Content Area: Language Arts Literacy

 

Index: 3.3B Grade 4 CPI 3

 

Standard: 3.3 Speaking

 

Strand: B - Questioning (Inquiry) and Contributing

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 3 -  The student will explore concepts by describing, narrating, or explaining how and why things happen.

 

Grade: 4

 

Sample Activities:

 

·               Students share their writing by reading aloud from the Author’s Chair. In addition to responses about content, the listeners comment on the reader’s volume and fluency during reading.

 

·               Students compose a letter to an animal shelter volunteer inviting the volunteer to come to class to discuss the volunteer’s responsibilities. In preparation for their guest, students read or listen to accounts of the homeless dogs and cats in the United States and prepare questions that they might ask. After they interview the volunteer, they write a letter to the editor of their local newspaper about their conclusions.

 

·               After reading several fairy tales, the teacher divides the class into several groups. Each group selects one fairy tale to rewrite as a play that they will perform for the class.

 

·               Students work in pairs to develop a set of written directions for completing class jobs. Pairs trade directions and give feedback.

 

·               After the teacher conducts a mini-lesson on how to give clear directions to others, he divides the class into several groups. Each group becomes proficient at doing a particular craft (e.g., making sun prints). Each group then functions as a panel of experts that instructs the others to make the craft.