Grade 4 Writing Curriculum

Family-facing version of the grade 4 Writing curriculum

Quarterly Overview of Grade 4 Writing

The objectives and outcomes for each unit are common across FCPS and based on the Virginia Standards of Learning. The pacing by quarter and by week provides an example of how the curriculum can be organized throughout the year. Teacher teams may adjust the pacing or order of units to best meet the needs of students.

Units and Details

Unit 1: Building a Community of Writers

Students will be able to: 

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules. 
    • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
    • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
    • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
    • Use evidence to support opinions and conclusions. 
    • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
    • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
    • Work respectfully with others and show value for individual contributions.
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Engage in writing as a process.
    • Select audience and purpose. 
    • Narrow the topic. 
    • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
    • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Use correct spelling, including common homophones.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
    • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
    • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
    • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
    • Support opinions with examples and details.
    • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and speaker in seminars. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
    • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
    • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
    • Use description, details, and examples.
    • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
    • Develop persuasive writing skills.
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Develop linguistic competency

Unit 2: Personal Essays

Students will be able to: 

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
    • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
    • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
    • Work respectfully with others, and show value for individual contributions.
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Engage in writing as a process.
    • Select audience and purpose. 
    • Narrow the topic. 
    • Use a variety of prewriting strategies. 
    • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
    • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
    • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
    • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
    • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose.
    • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
    • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation. 
    • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
    • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and speaker in seminars. 
    • Lead and contribute to discussions and viewpoints with others across content areas and in seminars.
    • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
    • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message.
    • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
    • Use description, details, and examples.
    • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
    • Develop persuasive writing skills. 
    • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
    • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing.
    • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence. 
    • Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
    • Use descriptive details and examples.
    • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
    • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.

Unit 3: Poetry

Students will be able to: 

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules. 
    • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
    • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
    • Work respectfully with others, and show value for individual contributions. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Engage in writing as a process. 
    • Select audience and purpose. 
    • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
    • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
    • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation. 
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Correctly use adjectives and adverbs. 
    • Use correct spelling including common homophones.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals.
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
    • Lead and contribute to discussions and viewpoints with others across content areas and in seminars.
    • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.  
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
    • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
    • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Develop linguistic competency.

Unit 4: Nonfiction: Feature Articles

Students will be able to:  

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules. 
    • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
    • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
    • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
    • Use evidence to support opinions and conclusions. 
    • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
    • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
    • Work respectfully with others and show value for individual contributions.
  • Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
    • Locate, organize, and analyze information from a variety of multimodal texts. 
    • Speak audibly with appropriate pacing. 
    • Use language and style appropriate to the audience, topic, and purpose. 
    • Make eye contact with the audience. 
    • Ask and answer questions to gather or clarify information presented orally.
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Engage in writing as a process. 
    • Select audience and purpose. 
    • Narrow the topic. 
    • Use a variety of prewriting strategies. 
    • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
    • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
    • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
    • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
    • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose. 
    • Express an opinion about a topic and provide fact-based reasons for support. 
    • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
    • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation. 
    • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information. 
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Use noun-pronoun agreement. 
    • Use commas in series, dates, and addresses. 
    • Use correct spelling including common homophones.
  • Demonstrate comprehension of information resources to create a research product:
    • Collect and organize information from multiple resources. 
    • Evaluate the relevance and reliability of information. 
    • Give credit to sources used in research. 
    • Avoid plagiarism and use own words. 
    • Demonstrate ethical use of the Internet.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
    • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
    • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
    • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
    • Support opinions with examples and details.
    • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
  • Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
    • Know the type of information found in various reference materials including atlases, dictionaries, and websites.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
    • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
    • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
    • Use description, details, and examples.
    • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
    • Develop persuasive writing skills.
    • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
    • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing. 
    • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence.
    •  Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
    • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.    
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Develop linguistic competency. 
  • Demonstrate comprehension of information resources to create a research product:
    • Conduct authentic research by applying skills of questions, information gathering, data analysis and synthesis. 
    • Assess the strengths and limitations of sources in terms of organization, language, format, purposes, and audience.
    •  Develop analytical and interpretive skills while applying research skills.
    • Use technology, including the Internet, to gather information from authoritative print and digital sources.

Unit 5: Historical Fiction

Students will be able to: 

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules. 
    • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
    • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly.
    • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
    • Use evidence to support opinions and conclusions. 
    • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
    • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
    • Work respectfully with others, and show value for individual contributions. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Engage in writing as a process. 
    • Select audience and purpose. 
    • Narrow the topic. 
    • Use a variety of prewriting strategies.
    • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization.
    • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
    • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
    • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
    • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose. 
    • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
    • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation. 
    • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information. 
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Use quotation marks with dialogue. 
    • Use correct spelling including common homophones.
    • Use singular possessives.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
    • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
    • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
    • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
    • Support opinions with examples and details.
    • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
    • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
    • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
    • Use description, details, and examples.
    • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
    • Develop persuasive writing skills.
    • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
    • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing. 
    • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence.
    •  Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
    • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.   
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Develop linguistic competency.

