Grade 4 Writing: goals and how we get there
A grade 4 writing student at Learn To Be does three things:
- Works through the Sentence Mastery Grade 4 course.
- Writes about what they read.
- Practices a little every day (at home!).
The goal and what success looks like
By the end of grade 4, a student writes short pieces, not only single paragraphs. A piece is two or three connected paragraphs. It explains something, tells a story, or argues for something. The student makes a simple outline first.
On demand, the student can write:
- a topic sentence,
- a transition from one idea to the next,
- an ending.
Capital letters, end punctuation, and spelling from grade 3 stay correct.
Typing goal: the student types 25 words per minute, up from 20 in grade 3.
The course
Sentence Mastery Grade 4 has 55 lessons. It covers longer sentences that use joining words like when, before, after, if, although, and unless.
- Find the start. Try the first few lessons. If they are easy, skip ahead to where the student starts making mistakes.
- Do not skip lessons after that. A student moves on only after they master a lesson.
This course builds the sentences that longer pieces need. When the student finishes it, the next step is Sentence Mastery Grade 5.
If the course is too hard, go down to Sentence Mastery Grade 3.
What they write about
Kids cannot write about nothing. They write about what they read. The topics come from this grade's reading program. The 4th Grade Reading course also has short science and history passages that give them things to write about.
- 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
A typical session
- Warm-up, about 10 minutes. Quick sentence practice. Make a short sentence longer. Join two sentences into one. Finish a sentence that starts with "because", "but", or "so".
- Course lessons. This is the main part of the session. Do one or two lessons together.
- Write about what they read. The student writes a short piece about something from their reading. The reading gives them something to say.
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 a lesson in their writing course. A little every day 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 each part of English language arts. Use it as an extra check, not instead of the course. See How should tutors use IXL?