Literature Studies
Grade 4
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
Essential Question
How do historical periods influence characters, conflicts, struggles, and motivations?
Content/Academic Vocabulary
Alliteration
Cause/Effect
Climax
Culture
Events
Hyperbole
Metaphor
Point of View
Secondary
Stereotypes
Theme
Audience
Author’s Purpose
Characterization
Characters
Compare/Contrast
Conflict
Discrimination
Draw Conclusions
Exaggeration
First-Person Point of View
Idiom
Inference
Narrator/Narration
Onomatopoeia
Primary Source
Religion
Source Setting
Simile
Third-Person Point of View
Autobiography/Biography
Chronological Order
Context
Era
Hero
Main Idea & Details
Personification
Resolution
Symbolism
Timeline
Focus Questions
What can I discover about myself through reading historical fiction?
Taking a book’s historical setting into consideration, what can I learn from making connections to characters and their
experiences?
How does the use of literary devices in historical fiction enhance meaning?
How do my thoughts and behaviors reflect the historical era in which I live?
How and why do characters change and develop throughout this historical fiction novel?
Literature Studies
Grade 4
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
Student Outcomes
Think about what you want the student to know and be able to do.
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Determine how the setting of an historical fiction novel influences the characters and shapes the events.
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Record similes and metaphors and explain what they mean within the context of the story.
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Compare and contrast texts in various forms including written, audio, staged, or multimedia versions.
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Compare and contrast first and third person narration.
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Analyze accounts of the same historical event and describe important similarities and differences with details from
the text.
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Describe firsthand accounts (primary sources) and secondhand accounts (secondary sources) in historical fiction.
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Recite poetry and speeches pertaining to the historical period of your novel.
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Present findings learned from various texts in the form of oral presentations.
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Design and share Q-Matrix questions, focusing on stem numbers 13 – 36, that correspond to assigned texts.
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Order events in informational and literary text chronologically.
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Create an historical narrative is if you were the character in your historical novel.
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Write opinion pieces about people and events explored in your historical fiction novel, citing evidence from the text.
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Write constructed responses citing evidence from the text to critical thinking questions.
Literature Studies
Grade 4
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
ELA Focus Standards:
Key Ideas and Details
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly
and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the
text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific
details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
Craft and Structure
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.5 Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural
elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions,
dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.6 Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated,
including the difference between first- and third-person narrations.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.7 Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral
presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
(RL.4.8 not applicable to literature)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.9 Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of
good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different
cultures.
Literature Studies
Grade 4
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and
poetry, in the grades 4–5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
Phonics and Word Recognition
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.4.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.4.3a Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication
patterns, and morphology (e.g., roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context
and out of context.
Fluency
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.4.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.4.4a Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.4.4b Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and
expression on successive readings.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.4.4c Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding,
rereading as necessary.
Comprehension and Collaboration
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and
teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own
clearly.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.1a Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material;
explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under
discussion.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.1b Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.1c Pose and respond to specific questions to clarify or follow up on information,
and make comments that contribute to the discussion and link to the remarks of others.
Literature Studies
Grade 4
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.1d Review the key ideas expressed and explain their own ideas and
understanding in light of the discussion.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.2 Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and
formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.3 Identify the reasons and evidence a speaker provides to support particular points.
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Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner,
using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an
understandable pace.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.5 Add audio recordings and visual displays to presentations when appropriate to enhance
the development of main ideas or themes.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.6 Differentiate between contexts that call for formal English (e.g., presenting ideas) and
situations where informal discourse is appropriate (e.g., small-group discussion); use formal English when
appropriate to task and situation. (See grade 4 Language standards 1 here for specific expectations.)
Suggested Works: Historical Fiction Grade 4 (Instructional Levels 3+)
(CC)-Common Core/Highly Recommended
A Boy At War, Harry Mazer
Al Capone Does My Shirts, Gennifer Choldenko (CC)
And Then What Happened Paul Revere?, Jean Fritz (CC)
At Ellis Island, Louise Peacock (CC)
Baseball in the Barrios, Henry Horenstein (CC)
Bat 6, Virginia Euwer Wolff (CC)
Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis (CC)
Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan (CC)
George Washington’s Socks, Elvira Woodruff (CC)
Hiroshima, Laurence Yep (CC)
Hurricanes, Seymour Simon (CC)
I Survived Hurricane Katrina, Lauren Tarshis (CC)
Iron Thunder, Avi (CC)
Literature Studies
Grade 4
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
Jackie and Me, Dan Gutman (CC)
My Brother Sam is Dead, James Lincoln Collier & Christopher Collier (CC)
Number the Stars, Lois Lowry (CC)
One Crazy Summer, Rita Williams-Garcia (CC)
Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse (CC)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor (CC)
Shooting the Moon, Frances O’Roark Dowell (CC)
Sing Down the Moon, Scott O’Dell (CC)
Snow Treasure, Marie McSwigan (CC)
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, Jacqueline Kelly (CC)
The Fighting Ground, Avi (CC)
The Great Serum Race, Debbie S. Miller (CC)
The Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare (CC)
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi (CC)
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, Christopher Paul Curtis (CC)
The Whipping Boy, Sid Fleischman (CC)
Titanicat, Marty Crisp (CC)
Trail of Tears (Step Into Reading), Joseph Bruchac (CC)
War Comes to Willy Freeman, James Lincoln Collier & Christopher Collier (CC)
Yankee Doodle, Gary Chalk (CC)
Zia, Scott O’Dell (CC)
Recommended Read Alouds
Can’t You Make Them Behave, King George?, Jean Fritz
If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution, Kay Moore
Poor Richard’s Almanack, Benjamin Franklin
Speeches
“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death,” (March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry)
“Ain’t I A Woman,” (May 29, 1851, Sojourner Truth)
“On A Woman’s Right to Vote,” (1873, Susan B. Anthony)
Literature Studies
Grade 4
Focus Genre: Historical Fiction
Possible Assessments:
Formal AssessmentsMAP w/ Descartes
Special Ed Probes
PSSA
DRA
Summative AssessmentsDiscussion/Group Participation
Self/Teacher Assessment Guided Reading Participation
Weekly Response Journals tied to Independent Reading
Focus Skills
End of Book Tests
Q-Matrix
Constructed Reponses
Story Elements
Charting Organizational Constructs
Vocabulary (Shared/Guided Reading)
Words Their Way Assessments
Making Meaning Assessments
Writing Pieces using Common Core Writing Standards
Oral/Slate Assessment
Teacher Created Rubric (Rubistar)
Culminating Book Projects