Students able to read at the fourth grade level are considered literate. Fourth grade students develop their reading fluency by echo reading and mimicking your pace and inflection. Set up a listening station for students to read along with a professional reader on CD. Reading confidence and comprehension improves as students develop a wider vocabulary. Set up a word wall bulletin board in the classroom to post unfamiliar words encountered in texts or discussions. The reading confidence of fourth grade students is bolstered when each student is assigned to read with a first grade buddy. Allow time in the school day for students to read independently for enjoyment as well.
Communicating effectively through the written word is a foundational skill of a successful student. Model quality writing through think-aloud activities and participate with your students in journal writing topics. Arrange for your class to become pen pals with another fourth grade class in a different building, state or country. A team of students can be assigned to keep parents up-to-date with a classroom newsletter. Poems and essays of quality can be published on a bulletin board in the classroom or school hallway. Take students to the library to scan through books and examine how quality authors start stories; encourage students to take notes on how well-written stories end.
Conversational skills and public speaking are vital components of the Language Arts curriculum. Assign your students a part in a class play. Students should memorize their lines and perform the play for parents or another class. Encourage students to choose a favorite poem. Begin the school day with several students reading or reciting their choices. When assigning a written report for a different content area, video tape students as they read the report to the class. As an extracurricular project, record students once a week broadcasting the latest school news.
Listening is a skill mastered by life-long learners and quality communicators. Read part of a novel to your students daily. As you read, ask them comprehension and prediction questions about the story. Dictate text to your students requiring them to write the words they hear. Keep the material light, such as jokes or silly stories as dictations can quickly become laborious and counterproductive. Have students role play being a good listener versus being a poor listener and discuss the differences with the class.