paraphrasing lesson plan 4th grade

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Teaching Students to Paraphrase

Ideas for scaffolding paraphrasing so that students correctly learn this valuable but difficult-to-master skill.

When discussing text in the classroom, it’s tough for students to shift from utilizing an author’s words (copying) to accepting the challenge to express that author’s idea in their own words (paraphrasing).

But teaching effective paraphrasing is necessary because the use of paraphrasing facilitates important literacy skills : It encourages repeated reading, develops note-taking habits as students track quotes and outline text details, and expands vocabulary as they consider appropriate ways to describe the original text. The skill may seem daunting to students because it takes time to find the appropriate words to reshape a sentence, but that is time well spent.

We also need to teach paraphrasing, of course, so that students develop the skill set required to avoid committing plagiarism unintentionally .

Student Tools

One way to support students is to make them aware of tools that may help when they’re paraphrasing. Think of these as training wheels—students won’t use them forever.

Academic Phrasebank : Ready-made phrases help students organize their sentences when they paraphrase. The site provides sentence starters for defining ideas, comparing and contrasting ideas, describing cause and effect, and explaining evidence to support statements.

For instance, if a student were paraphrasing vocabulary word X, they would be able to find sentence starters such as “The word X encompasses...,” “The word X is challenging to define because...,” and “The word X is intended to....”

Ashford University Writing Center : This website has a five-item quiz to review the paraphrasing process. It allows students to identify examples and non-examples of paraphrasing for a given text.

When examining non-examples, students are shown how replacing or rearranging words is akin to copying and pasting on a computer. Students see examples of effective paraphrasing, including a change of sentence structure or personal elaboration combined with limited quoted information.

Tone Analyzer : This tool allows students to enter a brief sample from a text and receive an analysis of the tone. When using this tool, students can request an assessment of whether the text illustrates anger, joy, sadness, etc. In addition to these emotions, the website includes language descriptors such as confident (used to describe texts that use active voice and/or words such as will , must , etc.) or tentative (texts with words such as seems , appears , might , etc.). This tool is useful in helping students successfully align the tone of their paraphrased material with the tone of the original text.

Student Self-Check Prompts

Students should outgrow the tools above, and teachers can encourage that growth by showing them how to monitor their own progress with paraphrasing. Students can self-check to determine how on track with paraphrasing they are by asking themselves these questions:

• Can I identify elements of the text that are most significant (and thus appropriate to preserve) when I put it in my own words?
• Can I recite elements of the text from memory in order to prepare to put it into my own words?
• How can I adjust the sentence structure to preserve the meaning of the text?

Student Cautions

Because the journey to paraphrasing may involve a few hiccups, it’s a good idea to identify potential student challenges. When paraphrasing, remind students that they should:

• Attempt to describe the text in their own words gradually, one component at a time (thanks to Doug Lemov and Maggie Johnson for this close reading strategy). For instance, they might first use their own words to describe significant phrases in the reading, and then make an effort to explain one or two key sentences, and finally attempt to paraphrase an entire paragraph.
• Monitor the similarities between the text and the paraphrase. For instance, after describing specific sentences or paragraphs, they should note how many words are shared. Instead of using the same words as the author, focus on mirroring the same main idea. The Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning at Yale offers easy-to-follow models for how to achieve this.
• Ensure that there is a sufficient number of word substitutions in the paraphrased material. (Substituting only a couple of words could constitute plagiarism.) Students should focus on changing the structure of the sentence . This may involve converting a simple sentence to a compound sentence or adding a prepositional phrase.
• Avoid adjusting special language (acronyms, figurative language, jargon, etc.). These kinds of terms are considered common knowledge, so using them in a paraphrase doesn’t constitute plagiarism. Resources such as the Purdue Online Writing Lab can help students figure out whether a particular term is common knowledge.

Teachers can push students to move beyond copying by encouraging them to see paraphrasing as the go-to reading response. When we equip students with needed resources, we make student voice the rule instead of the exception.

