Unpacking Standards

For this stage of Backward Design, I have listed and unpacked the standards for fourth
grade English/ Language Arts. While this is not the grade that I plan on teachingI would like to
find a high school English positionI chose this age because this is the age group of students
that I will be able to plan a lesson around. My district uses the Common Core State Standards, so
I referenced the North Carolinas educators list of standards and their unpacked descriptions.

Standard

Key Understanding or Big Idea

(Unpacked)

Career and Workforce Readiness

Skills

1.

From the North Carolina Department of Public

Instruction. (2012). English/Language ArtsUnpacked Content
Fourth grade students should refer to the text when
drawing conclusions as well as when answering
directly stated questions. The central message or
lesson is now referred to as theme (a unifying idea
that is a recurrent element in literary or artistic work).
Students are continuing to determine a theme and
expanding this work to other genres. They are
required to refer to the text to describe various story
elements.
Students will continue to tell the meaning of words
and phrases in a text and focus specifically on
mythological characters.
Students must tell the differences between poems,
drama, and prose using structural elements to create
an oral or written response to a text. Students will find
the similarities and differences in the narration
between a story written in first person and a story
written in third person point of view.
Students at this level must link the reading of the
text in a story to listening or viewing the same story.
They will make connections by comparing what they
read to what they visualized and heard. Students will
find similarities and differences in themes, topics, and
patterns of events among culturally diverse stories,
myths, and traditional literature. Students should
encounter appropriately complex texts at each grade
level in order to develop the mature language skills
and the conceptual knowledge needed for success in
school and life. Effective scaffolding should allow the
reader to encounter the text with minimal
clarifications. It should not replace the text by
translating its contents for students

Skills include:

Fourth grade students are required to refer to specific

examples when explaining the text and drawing
conclusions. Students must identify the main idea and
find the most important details that strengthen the
main idea. They must also explain the text in their
own words. At this level, students tell how or why
historical events, scientific ideas or how to
procedures happened and use the text to support their

Skills include:

Reading
Literature

2.
Reading
Informationa
lText

The ability to determine central

ideas, themes, textual evidence,
POV and how POV effects textual
style and content.
The ability to analyze the
development of central themes,
events and individuals, textual
structure, multiple texts with
similar themes/topics.
The ability to summarize ideas
and supporting details.
The ability to interpret words
and phrases, specifically as they
are used in a text (North
Carolina).
The ability to integrate content
that is presented differentlysuch
as quantitatively or visually.
The ability to delineate an
argument/claims from a text.
The ability to read and
comprehend complex literary
and informational texts
independently and proficiently
(North Carolina).

The ability to determine explicit

use of the text, and POV and how
POV effects textual style and
content.
The ability to analyze how

answers.
Fourth grade students continue to find the meanings
of general vocabulary words specific to fourth grade
topics or subjects. Students must explain how the
events, ideas, or concepts fit into the overall structure
of a text. At this level, students are required to find
the similarities and differences in perspectives (first
and second hand) about the same event or subject.
They will give descriptions about how the
information is presented for each perspective.

individuals/events/ideas develop
and interact over the course of a
text, word choice, text structure
and the relationship to smaller
portions of the text within the
whole.
The ability to interpret
words/phrases within the context
of a textspecifically the
connotative, technical, and
figurative meanings.
The ability to integrate content
that is presented differentlysuch
as quantitatively or visually.
The ability to delineate an
argument/claims from a text.
The ability to read and
comprehend complex literary
and informational texts
independently and proficiently
(North Carolina).

3.
Writing

Fourth grade students should write opinion pieces that

clearly state their preferences and supply the
reasoning for their thinking. In doing so, students
need to understand how their reasoning supports their
opinion, search and find facts to support their
viewpoint, and share this thinking. Students also build
their argument by linking their ideas together. At this
level, students are using a variety of sentence
structures and more complex sentences. They are
developing the use of more complex linking phrases
like (for instance, in order to, in addition). Students
need to engage in behaviors (turn and talk, small
group discussion, and numerous writing and speaking
activities) that lead to the expression of ideas both
verbally and in writing. Students will also need a
purposeful focus on choice making throughout ELA.
Include both an introduction and a concluding
statement or section in their writing. Students need to
use strategies for introducing concepts (such as
beginning with a fact, dialogue, or question about the
topic) and concluding their thoughts (using summary
statements) when writing. They are learning to further
organize their writing by developing the use of text
features (headings, sections, illustrations, and
multimedia). Students also write with complex
sentences to link the parts of their writing together.
Fourth grade students write informative/ explanatory
pieces. They must be able to find and group
information together in a logical way. To do so,
students need strategies for researching a topic
(gathering data), selecting relevant information (note
taking), grouping like ideas, and developing a way to
present the ideas from beginning to end (format and
organization of written presentation).
Fourth grade students write real and imaginative
stories and students are expected to use description to
show characters thoughts and feelings as well as the
details of characters interactions through dialogue.
As students develop characters and use dialogue, they
will need to understand how to introduce characters
and how to engage characters in conversation in their
writing.
Fourthgradestudentsareexpectedtoproducewriting
thatisclearandunderstandabletothereader.Task
(typeofwritingassignment)andpurpose(thewriters
designatedreasonforwriting)shouldbereflectedin
thestudentsorganizationanddevelopmentofatopic.

