1. Welcome to our fourth
grade newsletter!
Attention:
We are starting our new
English and language arts
project!

2. Project Overview
This is a unit on fourth grade English language arts. The
students will be working in groups of 4-5. The students will
develop their own fictional stories in a genre that is chosen
from a hat. For example one group may have fairytales,
while another group might have science fiction. This story
will eventually become a play. The fourth grade class will
host a parent night where students will showcase their
works. Each play should be approximately 15 minutes long.
And the overall project will take approximately two months
to complete.

3. Basic Project Information
1. English/Language Arts (main subject)
2. Groups of 4-5 students
3. Compose a story that is in a specific genre
4. Research the genre
5. Create a play about the story
6. Present the works at Parent Night

4. Essential Question
1. Why are stories so
important?

5. Unit Question
1. How can people relate to characters
in stories?
2. Why do stories have different
meanings to all individuals?

6. Content Question
1. What is a story?
2. What is a play?

7. FAQ’s
1. Q: When is the project due?
A: January 12, 2013
2. Q: Are the students supposed to dress accordingly?
A: Dressing up will be a part of the student’s final grade.
3. Q: How will the students be graded?
A: The students will be graded individually and as a whole
group.
4. Q: How does this impact the students’ learning?
A: This project follows under the Alabama Course of Study.

8. Project Topics
English
Language Arts
Communication
Collaboration
Project-Based Learning
Theatre

9. Objectives
1. Students will be able to perform in a role-playing exercise.
2. Students will be able to create fictional story.
3. Students will be able to demonstrate grammatical skills, dialogue, and
compositional pieces.
4. Students will be able to enhance listening skills.
5. Students will be able to develop a deep and personal meaning of their
stories.
6. Students will be able to portray social skills in different environments.
7. Students will be able to collaborate with peers.

10. S
Standards
2.) Demonstrate reading vocabulary
knowledge, including recognition of a
variety of synonyms and antonyms.
• Using context clues
• Reading multiple-meaning words
• Increasing number of sight words
4.) Identify literary elements and
devices, including characters, important
details, and similes, in recreational
reading materials and details in
informational reading materials.
• Identifying main idea
• Identifying author's purpose
5.) Use a wide range of strategies and
skills, including using sentence structure,
locating information, and distinguishing fact
from fiction, to comprehend fourth-grade
informational and functional reading
materials.
• Determining sequence of events in
informational and functional text
• Distinguishing fact from opinion in
informational text
• Summarizing passages to demonstrate
understanding
• Comparing and contrasting to extend
meaning
• Using self-monitoring for text
understanding, including rereading and
adjusting rate and speed of reading
• Using text features to gain meaning
Examples: titles, headings, glossary,
boldface, index, table