Paraphrasing Lesson Plan: Research to Build and Present Knowledge

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the  Paraphrasing Lesson Plan . 

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Paraphrasing , and supports the standard of paraphrasing information in notes and finished work. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Display a few sentences from an article, such as this:

“One of the first companies to make non-toxic crayons safe for toddlers, Crayola was an instant success. According to the company’s website, Crayola produced more than 100 billion crayons in its first 100 years, and it continues to produce an astounding 3 billion each year!”

Ask students:

• How would you paraphrase this, or say it in your own words?
• Why might you paraphrase something you’ve read? 

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

• Read the description on the Paraphrasing topic page .
• Play the Movie , pausing to check for understanding. 
• Have students read one of the following Related Reading articles: “Way Back When,” “Arts and Entertainment,” or “Language.” Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Students take the Paraphrasing Quiz , applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about paraphrasing while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• Make-a-Movie : Produce a preview for a movie about an article you’ve read that paraphrases its key ideas.
• Make-a-Map : Make a concept map identifying strategies for paraphrasing a page in a textbook. Use specific examples.
• Creative Coding : Code a conversation where one character speaks and the other paraphrases what they say.

More to Explore

Related BrainPOP Topics : Deepen understanding of research and writing strategies with these topics: Plagiarism , Citing Sources , and Research . 

Teacher Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview : Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas.  
• Learning Activities Modifications : Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• Learning Activities Support : Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

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"The Dyslexic Reading Teacher Sean Taylor" Literacy for me was almost an unrealized unattainable dream! As a dyslexic learner I was unable to read, write, or decode words as a child, p,d,b and q were all the same letter. Many classroom teachers assumed I would never read or write due to the severity of my dyslexia and this made me feel worthless. I am a dyslexic reading teacher that has built a reputation for finding innovative ways "FREE" to teach reading to all students!

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Paraphrasing worksheets, activities, lessons.

Summarizing teaches students how to discern the most important ideas in a text, how to ignore irrelevant information, and how to integrate the central ideas in a meaningful way. Teaching students to summarize improves their memory for what is read. Summarization strategies can be used in almost every content area.  https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/summarizing

Summarizing Sentence Starters: In summary... The story/passage is mainly about... The character solved the conflict by... To sum up... To summarize... Putting it all together... My initial/final ideas are... My rating/ranking... To wrap things up... To conclude/review/analyze... To weigh in... My appraisal... In short... All in all... All things considered...

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Exploring Plagiarism, Copyright, and Paraphrasing

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This lesson helps students understand copyright, fair use, and plagiarism by focusing on why students should avoid plagiarism and exploring strategies that respect copyright and fair use. The lesson includes three parts, each framed by a KWL chart. In the first part, focusing on plagiarism, students discuss plagiarism and look at examples to determine whether the passages are plagiarized. Part two introduces copyright and fair use. Students use a Think-Pair-Share strategy to explore questions about fair use, then read several scenarios and determine if the uses described are fair use. In the third part, students develop paraphrasing skills through direct practice with paraphrasing text book passages using an online notetaking tool. This lesson plan was developed as part of a collaborative professional project with the American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL).

Featured Resources

• Checklist for Fair Use : Use this checklist to determine if your use of copyrighted material is considered fair use.
• ReadWriteThink Notetaker : Use this online tool to organize and reorganize notes.

From Theory to Practice

Students need multiple opportunities to practice citing sources and paraphrasing, to see examples of writing that properly uses paraphrasing and citations, and to reinforce these concepts. When students are taught information about these concepts early in their academic careers they are more likely to find success when the demands for research increase with the sophistication of their work. As their work becomes more sophisticated, students must have an understanding of fair use practices concerning copyright. Giving credit for a source is essential, but there are times when just a citation is not enough. Depending upon what part and how much of the text a writer uses, he or she may need to seek permission to use the material. By discussing and practicing paraphrasing and working through some fair use examples in this lesson, students should gain a better understanding of these concepts.

