Section Branding
Header Content
Fourth Grade English Language Arts Resources
Hero Image
Primary Content
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Collection
The Electric Company media and resources entertain and engage children ages 5–9 while teaching four crucial areas of literacy that are challenging for struggling readers: Decoding, Vocabulary, Comprehension of Connected Text, and reading Motivation. Here you’ll find full episodes, clips, games and activity sheets to excite even the most reluctant readers.
Skill: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
Georgia Standard: Reading Foundational - Phonics and Word Recog - ELAGSSE4RF3
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Video with support materials
You can use this video for Session 6 of the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies program. Students watch the video, in which Martha tries to find out why the new dog in town is so loud and mean. After watching, buddy pairs talk about the episode, play a Choose and Chat game, read a children’s book together, and write in their journal. Prior to using this resource for Reading Buddies, be sure you have read the complete introductory materials in the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies Program Guide
Skill: Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
Georgia Standard: Speaking and Listening - Comp and Collab - ELAGSE4SL2
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Video with support materials
You can use this video for Session 5 of the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies program. Students watch the video, in which Martha is suspicious of the Perfect Pup Institute. After watching, buddy pairs talk about the episode, play the game Skits’s Tricks online (if online access is not available, they can skip this step), read a children’s book together, and write in their journal. Prior to using this resource for Reading Buddies, be sure you have read the complete introductory materials in the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies Program Guide.
Skill: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Georgia Standard: Speaking and Listening - Comp and Collab - ELAGSE4SL1
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Video with support materials
You can use this video for Session 9 of the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies program. Students watch the video, in which Martha and Skits can’t find a way to share a toy, and then T.D. and Alice start bickering. After watching, buddy pairs talk about the episode, play a Truce! game, read a children’s book together, and write in their journal. Prior to using this resource for Reading Buddies, be sure you have read the complete introductory materials in the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies Program Guide.
Skill: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Georgia Standard: Speaking and Listening - Comp and Collab - ELAGSE4SL1
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Video with support materials
You can use this video for Session 3 of the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies program. Students watch the video, in which Martha’s dream comes true and she gets to ride on a fire truck. After watching, buddy pairs talk about the episode, play a Tic-Tac-Talk game, read a children’s book together, and write in their journal. Prior to using this resource for Reading Buddies, be sure you have read the complete introductory materials in the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies Program Guide.
Skill: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Georgia Standard: Speaking and Listening - Comp and Collab - ELAGSE4SL1
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Video with support materials
You can use this video for Session 3 of the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies program. Students watch the video, in which Martha’s dream comes true and she gets to ride on a fire truck. After watching, buddy pairs talk about the episode, play a Tic-Tac-Talk game, read a children’s book together, and write in their journal. Prior to using this resource for Reading Buddies, be sure you have read the complete introductory materials in the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies Program Guide.
Skill: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSERL4.2
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Video with support materials
Students will read and listen to Aunt Pearlie Sue’s animated Gullah and English versions of the traditional folktale "What a Friend." Storytellers are important people in most cultures. They entertain, educate and pass on the history of their culture. Often the stories they tell are what we call folktales, traditional stories that have been passed down through the generations. Often, these stories teach a moral or explain the origin something in nature. In “What a Friend” snail learns valuable lessons about true friendship.
Skill: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSERL4.2
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Interactive Book
In this online book from the International Children's Digital Library, a lonely cat lives in a car with a kitchen on the dashboard. He delights in his work cleaning the highways. When he helps someone with car trouble in a traffic jam he makes a new friend. They then enjoy creative music together with a car horn. Author and Illustrator—Thacher Hurd.
Skill: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSERL4.2
Advice on Writing - Video Production: Behind the Scenes with the Pros
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Video with support materials
In this online book from the International Children's Digital Library, a lonely cat lives in a car with a kitchen on the dashboard. He delights in his work cleaning the highways. When he helps someone with car trouble in a traffic jam he makes a new friend. They then enjoy creative music together with a car horn. Author and Illustrator—Thacher Hurd.
Skill: With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSEW6
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Collection
In this interactive lesson, students learn the basics of how stories are structured, gain vocabulary about storytelling elements, and explore how the arts, specifically drawing, can be a valuable way for students to tell stories. By the end of the lesson, each student will have written a story with a clear setting, conflict, and resolution. They will have reflected on the process of storytelling, and are given the (optional) opportunity to create a comic.