Unit 6: Persuasive Reviews

Students will be able to: 

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
    • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
    • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
    • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
    • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
    • Work respectfully with others, and show value for individual contributions. 
  • Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
    • Locate, organize, and analyze information from a variety of multimodal texts. 
    • Speak audibly with appropriate pacing. 
    • Use language and style appropriate to the audience, topic, and purpose. 
    • Make eye contact with the audience. 
    • Ask and answer questions to gather or clarify information presented orally. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Engage in writing as a process. 
    • Select audience and purpose. 
    • Narrow the topic. 
    • Use a variety of prewriting strategies. 
    • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
    • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
    • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
    • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
    • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose. 
    • Express an opinion about a topic and provide fact-based reasons for support.
    • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
    • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation.
    • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information.
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Use subject-verb agreement.
    • Eliminate double negatives. 
    • Use correct spelling including common homophones.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
    • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
    • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
    • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
    • Support opinions with examples and details.
    • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
  • Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
    • Know the type of information found in various reference materials including atlases, dictionaries, and websites.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker.
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
    • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
    • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
    • Use description, details, and examples.
    • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
    • Develop persuasive writing skills.
    • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
    • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing. 
    • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence.
    •  Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
    • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.   
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Develop linguistic competency.

Unit 7: Content Area Research

Students will be able to: 

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules.
    • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
    • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
    • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
    • Use evidence to support opinions and conclusions.
    • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
    • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
    • Work respectfully with others, and show value for individual contributions. 
  • Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
    • Locate, organize, and analyze information from a variety of multimodal texts. 
    • Speak audibly with appropriate pacing. 
    • Use language and style appropriate to the audience, topic, and purpose. 
    • Make eye contact with the audience. 
    • Ask and answer questions to gather or clarify information presented orally. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Engage in writing as a process. 
    • Select audience and purpose. 
    • Narrow the topic. 
    • Use a variety of prewriting strategies. 
    • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
    • Organize writing to convey a central idea.
    • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
    • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
    • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose. 
    • Express an opinion about a topic and provide fact-based reasons for support.
    • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
    • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation. 
    • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
    • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
    • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
    • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
    • Support opinions with examples and details.
    • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
  • Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
    • Know the type of information found in various reference materials including atlases, dictionaries, and websites.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker.
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
    • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
    • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
    • Use description, details, and examples.
    • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
    • Develop persuasive writing skills.
    • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
    • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing. 
    • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence.
    •  Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
    • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.

Unit 8: Fiction

Students will be able to: 

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules. 
    • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
    • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
    • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
    • Use evidence to support opinions and conclusions. 
    • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
    • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work.
    • Work respectfully with others, and show value for individual contributions.
  • Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
    • Locate, organize, and analyze information from a variety of multimodal texts.
    • Speak audibly with appropriate pacing. 
    • Use language and style appropriate to the audience, topic, and purpose. 
    • Make eye contact with the audience.
    • Ask and answer questions to gather or clarify information presented orally. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Engage in writing as a process.
    • Select audience and purpose.
    • Use a variety of prewriting strategies. 
    • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
    • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
    • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
    • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
    • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose. 
    • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
    • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation.
    • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information.
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Use quotation marks with dialogue. 
    • Use correct spelling including common homophones.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
    • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
    • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
    • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
    • Support opinions with examples and details.
    • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
  • Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
    • Know the type of information found in various reference materials including atlases, dictionaries, and websites.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
    • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
    • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
    • Use description, details, and examples.
    • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
    • Develop persuasive writing skills.
    • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
    • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing. 
    • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence.
    •  Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
    • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.   
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Develop linguistic competency.

Unit 9: Independent Writing Projects

Students will be able to: 

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules.
    • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
    • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
    • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
    • Use evidence to support opinions and conclusions. 
    • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
    • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
    • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
    • Work respectfully with others and show value for individual contributions. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Engage in writing as a process. 
    • Select audience and purpose. 
    • Narrow the topic. 
    • Use a variety of prewriting strategies. 
    • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
    • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
    • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
    • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
    • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose. 
    • Express an opinion about a topic and provide fact-based reasons for support. 
    • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
    • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation.
    • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information.
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Use correct spelling including common homophones.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

  • Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
    • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
    • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
    • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
    • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
    • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
    • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
    • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
    • Support opinions with examples and details.
    • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
    • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
    • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
    • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
    • Use description, details, and examples.
    • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
    • Develop persuasive writing skills.
    • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
    • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing. 
    • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence.
    •  Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
    • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.   
  • Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
    • Develop linguistic competency.

Virginia Department of Education Resources

Assessments

Student assessments are part of the teaching and learning process.

  • Teachers give assessments to students on an ongoing basis to
    • Check for understanding 
    • Gather information about students' knowledge or skills.
  • Assessments provide information about a child's development of knowledge and skills that can help families and teachers better plan for next steps in instruction.

For testing questions or additional information about how schools and teachers use test results to support student success, families can contact their children's schools.

In Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), fourth grade tests focus on students’ developing content knowledge and skills.

Looking for other grade 4 information?