Leap into Literacy
Grade 4
Writing Strategy: Information Writing
Information Writing has us asking ourselves, “What am I an expert on? What do I know a lot about?” These are the topics that we should be writing about!
Have your students create An Authority List in their Writer’s Notebooks to brainstorm topics that they know the most about. In the giant I, write all the topics they are an expert about. Check out the anchor chart below as a guide.
NewsELA Text Sets
Text Sets help enhance your curriculum and spark your students’ interest in a topic. You can push your students to learn more about the world by building a text set around a particular theme or topic. Reading articles within a text set will help your students build their vocabulary and background knowledge on a certain topic.
Suggested Information Mentor Texts
- The Beetle Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
- Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
- Red-Eyed Tree Frog by Joy Cowly
- Tigress by Nick Dowson
DOGO News
DOGO is a leading source for current events, news, and non-fiction texts across a variety of categories and grade levels. Students can discover articles of interest and post comments based on their reactions to the content, all within the confines of a kid-friendly ecosystem.
Speaking and Listening: 5 Ways to Help Students Listen
Check out these tactics for encouraging a deeper level of listening that also include student accountability:
- Say it Once
- Turn and Talk
- Student Hand Signals
- Pay Attention, Pause, Paraphrase
- Creating Questions