Further Reading

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
• 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
• 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• Student textbook from a content area such as social studies or science
• Internet connection and projection capabilities
• Identifying Plagiarism PowerPoint Presentation
• Paraphrasing Practice PowerPoint Presentation
• Research Skills KWL
• Checklist for Fair Use
• Paraphrasing Practice handout
• Identifying Plagiarism examples

Preparation

• This lesson is designed to be co-planned and co-taught by the classroom teacher and the school library media specialist. Meet to decide responsibilities for teaching the lessons and assessing student work, as well as to arrange logistics for using the library media center.  In advance, agree upon lead and support educator roles for each session. Educators are strongly encouraged to alternate roles depending upon individual strengths and expertise.
• Ideally, the library media specialist and English language arts teacher will also collaborate with a willing colleague from the science or social science department for the activities in this lesson.
• Choose a section or chapter in the student textbook to use during each part of the lesson and as part of the student assessment. Textbook sections that have not/may not be covered in class work best.
• Make copies of the Research Skills KWL handout and Checklist for Fair Use for each student.
• Make arrangements to project the Paraphrasing Practice PowerPoint Presentation and the Identifying Plagiarism PowerPoint Presentation , or create separate transparencies for each sentence on the Paraphrasing Practice and Identifying Plagiarism sheets.
• If students need additional practice, choose passages from available texts (e.g., an elementary level encyclopedia; student writing; unfamiliar school or college textbooks). Work together to create your own paraphrased and plagiarized versions of the passages to extend student options for identifying plagiarism.
• The classroom teacher and library media specialist should test the ReadWriteThink Notetaker on the computers to familiarize themselves with the tool and to ensure the Flash plug-in is installed. Schools can download the plug-in from the Technical Support page .

Student Objectives

Students will:

• define plagiarism, fair use, and paraphrasing.
• recognize and provide examples of plagiarism, fair use, and paraphrasing.
• use appropriate paraphrasing strategies to replace advanced-level words with age/grade/level appropriate vocabulary.

Note: In addition to the stated NCTE/IRA standards, this lesson is also aligned to the following American Association of School Librarians Standards for the 21st-Century Learner .

• Respect copyright/intellectual property rights of creators and producers.
• Follow ethical and legal guidelines in gathering and using information
• Use information and technology ethically and responsibly.
• Respect the principles of intellectual freedom.

Session One

• Distribute the Research Skills KWL handout, and ask the students to complete the "know" and "want to know" columns for each of the three items.
• The classroom teacher and library media specialist should co-lead a discussion of the students' responses for the "know" and "want to know" columns of the plagiarism section of the worksheet.
• Create a class definition of plagiarism, using the information on students KWL chart. Be sure that the class definition includes the idea of using another person's words or ideas without crediting the original writer.
• Failure of the assignment or course
• Requirement to do the work over
• Suspension/expulsion
• Lawsuit, fines, and/or firing for workplace plagiarism
• Paraphrase with appropriate citations
• Give credit through footnotes/endnotes, a works cited page, or a bibliography
• Share examples from the  Identifying Plagiarism PowerPoint Presentation or Identifying Plagiarism Sheet , and ask students to determine whether the passages are plagiarized. Add examples from class texts to expand this practice at identifying plagiarism.
• During the class discussion of the passages, consider the following advice from Laura Hennessey DeSena's book Preventing Plagiarism: Tips and Techniques : "In teaching students how to paraphrase, I tell them to put the text aside for a few moments and try to remember what the writer said--the ideas, the insights.  Then I ask students to try to write down these ideas.  I have them compare the two versions, their translation with the original text.  Integrity of ideas much remain intact.  If student writers change the meaning, then they will have to try again.  If they, unintentionally, appropriated exact language, then they will have to try again.  If students are unable to remember what they have read, then they should view the passage as a whole and synthesize the main points in their own words.  Encourage them to change sentence structure, in addition to altering diction.  In changing language choices, they should try to use their own words, before consulting a dictionary or thesaurus." (49). DeSena, Laura Hennessey.  2007. Preventing Plagiarism: Tips and Techniques . (Chapter 3). Urbana, IL:  NCTE.

