Grade 4 Reading: goals and how we get there

A grade 4 reading student at Learn To Be does three things:

1. Reads to learn.
2. Works through the 4th Grade Reading course, and reads real books about real things.
3. Reads a little every day (at home!).

The goals

By the end of grade 4, a student:

• Reads 146 words per minute out loud.
• Reads whole novels and true books every week.
• Still knows everything from kindergarten through grade 3 instantly: letters, common words, and word parts.
• Knows the big Latin and Greek roots, like bio, geo, port, and struct. This is new this year.

Kids understand what they read when they already know about the topic. So this year is about reading a lot about real things.

We are building flashcard decks for letters, common words, and vocabulary. Until then, practice them by reading out loud.

Reading speed

Reading speed is how many words a student reads correctly in 1 minute, out loud.

To check it: pick a book at your student's level. Time them reading out loud for 1 minute. Count the words they read correctly. Check at the start of the year, and again every few weeks.

The grade 4 target is 146. If your student is far below the target for their grade, find the grade they are ready for in this table and use that page.

The courses

4th Grade Reading has 38 lessons. Each lesson is a short science or history passage to read and talk about together. This is the "read to learn" part.

• Do one or two lessons each session. Read the passage together, then talk about it.
• If the passages are too hard, use 3rd Grade Reading first.

If your student guesses at words or reads slowly, start with the Early Reading Program first, no matter the grade. It has 1,745 lessons and teaches phonics: how to sound out words. There is no placement test. To find where to start, skim forward through the lessons until your student stumbles. Start there. Its Tutor Toolkit, a card on the course page, has guidance for tutors.

The reading list

True topics

Read books and articles about these topics, and talk about them together. This is also your student's science and history.

• The Middle Ages
• The Spread of Islam
• Early African Kingdoms
• Dynasties of China
• The American Revolution
• The U.S. Constitution
• Early Presidents
• American Reformers
• Geology: How the Earth Changes
• Weather and Meteorology
• The Human Body: Heart and Lungs

Stories to read

The tutor and the student take turns reading these out loud. As the year goes on, the student reads more of it.

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
• The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
• Matilda by Roald Dahl
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
• Frindle by Andrew Clements
• Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe
• The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
• Wonder by R. J. Palacio
• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

A typical session

1. Warm-up read-aloud, about 10 minutes. The student re-reads something familiar out loud. This builds speed and confidence.
2. Course lessons. This is the main part of the session. Do one or two 4th Grade Reading lessons together. If your student is on the Early Reading Program, do those lessons instead. Do not move on until the student masters the lesson.
3. Real reading together. Read a book from the reading list. Read it together and talk about it.

Between sessions (at home)

Daily practice happens at home, not in your session. A little every day works better than a lot once a week.

Tell the parent:

"Every day, have your child sign in at learntobe.org and do their reading lessons. Then have them read out loud to you for 10 minutes from a book they can read easily. This is the one thing that helps most."

Show the parent and the student how to sign in and find the course during your first session.

Other resources

• IXL. If your student has an IXL account through our pilot, its diagnostic shows the grade level your student works at in English language arts. Use it as an extra check, not instead of the course. See How should tutors use IXL?

Related

• All grade goals