The ability to write arguments

that support textual analysis or
topics/texts with reasoning and
evidence,
The ability to write
informative/explanatory in
order to convey an understanding
of complex ideas through the
effective selection, organization,
and analysis of content (North
Carolina).
The ability to write narratives in
order to produce an imagined
experience/event with effective
technique, details, and event
sequences.
The ability to write clearly and
coherently in mind with the
proper style, organization, and
purpose for audience.
The ability to demonstrate
strong writing through a process
that shows planning, revision,
editing, rewriting, etc.
The ability to use technology to
produce publishes, interact, and
collaborate.
The ability to conduct research
projects with focused questions,
and proper demonstration of
subject matter.
The ability to gather
information from multiple
sources, determine
creditability/accuracy.
The ability to draw evidence to

Withassistancefromadultsandpeers,students
shoulddeveloprevisingandeditingskills.Inorderto
doso,studentsneedtounderstandhowtochange
wordchoiceandsentencestructureintheirwritingto
strengthentheirpiece.Theyneedassistancewith
planningforwritingusinggraphicorganizers(story
frames,storymountains,storymaps).Theyalsoneed
todeveloptheabilitytorecognizespelling,grammar,
andpunctuationerrorsandhavestrategiesfor
correctingtheseerrorswithassistance(conferences,
checksheets,peerediting).Fourthgradeare
developingstrategieswithpeersandadultstouse
digitaltools.Atthisgradelevel,theyshouldnotonly
usetechnologyforproducingandpublishingwriting,
butalsotocollaboratewithothers.Fourthgrade
Studentsarerequiredtobeproficientin
Keyboardingskills(typingatleastonepage
Inasinglesetting).

4.
Speaking
and
Listening

Fourth grade students will engage in

conversations about grade-appropriate
topics and texts. To do so, students will
need ample opportunities to take part
in a variety of rich, structured
conversations. Students actively
engage as part of a whole class, in
small groups, and with a partner,
sharing the roles of participant, leader,
and observer.
Students at this level should engage
in collaborative conversations and
develop skills in active listening and
group discussion. Fourth grade
students should be able to identify the
reasons a speaker provides to support
points. This can be done through
listening, questioning, and fathering
information for a deeper
understanding of a topic.
While adept at reporting on a topic or
text, telling a story, or recounting an
event, fourth graders will do so in an
organized, logical manner. The
aforementioned items should be done
orally and in coherent, spoken

provide support for research,

reflection, and analysis.

The ability to converse

effectively in a range of
conversations/collaborations and
partners.
The ability to
integrate/evaluate information
from various forms of
presentationsvisually,
quantitatively, orally.
The ability to evaluate POV,
reasoning, evidence and rhetoric.
The ability to present
information, findings, evidence for
listeners, and use digital media
and visual displays strategically.
The ability to adapt speech for a
range of contexts and
communicative tasks.

sentences. Fourth grade students will

do so at an appropriate pace. Attention
to details to support main ideas or
themes is important in fourth grade.
Fourth grade students will combine
audio recordings and visual displays,
when appropriate, to enhance the
development of main ideas or
themes.

5.
Language

Fourth grade students must have a

command of the grammar and usage
of spoken and written standard
English. Standards that are related to
conventions are appropriate to formal
spoken English as they are to formal
written English.
Fourth grade students will use what
they know about how language works
when they write, speak, read, and
listen.
Students at this level will develop
strategies to convey ideas and
highlight effect. They will be able to
choose between situations calling for
information versus formal English
language discourse.
The overall focus of language learning
in regards to vocabulary acquisition is
to guide students as they make
purposeful language choices in writing
and speaking, in order to communicate
effectively in a wide range of print and
digital texts. Students need to
understand the diversity in standard
English and the ways authors use
formal and informal voice to craft their
message for specific purposes.
Students also need strategies for
learning to make these kinds of
choices for themselves as they write
and speak in different contexts and for
different purposes.

The ability to demonstrate

English grammar and usage,
capitalization, punctuation, word
relationships, and spelling through
both writing and speaking.
The ability to apply knowledge of
language to a range of contexts
and styles.
The ability to determine/clarify
word and phrase meaning.

References
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. (2012). English/Language ArtsUnpacked Content Instructional Support Tools for Achieving New Standards. [pdf]
Retrieved from: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/acre/standards/common-coretools/unpacking/ela/4.pdf