Have students complete the "learned" column for plagiarism on the Research Skills KWL handout.

If time permits, share this school media center Website on plagiarism to review the concepts that have been covered and point out available resources.

Session Two

• Begin with a brief review of the previous session.
• Discuss the students' responses for the "know" and "want to know" columns of the fair use section of the Research Skills KWL handout.
• The Copyright Office at the Library of Congress defines fair use as "purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered ‘fair,' such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research."
• The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: "quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author's observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported." ( Factsheet on fair use of copyrighted works . U.S. Copyright Office, July 2006.)
• Using the information from Copyright Kids! Copyright Basics & FAQs , share each question with students and have them use the Think-Pair-Share strategy (think about it on your own, pair with a neighbor, share with a larger group) to answer the question.
• When students have had a chance to consider all the questions, reveal the answers from the Website .
• in school: for assignments such as term papers, class plays, presentations
• personal life: Internet downloads, podcasts, personal writings
• To expand the discussion to include music downloads, show the class the first two and a half minutes of the Ball State University Libraries video "What Do You Think about Intellectual Property?" from their Copyright for Students page.
• Have students discuss their thoughts and reactions.
• Distribute and review the Checklist for Fair Use handout.
• John is writing a science term paper on the life of a ferret. He has used two books, a general encyclopedia, and several Websites to gather his information. He has put much of the information into his own words but has used a few direct quotes, citing information that is not his own. Is his work okay according to the Checklist for Fair Use ? Why or why not? (Answer: yes—educational purposes; only a portion of information used; factual information; paraphrased; and credit given.)
• Mary and her friends like the poems of Shel Silverstein, so she copied a bunch of the poems using the school photocopier, stapled them together, and made plans to sell the booklet to anyone who wants it. Is this fair use? Why or why not? (Answer: no—the poems being reproduced are not the student's own work; entire poems used; heart of the work used; creative work; copies sold, therefore depriving author of income.)
• Uncle Marty always videotapes family events. He has put together a video CD with some of the highlights and is giving out the CDs to family members. He has asked each recipient to pay him for the cost of the blank CD so he can continue to make more copies. Is this fair use? Why or why not? (Answer: yes—originator doing the reproduction.)
• Taylor has purchased music from iTunes and placed it on her MP3 player. She also gave the music to three of her friends. Are these uses fair? Why or why not? (Answer: yes and no—The download to Taylor's MP3 player is fine because she paid for the download; however, giving the music to her friends is not because it deprives the copyright owner of income.)
• Allow time for follow-up discussion. Include in the discussion when and how to seek permission to use a copyrighted work (see the U.S. Copyright Office answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Copyright ).
• Have the students complete the "learned" column of the fair use section of the Research Skills KWL handout.