Skill: With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSEW5
Storytelling with Words and Pictures
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Interactive Lesson
In this interactive lesson, students learn the basics of how stories are structured, gain vocabulary about storytelling elements, and explore how the arts, specifically drawing, can be a valuable way for students to tell stories. By the end of the lesson, each student will have written a story with a clear setting, conflict, and resolution. They will have reflected on the process of storytelling, and are given the (optional) opportunity to create a comic.
Skill: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSEW3
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Video with support materials
You can use this video for Session 8 of the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies program. Students watch the video, in which Martha is annoyed about what a big fuss everyone is making about a new little kitten, until they become friends. After watching, buddy pairs talk about the episode, play a Choose and Chat game, read a children’s book together, and write in their journal. Prior to using this resource for Reading Buddies, be sure you have read the complete introductory materials in the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies Program Guide.
Skill: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSEW4
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Video with support materials
You can use this video for Session 7 of the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies program. Students watch the video, in which Martha has won a trip to an inn that doesn’t allow pets. After watching, buddy pairs talk about the episode, play a Tic-Tac-Talk game, read a children’s book together, and write in their journal. Prior to using this resource for Reading Buddies, be sure you have read the complete introductory materials in the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies Program Guide.
Skill: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSEW4
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Video with support materials
You can use this video for Session 2 of the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies program. Students watch the video, in which Martha yearns to be a hero just like her favorite TV star. After watching, buddy pairs talk about the episode, make a SuperPup puppet, read a children’s book together, and write in their journal. Prior to using this resource for Reading Buddies, be sure you have read the complete introductory materials in the MARTHA SPEAKS Reading Buddies Program Guide.
Skill: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSEW4
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Interactive Book
In this online book from the International Children's Digital Library, Finbo the whale is sad when he finds he cannot play hide and seek with his friends because he is too big to hide. His mother tells him not to be ashamed of his differences. Finbo and his friends soon learn to appreciate Finbo's size when they get into danger and Finbo saves the day.
Skill: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSE4RL1
The Amazing Adventures of Equiano
Source: PBS Learning Media (Must be logged into "Teacher View")
Resource Type: Interactive Book
This online book from the International Children's Digital Library traces the journey of Equiano, a young African boy of the Ibo tribe, from his capture by Africans to his life in the Americas. It describes his arduous adventure from slavery to becoming a free man. Inspired by the memoirs of Olaudah Equiano, a freed and literate slave. Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.
Skill: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSE4RL1
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Interactive Book
In this online book from the International Children's Digital Library, two groups of cats, the blonde cats and the black cats, live on different sides of the river. They agree that a black cat will lead all the cats half the year, and a blond cat the other half of the year, but fights still break out between the two groups. Suddenly a gray cat is born, he is wise, and all the cats like him. They decide to make him the leader all year long. The situation is calm for a while and then fights break out. The gray cat orders all cats to take off their ears and give them to him. When the cats are given back their ears, the black cats are given the blond cats' ears, and vice versa. Suddenly each group hears voices they never heard before, the voices of the other group. They needed to exchange ears to be able to hear each other.
Skill: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSE4RL1
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Interactive Book
In this online book from the International Children's Digital Library, Monty the raccoon lies, breaking the trust his friend, Fritz the rabbit, had in him.
Skill: Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
Georgia Standard: ELAGSE4RL3
Gullah Tales: The Jealous Bragging Turtle
Source: PBS Learning Media
Resource Type: Interactive Story
Students will read and listen to Aunt Pearlie Sue’s animated Gullah and English versions of the traditional folktale "The Jealous Bragging Turtle." Storytellers are important people in most cultures. They entertain, educate and pass on the history of their culture. Often the stories they tell are what we call folktales, traditional stories that have been passed down through the generations. Often, these stories teach a moral or explain the origin something in nature. In “The Jealous Bragging Turtle” Cootah learns a valuable lesson about jealousy and bragging.
Skill: Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
Georgia Standard: ELAGSE4RL3
MONTANA SHAKES! WordSmashing: Language Workshop
Source: PBS Learning Media (Must be logged into "Teacher View")
Resource Type: Video with support materials
Your elementary students will love Shakespeare! Create, learn, and pantomime new words! Shakespeare loved to create new words and to play creatively with the meaning of words, so can you. This workshop is based on the MT SHAKES! 2016 adaptation of a Midsummer Night's Dream. This workshop is designed to introduce students to the creative capacity of words.
Skill: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
Georgia Standard: ELAGSE4RL5