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.
Common Core State Standards, Grade 4, Speaking & Listening · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What SL.4.4 Means in Plain English
Fourth graders give a report, tell a story or recount something that happened in an order a listener can follow: an opening that sets the scene, events or facts in sequence, and an ending. Facts and vivid details back each main idea, spoken clearly at a steady pace.
Third graders (SL.3.4) reported or recounted with facts and descriptive details at an understandable pace. Fourth grade raises the bar on organization: every detail has to support a main idea or theme. Fifth grade (SL.5.4) asks for a logical sequence of ideas and adds presenting an opinion.
SL.4.4 I Can Statements
I can recount an experience in order, from beginning to end.
I can back each main idea with facts and vivid details.
I can speak clearly at a pace my listeners can follow.
SL.4.4 Worked Example
Two recounts of the same class trip to a sheep farm on shearing day, and only one is built for a listener.
Prompt
Recount our class trip to the sheep farm on shearing day for the morning announcements. You have one minute.
Not YetSo we went to the farm and there was a dog and the sheep were loud and um the man cut off the wool and it came off all in one piece and then we had lunch and also there was a goat, it was so funny.Everything arrives in one breath, joined by and, in the order it was remembered. The goat and lunch crowd out the facts about shearing, and the most interesting detail, the wool coming off in one piece, flies past.
Meets the StandardLast Thursday, our class visited a sheep farm on shearing day. (pause) First, the farmer’s dog herded the sheep into a pen, a few at a time. (pause) Then the shearer tipped a sheep onto its rump and clipped off its wool in about three minutes. The whole fleece came off in one piece, like a fluffy rug, and it smelled waxy from lanolin, the natural grease in wool. (pause) Last, we learned the fleece goes to a mill to be washed and spun into yarn. So the sweater you’re wearing might have started out on a sheep just like that one.Time words (first, then, last) carry the listener through the morning in order. Facts about shearing support the main idea, the rug and the waxy smell let the class picture it, and the pauses give them time to keep up. The last line ties the trip back to the audience.
Moves to Use
Open with when, where and what, in one sentence.Tell events in order, with time words like first, then and last.Back each main idea with a fact and one detail listeners can picture.Cut details that don’t support the main idea, like the goat.Pause between parts and speak slowly enough for the back row.
Common Mistakes with SL.4.4
The and-then chain
One sentence that runs for a whole minute, every event glued on with and then
Try this: Have students plan on three sticky notes, beginning, middle and end, and pause out loud between notes when they speak.
Every detail, equal weight
The bus ride, lunch and a goat get as much time as the shearing the trip was for
Try this: Ask students to name the main idea first, then cross out any planned detail that does not help a listener understand it.
Racing the clock
A student who knows the report well rushes through it, and listeners catch only the last line
Try this: Record a practice run, play it back, and have the speaker mark where they need to slow down or pause.
Classroom TimerFree ToolGive each speaker one minute with a ten-second warning, so recounts get planned to fit instead of trailing off.1-minute recount10-second warning