Session Three

• Begin with a review of the previous sessions.
• Discuss students' responses for the "know" and "want to know" columns of the paraphrasing section of the Research Skills KWL handout.
• Create a class definition of paraphrasing, using the information on students KWL chart. Be sure that the class definition includes the idea of restating another person's ideas in your own words or format.
• Ask students to give examples of some of the ways they paraphrase information. Make sure the discussion includes summarizing, rewording, and using direct quotes.
• Make sure that students understand that summarizing is putting the main ideas of a piece of writing in a shortened form that uses their own words. This process can be completed by reading an entire text (paragraph, page, section, etc.) and then writing down what they remember accurately.
• In collaboration with another content area teacher, assign an unfamiliar passage from the students' textbook for students to read and summarize.
• For additional practice, introduce students to the ReadWriteThink Notetaker . Allow time for them to become familiar with the tool, perhaps having them practice together using the passage assigned in the previous step.
• Assign a new passage from the unfamiliar section, and ask the students to use the ReadWriteThink Notetaker to summarize the information.
• Make sure students understand that rewording is restating the material in their own words. Explain to students that their teachers expect them to write as students would write, not as textbooks or encyclopedias sound. Then show them how to take a statement and rewrite it using words they know and would use.
• Do one or two of the examples in the Paraphrasing Practice Powerpoint Presentation together, deciding which words should be changed and which can stay.
• Complete the remainder one at a time using Think-Pair-Share or some other small group strategy.
• Go over the students' suggestions aloud after each example, and offer comments on the results.
• An important person's words lend credibility to the writing.
• The reader will think you are very strategic to seek out an authority's idea to include in the report.
• The words and phrases in the quote simply express the idea too powerfully not to use the original.
• Ask students to consider why it is important that a paper is not one long quote or a series of quotes from a book even if credit is given.
• Provide instruction on footnotes, endnotes, or bibliography compilation if appropriate at this time, using the class textbook.
• Have students complete the "learned" portion of the Research Skills KWL handout for paraphrasing.
• Have volunteers share what they learned over the entire lesson.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• The classroom teacher and school media specialist should assess students’ learning through observation and anecdotal notetaking on participation and class discussions.
• Test students’ understanding by choosing a three-paragraph passage from the class textbook, and asking each student to demonstrate the following skills: summarize paragraph one; paraphrase paragraph two; and choose a significant quotation from paragraph three, citing it correctly.
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This document is a code of best practices that helps educators using media literacy concepts and techniques to interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use.

Useful for a wide variety of reading and writing activities, this outlining tool allows students to organize up to five levels of information.

This tool allows students to create an online K-W-L chart. Saving capability makes it easy for them to start the chart before reading and then return to it to reflect on what they learned.

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Note-taking Skills – Grades 4-6

Our Note-taking Skills – Grades 4-6 lesson plan helps students develop their note-taking skills in order to be better organized. Students practice paraphrasing text and organizing their notes during this lesson.

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Our Note-taking Skills – Grades 4-6 lesson plan helps students develop summarizing, paraphrasing, and organizational skills. These skills are useful for reading in the content areas, completing research, and synthesizing and applying these skills to create well-written, focused, and organized pieces of writing. In this lesson, students are asked to work collaboratively to summarize a given text. Students are also asked to independently identify key elements from a story using their new note-taking skills.

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to use note-taking strategies to summarize key information from texts, organize key information and details through color coding, and organize information in graphic organizers to increase comprehension of key facts and details.

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Paraphrasing and Summarizing

This paraphrasing and summarizing lesson plan also includes:.

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Read an article about the migration of our ancestors and write a paragraph. Pupils paraphrase and summarize to restate the information found in a nonfiction text. They write a shortened version of the reading to demonstrate the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing.

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Summarizing text, what did it say – summarizing, how to summarize a non-fiction passage, informational text graphic organizers, summary of fiction and non-fiction text, persuasive arguments, read write think: creating magazine covers to summarize texts, know it all: summarizing texts, retell and summarize text, super summarizer.

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Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Texts

By Mary Montero

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We are SO close to being done with our nonfiction unit, and I’m looking forward to jumping back in to novel studies. My students are slowly growing to love (okay, maybe like is still a better word) informational text, and that was truly one of my main goals in all of this.

Last week, we did a brief review of the difference between summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting texts.  I should have done this a long time ago!  I often see it taught in the context of research, but when I started seeing summaries that used direct quotes or lines from the text, I knew it was time.  It’s also a huge skill for 5th graders to be able to paraphrase well, so I decided it was worth taking the time to do.   Oh, and the fact that standardized testing is coming in less than month was excellent incentive as well.

First, I used an idea that I got from Teaching in Room 6  about summarizing nonfiction texts with comic strips.  I LOVED this idea, and you should really read her original post.  She does a great job of explaining it, and her kids actually used the Comic Creator software to make really neat and authentic-looking comics!

