Standard 1: Reading Prose and Poetry

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General Information
Number: ELA.4.R.1
Title: Reading Prose and Poetry
Type: Standard
Subject: English Language Arts (B.E.S.T.)
Grade: 4
Strand: Reading

Related Benchmarks

This cluster includes the following benchmarks.

Related Access Points

This cluster includes the following access points.

Access Points

ELA.4.R.1.AP.1
Show how setting, events, conflict and character development relate to the plot in a literary text.
ELA.4.R.1.AP.2
Identify a stated theme and how it develops, using details, in a literary text.
ELA.4.R.1.AP.3
Identify the narrator’s point of view and character perspective in a literary text.
ELA.4.R.1.AP.4
Identify repeated words, rhyme or phrases that create meaning in a poem.

Related Resources

Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this topic.

Lesson Plans

What's the Theme in The Well?:

This lesson uses the text, The Well written by Mildred Taylor. In this reading lesson, students will analyze the story elements as textual evidence to support the text’s theme. This lesson is to be used before a complete read of the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

If Animals Could Talk: Writing Fables:

In this lesson, students will analyze and discuss the characteristics and story lines of two different fables, "The Owl and The Grasshopper" and "The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse," and then write a fable of their own.

Type: Lesson Plan

Changing the Point of View:

In this lesson, students will determine the point of view of each paragraph and rewrite each paragraph in another point of view. They will also explain how changing the point of view changes the paragraph. Several student and teacher handouts are provided with the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

Point of View: Examining Four Types of Point of View:

In this lesson, students will identify and describe first person point of view, as well as third person limited, objective, and omniscient points of view. Several student and teacher handouts are provided with the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

Identifying Themes Across Cultures: Lesson on Theme:

In this lesson, students will learn to determine the universal theme of a story. They will first identify the problem and solution of a story and use that information to determine the theme or author's message, and from there, they will determine the universal theme. Finally, they will compare and contrast the text with another story with a similar theme. This lesson uses the texts Indian Children's Favorite Stories retold by Rosemarie Somaiah and Filipino Children's Favorite Stories retold by Liana Romulo.

Type: Lesson Plan

Aesop's Fable "The Lost Wig":

This lesson on Aesop's Fable "The Lost Wig" will provide students the opportunity to share and discuss their ideas of the fable’s theme. Students will work together in cooperative pairs to determine the theme "The Lost Wig." They will also have the opportunity to add on to the ending of "The Lost Wig" to enhance the theme.

Type: Lesson Plan

Reading of the Folk Tale "The Sly Fox and The Little Red Hen":

This lesson will provide an in-depth look at the folk tale, "The Sly Fox and The Little Red Hen." By the completion of the lesson, students will have described the different character perspectives. They will also have written a new version of the folk tale based on the things they learned about the characters and that puts a twist on the original version.

Type: Lesson Plan

Using Idioms to Explain the Plot and to Predict Future Events:

In this lesson, students will use idioms to explain a plot and predict what will happen next in a story. The featured text for this lesson is the book In a Pickle and Other Funny Idioms by Marvin Terba. There are also two practice passages provided with the resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

What’s in a Chapter Name?:

Using the book Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan, students will complete a graphic organizer and identify the theme of a chapter. Once students have identified the theme they will create a new title for the chapter.

Type: Lesson Plan

Planning Creative Drama:

This lesson introduces students to a creative and engaging way to understand story structure and elements of plot by allowing the students to write and act out a play. Students make selections from a provided list featuring various settings, characters, and conflicts and build their creative plays using a ready-made story feature template.

Type: Lesson Plan

Discovering Florida's Past with A Land Remembered (Lesson 1 of 2):

Explore the adventures of the MacIvey family with A Land Remembered Student Edition, Volume 1. Tag along as the family overcomes tragedy in the Florida wilderness while learning to use evidence in the text to support thinking. In this lesson students will learn about what life was like for pioneers in Florida. Students will relate to the characters by writing journal entries from a character's perspective.

Type: Lesson Plan

Discovering Florida's Past with A Land Remembered (Lesson 2 of 2):

Students will go on adventures with the MacIvey family as they work cooperatively to summarize a text.

Type: Lesson Plan

Exploring the Relationship Between the Protagonist and Antagonist:

This is the third of three lessons in a fourth grade unit on characters. Students will identify and describe how the relationship between the protagonist and antagonist affects the plot. The teacher modeling and guided practice uses the story Hansel and Gretel retold by Rika Lesser. The other lessons in this unit are attached as related CPALMS resources.

Type: Lesson Plan

Identifying and Describing the Antagonist of a Story:

This is the second lesson in a fourth grade unit on characters. Students will identify and describe the antagonist in a story using text evidence. The lesson uses Hansel and Gretel retold by Rika Lesser in the teacher modeling and guided practice. The other lessons in this unit have been attached as related CPALMS resources.

Type: Lesson Plan

Identifying and Describing the Protagonist in a Story:

This is the first lesson in a fourth grade unit on characters. Students will identify and describe the protagonist in a story using text evidence. The lesson uses Hansel and Gretel retold by Rika Lesser in the teacher modeling and guided practice. The other lessons in this unit have been attached as related CPALMS resources.

Type: Lesson Plan

Summarizing and Defending the Theme of Aesop’s Fable "The North Wind and the Sun":

This lesson will engage students in discussions that involve conceptual understanding of vocabulary, theme, and summarizing. After reading a short fable, "The North Wind and the Sun" by Aesop, students will complete activities that require them to think deeply, make inferences based on textual evidence, and defend their interpretation during discussions. Students will use context clues, word relationships, and/or figurative language to determine word meaning and unfamiliar phrasing. Students will participate in a class discussion evaluating conceptual understandings, examining themes, and making inferences. Students will engage in student-to-student discourse and partner work throughout the lesson. For the summative assessment, students will write a summary to convey understandings presented in the text and the discussions with their peers.

Type: Lesson Plan

Student Center Activities

Comprehension: Character Connections:

In this activity, students will identify similarities and differences between characters. As an extension activity, students will compare the perspectives of two characters. Graphic organizers are provided for character analysis and comparisons.

Type: Student Center Activity

Comprehension: Character Consideration:

In this activity, students will describe characters using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

Comprehension: Check-A-Trait:

In this activity, students will identify similarities and differences between characters' traits (as determined by actions, thoughts, and feelings).

Type: Student Center Activity

Comprehension: Plot Plan:

In this activity, students will write the parts of a plot on a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

Comprehension: Plotting the Plot:

In this activity, students will identify the components of a plot using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

Comprehension: Retell Recap:

In this activity, students will retell or summarize a story.

Type: Student Center Activity

Comprehension: Retell Review:

In this activity, students will retell or summarize a story.

Type: Student Center Activity

Comprehension: Side-by-Side Stories:

In this activity, students will identify similarities and differences between stories and record them on a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

Comprehension: Story Element Ease:

In this activity, students will identify and sort story elements (character, setting, problem, solution, theme, plot). They will then compare and contrast the elements of different stories.

Type: Student Center Activity

Comprehension: Story Mapping:

In this activity, students will identify story elements (character, setting, events, problem, solution) and record them in a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

Comprehension: Story Pieces:

In this activity, students will answer questions related to story elements (characters, setting, plot, theme) and record their answers on a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

Comprehension: The Main Events:

In this activity, students will sequence events in a story using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

Student Resources

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Parent Resources

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