Language Arts

Grade 4: Writing	Planning: Term # Tracking: Ach. Level
Overall Expectations	1	2	3	4
1. generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience;
2. draft and revise their writing, using a variety of informational, literary, and graphic forms and stylistic elements appropriate for the purpose and audience;
3. use editing, proofreading, and publishing skills and strategies, and knowledge of language conventions, to correct errors, refine expression, and present their work effectively;
4. reflect on and identify their strengths as writers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful at different stages in the writing process.
Specific Expectations
1. Developing and Organizing
Purpose and Audience: 1.1 identify the topic, purpose, and audience for a variety of writing forms (e.g., a cinquain or shape poem modelled on the structures and style of poems read, to contribute to a student poetry anthology for the school library; a set of directions to complete a science experiment on pulleys and gears, for a class presentation; a timeline of significant events in the writer's life, to accompany a biography for a class collection). Teacher prompts: "How will you identify your topic?" "What is the purpose of your writing?" "What formwill best suit the purpose?" "Who will your audience be?"
Developing Ideas: 1.2 generate ideas about a potential topic using a variety of strategies and resources (e.g., brainstorm; formulate and ask questions to identify personal experiences, prior knowledge, and information needs)
Research: 1.3 gather information to support ideas for writing using a variety of strategies and oral, print, and electronic sources (e.g., identify key words to help narrow their searches; cluster ideas; develop a plan for locating information; scan texts for specific information, including teacher readalouds, mentor texts, reference texts, shared-, guided-, and independent-reading texts, and media texts)
Classifying Ideas: 1.4 sort and classify ideas and information for their writing in a variety of ways (e.g., by underlining key words and phrases; by using graphic and print organizers such as mind maps, concept maps, timelines, jot notes, bulleted lists)
Organizing Ideas: 1.5 identify and order main ideas and supporting details and group them into units that could be used to develop a summary, using a variety of graphic organizers (e.g., a Venn diagram, a paragraph frame) and organizational patterns (e.g., generalization with supporting information, cause and effect)
Review: 1.6 determine whether the ideas and information they have gathered are relevant and adequate for the purpose, and do more research if necessary (e.g., discuss material with a peer or adult using a KWHLW organizer: What do I know? What do I want to learn? How will I find out? What have I learned? What do I still want to know?; compare their material to the content of similar texts)
2. Using Knowledge of Form and Style in Writing
Form: 2.1 write more complex texts using a variety of forms (e.g., a storyboard using captions and photographs or drawings to recount a significant event in their life; a report, including jot notes, comparing the environments of two or more regions in Canada; a letter to the author about the student's reaction to a particular text; a summary of the role of a medieval person; a review of a book or website; an original folk tale, fairy tale, or tall tale, or an extension of an existing tale; a board game related to a unit of study)
Voice: 2.2 establish a personal voice in their writing, with a focus on using words and stylistic elements that convey a specific mood such as amusement (e.g., use simple irony to poke fun at themselves: "Lucky me. I got to do the dishes.")
Word Choice: 2.3 use specific words and phrases to create an intended impression (e.g., comparative adjectives such as faster; words that create specific effects through sound, as in alliteration for emphasis: rotten rain)
Sentence Fluency: 2.4 use sentences of different lengths and structures (e.g., complex sentences incorporating conjunctions such as because, so, if)
Point of View: 2.5 identify their point of view and other possible points of view on the topic, and determine whether their information sufficiently supports their own view. Teacher prompt: "Have you included enough details that support your point of view? What facts or details that you have left out would challenge your point of view?"
Preparing for Revision: 2.6 identify elements of their writing that need improvement, using feedback from the teacher and peers, with a focus on specific features (e.g., logical organization, depth of content). Teacher prompts: "How might you reorganize the information to make it easier for the audience to understand?" "Are there clear links between your ideas?" "Can you add one sentence that would help clarify your main idea?
Revision: 2.7 make revisions to improve the content, clarity, and interest of their written work, using several types of strategies (e.g., reordering sentences; removing repetition or unnecessary information; changing the sequence of ideas and information and adding material if appropriate; adding transition words and phrases to link sentences and/or paragraphs and improve the flow of writing; adding or substituting words from other subject areas, word lists, and a variety of sources, such as a dictionary or thesaurus and the Internet, to clarify meaning or add interest; checking for and removing negative stereotypes, as appropriate). Teacher prompts: "What words or phrases could you use to help the reader follow your thinking more easily?" "What descriptive words could you add to make your characters come alive for the reader?”
Producing Drafts: 2.8 produce revised, draft pieces of writing to meet identified criteria based on the expectations related to content, organization, style, and use of conventions
3. Applying Knowledge of Language Conventions and Presenting Written Work Effectively
Spelling Familiar Words: 3.1 spell familiar words correctly (e.g., words from their oral vocabulary, anchor charts, and shared-, guided-, and independent-reading texts; words used regularly in instruction across the curriculum)
Spelling Unfamiliar Words: 3.2 spell unfamiliar words using a variety of strategies that involve understanding sound-symbol relationships, word structures, word meanings, and generalizations about spelling (e.g., pronounce the silent letters in words: k-now; divide long words into manageable chunks; make connections between words with similar spellings; apply knowledge of vowel patterns to new words; apply knowledge of letter patterns and rules for forming regular and irregular plurals and possessive contractions; identify roots in related words: explore, explorer, exploration; highlight the differences between similar words; use mnemonics: twin is two)
Vocabulary: 3.3 confirm spellings and word meanings or word choice using different types of resources appropriate for the purpose (e.g., locate words in online and print dictionaries using alphabetical order, entry words, guide words, pronunciation, and homographs; use a variety of dictionaries such as a dictionary of idioms or homonyms; use a thesaurus to find alternative words)
Punctuation: 3.4 use punctuation appropriately to help communicate their intended meaning, with a focus on the use of: the apostrophe to indicate possession, and quotation marks to indicate direct speech
Grammar: 3.5 use parts of speech appropriately to communicate their meaning clearly, with a focus on the use of: common and proper nouns; verbs in the simple present, past, and future tenses; adjectives and adverbs; subject/verb agreement; prepositions; and conjunctions (e.g., since, through, until)
Proofreading: 3.6 proofread and correct their writing using guidelines developed with peers and the teacher (e.g., an editing checklist specific to the writing task; a posted class writing guideline)
Publishing: 3.7 use some appropriate elements of effective presentation in the finished product, including print, script, different fonts, graphics, and layout (e.g., use legible printing and some cursive writing; use a variety of font sizes and colours to distinguish headings and subheadings from the body of the text; supply detailed labels for diagrams in a report; include graphs such as a bar graph or a pie graph)
Producing Finished Works: 3.8 produce pieces of published work to meet identified criteria based on the expectations related to content, organization, style, use of conventions, and use of presentation strategies
4. Reflecting on Writing Skills and Strategies
Metacognition: 4.1 identify what strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after writing and what steps they can take to improve as writers. Teacher prompts: "Explain how you used the thesaurus to help with your revisions." "How does keeping a writer's notebook help you plan your next steps for writing?"
Interconnected Skills: 4.2 describe, with prompting by the teacher, how their skills in listening, speaking, reading, viewing, and representing help in their development as writers. Teacher prompts: "How does your experience of variety of texts help you as a writer?" "In what way is talking before writing helpful to you?" "How does it help you to listen to someone else read your writing?"
Portfolio: 4.3 select pieces of writing that they think reflect their growth and competence as writers and explain the reasons for their choice

Expectations: Copyright The Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2006.  Format: Copyright B.Phillips, 1998.