I began by having my students select a book from our library focusing on an event in history.  They had to really focus in on one event that only spanned the course of about a day.  So, if they chose a major war, they had to pick one battle.

Then, they wrote summaries of their events.  Next, I had them transfer their summaries into comics.  They had to use text and dialogue to tell the story and include all of the information their summary had (without just rewriting, of course).

They came out so nice, and they all agreed that it was such a fun way to practice summarizing!

Update: I now have an entire post on teaching summarizing!  Click here to read more about summarizing, too.

Then, we made a foldable and anchor chart to review the differences between paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting.  Most of the students knew what quoting was but had forgotten how to do it with integrity (using quotation marks and referencing the author).

I included a definition of each then some key ideas about each.

Update: Here’s another version, and you can download the template to make your own HERE .  The notebook template is also included in this free file.

They copied the key ideas on the top flap of their foldable.  Then I created some summarizing task cards to help them see the difference between the three different types of rewriting and retelling.

I made a copy of the first card for each student and they glued it on the same page as their foldable. Under each section of the foldable, they did the task under the flap so that they could see the different between paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting using the same text.  We also underlined and color-coded their responses from the text.  This week, they are working on one card per day as part of their reading warm up.  So far, they have been incredibly effective, and I know it will make a difference in their written reading responses. It will also be great to have this under their belt for research in the future.

If you are interested in the summarizing task cards, you can buy them HERE .  They also include a digital option to use with your student devices!

Working on just one skill at a time? This summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting BUNDLE is a good starting place when working with shorter paragraphs. Each of these task card sets includes 32 high-interest nonfiction reading passages and a single prompt to summarize, paraphrase, or make a direct quote.

Have a happy week!

Mary Montero

I’m so glad you are here. I’m a current gifted and talented teacher in a small town in Colorado, and I’ve been in education since 2009. My passion (other than my family and cookies) is for making teachers’ lives easier and classrooms more engaging.

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14 Comments

I absolutely love all your products! This is such a great idea for getting students to really pick up on the differences between all three! I'm going to have to look into this for next year, but this year it may make a great RTI or reteaching lesson for some of my kiddos that still need help!

We're getting ready to use your Text Structures task cards right now to reteach text structures in small groups!

Thanks for sharing and producing such great products/ideas! Amanda My Shoe String Life

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ELA  /  4th Grade  /  Unit 2: Preparing for the Worst: Natural Disasters

Preparing for the Worst: Natural Disasters

Students learn the science behind natural disasters, such as volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfires, with an emphasis on how natural disasters happen. 

• Text and Materials

Unit Summary

Natural disasters such as volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfires happen all over the world. Understanding how natural disasters happen and why helps children feel less anxious and more prepared. Therefore, this unit focuses on teaching students the science behind each natural disaster while also explaining what to do if they live in an area prone to a particular natural disaster. Over the course of the unit, students hear about many famous natural disasters, but the unit places more of an emphasis on how the disasters happen rather than exploring the devastation or destruction caused by previous natural disasters. The unit provides many opportunities for students to learn more about recent natural disasters, including a culminating research project. 

The texts in this unit were chosen because of their wide variety of text features, content, and accessibility. Over the course of the unit, students will read texts that are very technical and rely heavily on text features, diagrams, and illustrations, as well as texts that are written as informational narratives. Students will be challenged to think about the structures the authors use to help the reader interact with and learn the content, noticing the author's use of cause-and-effect and chronology. Additionally, students will learn the importance of referring to specific details from the text and using those details to explain and teach back the newly learned material. 

Students build their writing fluency by writing daily in response to the Target Task question. Throughout the unit, students also learn to craft strong informational paragraphs, focusing on introducing a topic, providing details and reasons, and elaborating on details. Students also have an opportunity to write a short narrative, using what they learned about a particular natural disaster and the features of a narrative to retell an experience. The unit culminates with students conducting research and writing a report on a recent natural disaster.

