4th Grade English Language Arts Curriculum
By fourth grade, students are ready to connect more deeply with their reading and writing. In our fourth grade ELA lessons, students grow beyond basic literacy, diving into more complex texts and refining their ability to analyze, interpret, and express ideas.
Through a mix of reading comprehension, vocabulary development, grammar, and structured writing practice, fourth grade students learn to think critically about what they read and communicate their thoughts clearly in various written forms.
Sample Lesson
Interested in more fourth grade language arts videos? Visit our YouTube channel @TheMiacademyLearningChannel!
Is my student ready for 4th grade language arts lessons
Before working on fourth grade reading and writing concepts, we recommend your child complete our third grade ELA courses.
Your student is likely ready for fourth grade language arts if they can:
- Read and understand short chapter books independently
- Summarize a story’s main idea and key details
- Write complete sentences with correct punctuation
- Understand basic grammar rules like subject-verb agreement
- Write a paragraph with a clear topic sentence and supporting details
- Differentiate fiction and nonfiction
- Ask and answer questions about what they read
- Spell common words correctly and use strategies for new words
- Show interest in reading a variety of texts, like stories, articles, or poems
Free 4th Grade Language Arts Worksheets – PDF Download
Each video lesson has an accompanying PDF with engaging activities to extend learning beyond the screen with a hands-on approach!
Click here to download a free sample PDF of our fourth grade ELA worksheets:
What are the 4th grade ELA standards?
In fourth grade, reading and writing skills take a big leap forward as students begin analyzing texts more deeply, expanding their vocabulary, writing with greater structure and clarity, and refining their understanding of grammar and sentence construction.
Our fourth grade language arts curriculum is designed to support this growth, helping students develop into thoughtful readers and expressive writers. For ELA, fourth grade standards typically include:
- Referring to details and examples in a text when explaining explicit ideas and when drawing inferences
- Determining the main idea of a text and explaining how key details support it
- Describing a character, setting, or event in depth with details from the text
- Comparing and contrasting the point of view from which different stories are narrated
- Explaining the meaning of words and phrases, including those that allude to significant characters or ideas
- Reading and comprehending literature and informational texts at a fourth grade level
- Using context clues, prefixes, suffixes, and root words to determine word meanings
- Writing opinion pieces with a clear introduction, supporting reasons, and a conclusion
- Writing informative texts to examine a topic and convey ideas clearly
- Writing narratives with organized events, descriptive details, and dialogue
- Using correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
- Conducting short research projects that use several sources and summarize information clearly
Standards can vary by state, so be sure to check what’s required where you live.
Scope and Sequence
Language Skills: Level E
In this course, fourth graders continue to refine and expand their knowledge of language conventions while developing their research skills. This course helps students conduct research, synthesize information, and write with more depth, clarity, and accuracy.
- Irregular verbs, reflexive pronouns, and prepositions
- Phrases and clauses
- Simple and compound sentences
- Quotation marks
- Commonly confused words
- Forms of writing and the writing process
- Reference materials, the internet, and dictionary skills
Reading Comprehension: Level E
Our fourth grade reading comprehension course offers weekly reading practice, followed by a short comprehension quiz. Each lesson begins with a short instructional video that explains new skills and reading strategies. Afterward, students read a passage and complete a six-question quiz to assess their understanding.
The questions cover key comprehension skills such as identifying theme and main idea, recognizing supporting details, analyzing text structure and narrative elements, and interpreting figurative language and word meaning in context.
Why is there more than one course?
Miacademy’s language arts curriculum is structured into three different courses, each that focus on a different set of skills:
Learn to Read (Levels A-C only): Focuses on letter sounds, rhyming, and common letter patterns to help kids practice reading for kindergarten to 2nd grade.
Language Skills (All levels): Covers comprehension strategies, grammar, and storytelling techniques to strengthen reading and writing.
Reading Comprehension (Levels C-I only): Provides weekly reading passages with questions to reinforce understanding and apply learned skills.
Students may work at different levels in each area to match their individual learning needs.
Miacademy’s Online 4th Grade Homeschool Curriculum
With Miacademy, fourth graders build reading and writing skills through engaging, standards-aligned lessons. By exploring various texts and practicing writing opinion, narrative, and informative pieces, students will gain valuable skills to help them become confident readers and thoughtful writers.
One of the best things about our fourth grade curriculum is homeschooling with flexibility! You get full customization over your lesson plans and assignments to fit your child’s unique learning needs. Students can skip what they already know and dive into new challenges!
Our family of accredited curricula covers everything from learning to read to analyzing literature and adapts easily to your child’s educational needs.
Whether you homeschool full time or are looking to supplement a public school education, we’re here to support you! Wondering if Miacademy’s fourth grade homeschool curriculum is a good fit for your student? Start a chat with one of our friendly customer service agents below! They’ll be happy to help you with any questions you may have.
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