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Common Core ELA4th GradeSpeaking & Listening

SL.4.2: Paraphrase What You Hear and See

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.2 · Cluster: Comprehension and Collaboration.

Pick Who ParaphrasesAll 43 4th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 4, Speaking & Listening · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What SL.4.2 Means in Plain English

Fourth graders listen to a passage read aloud, or watch a video or study a chart, then say the same information in their own words. A good paraphrase keeps the meaning and every key fact but trades the author’s wording and sentence shape for the student’s.

Third graders (SL.3.2) found the main idea and supporting details of a read-aloud or a video. Fourth grade asks for a restatement of one portion, closer to the source, with a chart’s numbers or labels turned into a sentence. Fifth grade (SL.5.2) summarizes a whole text or presentation instead.

SL.4.2 I Can Statements

  • I can restate part of a read-aloud in my own words.
  • I can turn the numbers or labels on a chart into a sentence.
  • I can keep the meaning without copying the speaker’s exact words.

SL.4.2 Worked Example

One paragraph about the American pika read aloud, one class timeline, and two paraphrases: one copies the words, the other keeps the meaning.

Prompt

The teacher reads aloud one paragraph from a book about the American pika: “The pika does not hibernate. All summer it darts across the rocky slope, snipping grasses and wildflowers and carrying them home in its mouth. It stacks them under the rocks in a haypile, where they dry. When snow buries the mountain, the pika stays in the rocks and eats from its pile until spring.” Then she points to the timeline the class made from the book: July to September marked “gathering,” October to May marked “eating from the haypile.” Paraphrase both for a partner.

Not YetThe pika does not hibernate. All summer it darts across the rocky slope snipping grasses and wildflowers. The timeline has two colors.The first two sentences are the book’s words, recited, which shows memory, not understanding. The timeline gets described instead of paraphrased, so the months and what they mean are lost.
Meets the StandardPikas stay awake all winter, so they spend the summer getting ready. They nibble off grass and flowers, carry the plants back in their mouths and pile them up under rocks to dry, like hay. The timeline shows the plan: three months of collecting, July through September, and then eight months, October to May, living off that pile under the snow.Every fact from the paragraph is still there, in the student’s own words and sentence order: stay awake all winter for does not hibernate, nibble off for snipping. The timeline’s labels become a sentence that shows how short the gathering season is.
Moves to Use
Listen for the meaning of each sentence, not the exact words.Swap the author’s words for your own: snipping becomes nibbling off.Keep every key fact, and add nothing the source didn’t say.Turn a chart’s numbers or labels into a sentence: three months of collecting.Check with a partner: same meaning, different words?

Common Mistakes with SL.4.2

Parroting the reader

A student recites the paragraph almost word for word and calls it a paraphrase

Try this: Close the book after reading aloud, have students restate it to a partner, then reread to check meaning, not wording.

Describing the chart instead of reading it

“The graph has blue bars and a red line.”

Try this: Ask what each label or number means, then have students say the chart’s message in one sentence that uses its numbers.

Adding what they already knew

A paraphrase that slips in “and they’re related to rabbits,” which the speaker never said

Try this: Have partners hold up the source and check each sentence of the paraphrase: if it isn’t in there, it comes out.

Where SL.4.2 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.3.2Find the main idea and supporting details of a read-aloud or of information in a video or chart.
AlongsideRI.4.7Interpret charts, diagrams and time lines and explain what they add to the text around them.W.4.8Take notes from print and digital sources, which only works when the notes are in the student’s own words.
Comes NextSL.5.2Summarize a whole read-aloud, video or chart, not just one portion of it.

Practice SL.4.2

Random Name PickerFree ToolPause a read-aloud after each paragraph and spin for who paraphrases it to the class before you read on.Paraphrase a paragraphWhole class
Spin a Name
Classroom TimerFree ToolGive each partner thirty seconds to paraphrase a chart or a video clip, then thirty seconds for the listener to check it against the source.30-second turnsPartner check
Start a Timer

Quick Check

  1. Which words in the strong paraphrase replace “does not hibernate”?
  2. What does the timeline add, and how does the strong paraphrase put it into words?
  3. Why doesn’t the weak answer count as a paraphrase?

SL.4.2: Other Names

SL.4.2CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.2

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.