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Texts and Materials

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Core Materials

Book:  Unforgettable Natural Disasters (TIME FOR KIDS Nonfiction Readers) by Tamara Hollingsworth (Teacher Created Materials; 2 edition, 2013)

Book:  Hurricanes by Seymour Simon (HarperCollins, 2007)

Book:  Wildfires by Seymour Simon (Collins, 2016)   —  990L

Book:  Earthquakes by Seymour Simon (Collins, 2006)   —  1010L

Book:  Volcanoes by Seymour Simon (Collins, 2006)   —  880L

Assessment Text:  “Tsunamis” by Shaun Taylor (Reading A-Z)

Supporting Materials

Resource:  FEMA Winter Storms and Extreme Cold Fact Sheet (FEMA)

Resource:  FEMA Droughts Fact Sheet (FEMA)

Resource:  FEMA Extreme Heat Fact Sheet (FEMA)

Rubric:  Grade 4 Narrative Writing Rubric

Template:  Narrative Brainstorming Template

• Resource: Recommended Texts for Independent Reading

These assessments accompany this unit to help gauge student understanding of key unit content and skills.

Download Cold Read Assessment

Download Cold Read Assessment Answer Key

Download Content Assessment

Download Content Assessment Answer Key

Intellectual Prep

Suggestions for how to prepare to teach this unit

Before you teach this unit, unpack the texts, themes, and core standards through our guided intellectual preparation process. Each Unit Launch includes a series of short videos, targeted readings, and opportunities for action planning to ensure you're prepared to support every student.

Essential Questions

The central thematic questions addressed in the unit or across units

• Where and how do earthquakes occur? What hazards do earthquakes create? How can the hazards be reduced? 
• Where and how do volcanoes occur? What hazards do volcanoes create? How can the hazards be reduced? 
• Where and how do hurricanes occur? What hazards do hurricanes create? How can the hazards be reduced? 
• Where and how do wildfires occur? What hazards do wildfires create? How can the hazards be reduced? 

Reading Focus Areas

To describe events and the scientific reasons they occur, readers need to be able to identify and describe the cause-and-effect connection between ideas.

To explain scientific concepts, readers need to be able to identify and explain details that describe the sequence or chronology of events.

Writing Focus Areas

Informational writing.

Introduce a topic clearly using a topic sentence.

Group related information into paragraphs and sections.

Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and concrete details.

Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.

Provide a concluding statement or section.

Add headings, illustrations, and graphics.

Narrative Writing

Brainstorm and draft a story with a logical sequence of events that unfolds naturally.

Use dialogue, concrete words and phrases, and sensory details to develop experiences.

Provide a sense of closure.

Speaking and Listening Focus Areas

Prepare for discussion.

Elaborate to support ideas. Provide evidence or examples to justify and defend a point clearly.

Use specific vocabulary. Use vocabulary that is specific to the subject and task to clarify and share their thoughts.

Literary terms, text-based vocabulary, idioms and word parts to be taught with the text

absorb accumulate ash atmosphere catastrophic carelessness climate coastal destructive destruction dependent debris dormant drought epicenter epidemic extensive extinct excess extreme fault famine flammable forecast havoc hurricane immense imminent inland intense inactive magnitude merged moderate natural disaster pandemic periodic plates precursor precede raging retrofitted release renew scorched slight stalled storm surge torrential tropical depression tropical tragic tropical storm warning system

-able -less -ness in- re-

To see all the vocabulary for Unit 2, view our 4th Grade Vocabulary Glossary .

Supporting All Students

In order to ensure that all students are able to access the texts and tasks in this unit, it is incredibly important to intellectually prepare to teach the unit prior to launching the unit. Use the intellectual preparation protocol and the Unit Launch to determine which support students will need. To learn more, visit the Supporting all Students teacher tool.

Explain what a natural disaster is and why it is important to know if a natural disaster is imminent.

