Grade 4 English Grammar Lessons

[Bharath Capelle]

Itwas August of 2005. I stared at my lesson plan book in frustration, having made a complete mess of my notes about teaching grammar. I was excited to begin my first year of teaching high school English, but I was so confused about how to structure the semester. Sure, I was given a curriculum map, and everyone at my place of employment promised to help me whenever I needed it. But I was ashamed. How could I be so confused about how to sequence grammar instruction?

To provide a little context, my ninth graders come in with very little grammar proficiency, so in some schools, this same approach could probably be taken with middle school students. Likewise, it could be utilized for older students with a review of the basic elements and more focused instruction on the advanced skills.

Students have to understand nouns, verbs, and modifiers to be able to identify the subject and verb of a sentence as well as to divide a sentence in two: complete subject and complete predicate. I cover direct objects, indirect objects, and subject complements next because infinitives and gerunds can function as some of these elements.

Infinitives, participles, and gerunds are all members of the verbals family, so I group them together. Personally, I find participles easier than gerunds because they are always adjectives, so I introduce those next. Because they are able to function as different types of nouns, gerunds usually prove to be the trickiest for my students, so we study those last.

During the phrases unit, I really feel like we are starting to make progress as writers because I am able to help students understand how to punctuate phrases, how to use them as introductory elements, and how to use phrases strategically in their writing to increase sentence fluency.

Once my students have a firm handle on subordinating conjunctions and subordinate clauses, we move on to relative pronouns and relative clauses. If students can point out dependent clauses with ease, they are ready to move onto identifying sentence types.

I find that it confuses students to attempt to teach all four conjunctions in their own unit. They have to be well-versed in other grammatical elements in order to understand them. So, I teach coordinating conjunctions with parts of speech, subordinating conjunctions with dependent clauses, and conjunctive adverbs with sentence types and errors. I like teaching correlative conjunctions with parallelism because of the nature of that type of conjunction. Since they work in tandem, students need to understand that they link equal elements.

I like to talk grammar with other teachers. One of my good friends, Lauralee from Language Arts Classroom, has taught standardized test prep classes for years. So, I asked her how to sequence grammar instruction second semester. I wanted to know her approach.

I then cover the basics of the English test: punctuation, agreement, transitions, spelling, organization, focus, and other conventions. I then stress that we have already prepped for this test! Writing and applying feedback is the best practice for the English portion.

This totally makes sense! I thought I finally had a handle on teaching grammar this year, but after reading this I realize that it still needs some tweaking. I sure wish I would have found this early. Thanks for sharing!!

Hi, I'm Melissa. I'm passionate about teaching and learning. As an instructional coach, I'm always asking questions, trying new things, and reflecting. This is the space where I share my learning with others. Learn more.

Learning to use capital letters is a crucial grammar skill for younger students. Splat, a capitalization game created by Lauren Piper, a teacher in Illinois and a Teach Starter collaborator, is a perfect writing small group or writing center activity to get kids thinking about those uppercase and lowercase letters and where they go!

Love Scattergories but not quite sure how to translate it to your classroom? Try this grammar activity! Assign students a specific letter of the alphabet, and tell them they have to come up with a common noun, proper noun, and collective noun that begins with that letter.

When it comes to learning about how to write compound sentences, sometimes a simple idea can be the thing that makes the lightbulb go on in their little heads. We love this kinesthetic grammar activity for fourth graders as a hands-on way to learn about the function of conjunctions.

1. Roll the die. Match the number rolled with the corresponding row on the Roll and Write chart.

2. Write a simple sentence about the topic you land on.

3. Continue the process by rolling the die, then writing the correct type of sentence for each roll about the topics you land on.

4. Read the six sentences as a completed, crazy paragraph!

So when is the right time? We recommend teaching FORMAL grammar beginning in 4th or 5th grade. We want students to be good readers and have the ability to do some multi-step analytical thinking. Our Jr. Analytical Grammar programs, JAG and JAG: Mechanics, are specifically designed to introduce formal grammar study, followed by punctuation and usage, to a late-elementary student. After that students move to the Analytical Grammar program.

I completely agree with this statement. Grammar does not make any sense whatsoever to a child below the age of 9 or 10 years old, they might memorize the rules but it will not make any sense whatsoever if they do not understand what they are memorizing and how they are suppose to apply it. It leads only to frustration which could be completely avoided if taught at the right time.

Grammar, at its most basic level, is a set of rules about the types of words we use and what they do. It also tells us how words work together in sentences. As a subject, grammar can be overwhelming for some young learners, as there are many rules and they tend to come thick and fast. To ensure that your child's learning runs smoothly, we suggest breaking these rules down and working through them slowly and at a pace that suits them.

Nouns are naming words. First graders will learn all about common nouns and proper nouns. Nouns are essential words for children to learn as each sentence they write must have a subject, which will always be a noun.

Adjectives are describing words. They tell us more about a noun. These are fun words to work with and your child will enjoy exploring the different ways they can use them to describe things in interesting ways.

Our award-winning language arts program covers all the grammar rules & principles learners should understand in first grade, featuring exciting word games, grammar lessons on nouns, adjectives, and verbs, challenges, and much more. And the best part is that they can practice their grammar skills at home!

At Grade 3 level, your child will be experimenting with creative writing and trying to emulate their favorite authors. They need to excel in their use of grammar to be able to express themselves through writing. This is something that children need to spend a lot of time practicing at third-grade level to ensure that they structure their sentences and paragraphs clearly.

Your child can develop their understanding of comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs by playing different quizzes and games on Night Zookeeper. In the challenge pictured below, children have to unscramble the sentence that includes a superlative adverb.

On Night Zookeeper, third grade students are taught all they need to know about grammar. Our program uses gamification to keep children entertained and engaged as they learn through various different activities. These include exciting games, grammar lessons, and even challenges.

Grading student writing can be a cumbersome process. Often the tools provided to teachers to accomplish this feat are lacking, unclear, or simply make things more difficult than necessary. I finally have some simple solutions for grading writing and grammar. This process is an effective way to maintain consistent and meaningful writing assignments.

Moreover, Writing Rubrics and Grammar Assessments take into account the various stages of writing development. A different rubric is included for each of the three terms of the school. Therefore, the rubrics grow in depth and expectation as the year progresses.

Sending home papers with these rubrics attached help parents gain an understanding of the standards and expectation of the grade level. The more understanding parents have about the standard expectation, the more help they will be able to provide their child at home.

Often certain language standards, although known by the student, are not evident in their paragraph writing. The included specific grammar and language assessments address and assess these skills. Each one focuses on one specific skill. The assessments are quick and easy to grade.

A combination of both formative and summative writing and grammar assessments provides important data about student writing and grammar skills. The rubrics provide clear evidence to support student progress and needs.

It is important that data is clear, concise and provides evidence of student ability. Writing Rubrics and Grammar Assessments contains valuable resources to aid in data collection. These assessments prove handy in IEP, intervention meetings and parent conferences.

Have you checked out the Engaging Writing curriculum, yet? This affordable, thorough writing curriculum for 1st and 2nd grade is simple to implement, engaging and make teaching writing a breeze! You can read about Engaging Writing here.

Memorize the parts of speech easily with catchy songs, and enjoy listening to the fun poems, entertaining stories, and memorable rhymes! The Audio Companion comes in CD or MP3 format, and is designed to accompany Levels 1 & 2.

Because Level 2 assumes knowledge of the concepts taught in Level 1, students in both first and second grade should start with Level 1. Students who complete Level 1 in 1st grade should move on to Level 2 in 2nd grade; students who complete Level 1 in 2nd grade may move on to FLL 3.

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