support at Home

Here are a few simple ways to support your child’s ELA growth:

  • Encourage daily reading and ask your child to share what they read.

  • Watch a short educational video together and discuss the visuals, sound, and message.

  • Point out possessive nouns in everyday life (menus, signs, books).

  • Ask comprehension questions like:

    • “What was the author’s message?”

    • “How did the music or images help you understand the video?”

  • Review your child’s writing and ask: “What part of your story are you most proud of?”

✨ Thank you for your continued support as we help students grow as readers, writers, and critical thinkers. This is going to be an inspiring month of learning!

Week of 9/2/25 - Literacy – Module 2: Come to Your Senses

This week we begin Module 2: Come to Your Senses. Students will be reading two engaging informational texts:

  • What Are the Five Senses?

  • The Science Behind Sight

Focus Skills:

  • Central Idea: Determining the main point and supporting details.

  • Summarizing: Capturing key ideas in their own words.

  • Text & Graphic Features: Using diagrams, captions, and visuals to enhance comprehension.

  • Text Structure: Recognizing how authors organize ideas.

Grammar & Word Work:

  • Reinforcing decoding with the long and short o sounds.

  • Exploring words with multiple meanings.

  • Practicing subjects, predicates, adverbs, and adjectives to strengthen writing.

Parent Tip: When reading at home, ask your child to point out a text feature and explain how it helps them understand the text better.

Week of 8/25/25 Literacy – First Module Test & Narrative Writing

This Thursday, students will take their first Literacy Module Test to demonstrate their understanding of key comprehension and writing skills. In preparation, we are focusing on the following areas:

Focus Skills:

  • Retelling & Sequence of Events: Retelling a story in order with accuracy and detail.

  • Theme: Identifying the central message or lesson of a text.

  • Writing Personal Narratives: Developing strong beginnings, sequencing events clearly, and adding descriptive detail.

Grammar Spotlight:

  • Subjects & Predicates – understanding how every sentence has a “who/what” and an “action/description.”

  • Adverbs & Adjectives – strengthening writing with precise word choice to describe actions and details.

Parent Tip: Encourage your child to share a personal story from their week. Then ask them to identify the subject, predicate, adjectives, and adverbs they might use to make their writing vivid and detailed.

Week 0f 8/18/2025 Literacy – Exploring Point of View and Story Elements

In Literacy, students will be working with two texts:

  • The Year of the Rat by Grace Lin

  • Kitoto the Mighty (a folktale)

These stories will guide us in exploring how authors create meaning and perspective.

Focus Skills This Week:

  • Point of View: Identifying who is telling the story and how it shapes the narrative.

  • Character Study: Exploring character actions, motivations, and growth.

  • Story Retelling: Practicing clear and accurate retelling of events.

  • Literary Elements: Recognizing setting, plot, conflict, and resolution.

Parent Tip: Encourage your child to summarize what they read in their own words. Ask questions like, “Whose point of view is this story told from?” or “How would the story change if another character told it?”

Week of 08/11/25 Literacy – Deepening Comprehension and Author’s Craft

In literacy, we will continue reading the delightful and thought-provoking novel Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo. As we read, students will explore both the meaning and the artistry behind the text.

Focus Skills This Week:

  • Author’s Purpose: Determining why the author wrote the text and how it shapes meaning.

  • Figurative Language: Identifying and interpreting similes, metaphors, and other literary devices to deepen understanding.

  • Asking and Answering Questions: Generating meaningful questions before, during, and after reading to monitor comprehension.

  • Text and Graphic Features: Analyzing how illustrations, diagrams, and other features contribute to meaning.

Parent Tip: When reading with your child at home, encourage them to stop and explain the author’s purpose or point out interesting word choices and graphics.

Literacy – Week of August 4th

We’re kicking off Literacy with many of the same community-building activities we’re doing in Advocacy, including classroom expectations and shared reading routines.

Starting Wednesday, we dive into instruction with our essential question: “What makes us who we are?”
To explore this question, we’re reading an excerpt from Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo. We’ll use the text to develop skills around identifying central ideas and analyzing cause and effect relationships in literature.

We are so excited to launch a year of reading, thinking, and growing together!