RI.4.3 RI.4.5 RI.4.7

Explain where and how volcanoes occur using the words "plates," "magma," and "erupt."

Explain what happened when Mount St. Helens erupted and the destruction it caused. 

Describe what makes Hawaiian volcanoes unique.

Describe the four different types of volcanoes.

Writing  – 2 days

Write a well-structured paragraph that explains where and how volcanoes occur and what hazards they create.

W.4.2 W.4.2.a W.4.2.b W.4.2.e

Explain where and why earthquakes occur. 

Explain why a person living in Boston is significantly less likely to experience an earthquake than a person in California.

RI.4.3 RI.4.5

Describe the tools scientists use to measure earthquakes and why one form of measurement is not enough for measuring earthquakes.

Write a well-structured paragraph that explains where and how earthquakes occur and what hazards they create.

Explain the type of damage and destruction caused by flooding.

Describe where and how hurricanes occur.

Describe the destruction caused by each category of hurricane.

Explain how you know when a hurricane is coming and what you should do if you are in the path of a hurricane.

Write a well-structured paragraph that explains where and how hurricanes occur and what hazards they create.

Explain what happened during the Yellowstone fires of 1988 and the impact the fires had on the park. 

Analyze why wildfires are neither good nor bad.

Write a well-structured paragraph that explains where and how wildfires occur and what hazards they create. 

• Unforgettable Natural Disasters pp. 42 – 57
• Winter Cold and Extreme Storms Facts
• Droughts Facts
• Extreme Heat Facts

Explain other types of natural disasters and what to do to prepare for or prevent them. 

Narrative Writing  – 4 days

• Unforgettable Natural Disasters
• Earthquakes
• Grade 4 Narrative Writing Rubric
• Narrative Brainstorming Template

Write a short narrative about a young person dealing with a natural disaster.

L.4.1.f L.4.2.a L.4.2.b SL.4.1 W.4.3 W.4.3.a W.4.3.b W.4.3.c W.4.5 W.4.8

Writing  – 5 days

Research and report on a recent natural disaster.

L.4.1.f W.4.2 W.4.2.a W.4.2.b W.4.2.e W.4.7 W.4.8

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Common Core Standards

Core standards.

The content standards covered in this unit

Language Standards

L.4.1 — Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

L.4.1.f — Produce complete sentences, recognizing and correcting inappropriate fragments and run-ons.

L.4.2 — Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

L.4.2.a — Use correct capitalization.

L.4.2.b — Use commas and quotation marks to mark direct speech and quotations from a text.

L.4.4 — Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 4 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

L.4.6 — Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (e.g., quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g., wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation).

Reading Standards for Informational Text

RI.4.3 — Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.

RI.4.5 — Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part of a text.

RI.4.7 — Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

Speaking and Listening Standards

SL.4.1 — 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.

SL.4.1.a — Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.

SL.4.1.b — Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles.

SL.4.1.c — Pose and respond to specific questions to clarify or follow up on information, and make comments that contribute to the discussion and link to the remarks of others.

SL.4.2 — Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

SL.4.3 — Identify the reasons and evidence a speaker provides to support particular points.

SL.4.4 — Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

Writing Standards

W.4.2 — Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

W.4.2.a — Introduce a topic clearly and group related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.

W.4.2.b — Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.

W.4.2.e — Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented

W.4.3 — Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

W.4.3.a — Orient the reader by establishing a situationand introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.

W.4.3.b — Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.

W.4.3.c — Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events.

W.4.5 — With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.

W.4.7 — Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

W.4.8 — Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.

Supporting Standards

Standards that are practiced daily but are not priority standards of the unit

L.4.3 — Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

L.4.4.b — Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., telegraph, photograph, autograph).

Reading Standards: Foundational Skills

RF.4.3 — Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

RF.4.4 — Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

RI.4.1 — Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

RI.4.4 — Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area.

RI.4.9 — Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

RI.4.10 — By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4—5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

W.4.4 — Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1—3 above.)

W.4.6 — 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; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.

W.4.9 — Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

W.4.10 — Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

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