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South Carolina Standards

South Carolina 4th Grade ELA Standards

All 35 South Carolina English language arts standards for 4th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in South Carolina Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.

35 standards

Overarching Expectations

6 standards
ELA.4.OE.1
Spend long stretches reading and writing for both schoolwork and personal interest, like a chapter book or a daily journal.
ELA.4.OE.2
Gather, refine, and share knowledge from written, spoken, visual, digital, and interactive texts, like a book, a podcast, or a map website.
ELA.4.OE.3
Read between the lines to figure out what a text means, like working out why a character hides a note.
ELA.4.OE.4
Work together with classmates and listen actively, like restating a partner's idea before adding to it.
ELA.4.OE.5
Point to evidence that explains and backs up an answer, like the sentence that shows a character is brave.
ELA.4.OE.6
Produce careful, polished work that follows an expected format, like a friendly letter with a greeting and closing.

Foundations of Literacy

1 standard
ELA.4.F.4.2
Read many kinds of texts aloud and silently with accuracy, a steady pace, expression, and a natural rise and fall in the voice.

Applications of Reading

14 standards
ELA.4.AOR.1.1
Show how a story's conflict and setting push its characters to change, and how the conflict drives the events of the plot.
ELA.4.AOR.1.2
Figure out and explain what figures of speech, like similes and personification, add to a story's meaning and to how it feels to read.
ELA.4.AOR.2.1
Name a story's stated or unstated theme and explain how key details build that message, like a fable's lesson about honesty.
ELA.4.AOR.2.2
Name the stated or unstated main idea of a nonfiction text and explain how the details build it, like facts in an article about bats.
ELA.4.AOR.3.1
Compare and contrast stories told in first and third person, and explain how each character's outlook shapes a story.
ELA.4.AOR.4.1
Figure out why an author wrote a text, like to answer a question or describe something, and explain how their viewpoint shows that purpose.
ELA.4.AOR.5.1
Compare and contrast how stories, plays, and poems are built, like scenes and stage directions versus stanzas and lines.
ELA.4.AOR.5.2
Explain how headings, captions, and other features add meaning to nonfiction, and spot problem and solution, time order, or comparison structures.
ELA.4.AOR.5.3
Show how an author backs up a claim in nonfiction with reasons and evidence, like facts and expert quotes in an article about recycling.
ELA.4.AOR.6.1
Summarize to understand a text better, giving a story's plot, theme, and key details or an article's main idea and supporting details.
ELA.4.AOR.7.1
Figure out new and multiple-meaning words using context clues and print or online references for meaning, pronunciation, and part of speech.
ELA.4.AOR.8.1
Tell literal from nonliteral phrases like break the ice, explain common similes, metaphors, and idioms, and use synonyms and antonyms to grasp words.
ELA.4.AOR.9.1
Spot and use Greek and Latin roots, base words, prefixes, and suffixes to work out unfamiliar words, like tele in telephone.
ELA.4.AOR.10.1
Explain how pictures, photos, maps, video, or audio add to the meaning of a text, like a map that traces a story's journey.

Research

5 standards
ELA.4.R.1.1
Do a short research project by asking a question about a topic and studying a source the teacher provides.
ELA.4.R.1.2
Decide whether a source the teacher provides can be trusted, like checking who wrote it and when.
ELA.4.R.1.3
Sort out which facts found in research actually relate to the topic and set aside the ones that do not.
ELA.4.R.1.4
Put research notes into groups of related facts, like gathering all the facts about an animal's habitat together.
ELA.4.R.1.5
Name the sources used in research so borrowed words and ideas get credit instead of being passed off as one's own.

Written and Oral Communications

9 standards
ELA.4.C.1.1
Write an opinion piece that states a view, backs it with reasons and facts from reliable sources, links ideas with transitions, and wraps up clearly.
ELA.4.C.2.1
Write informational pieces that introduce a topic, build it with facts, definitions, and quotes from given sources, use paragraphs and exact words, and conclude.
ELA.4.C.3.1
Write real or made-up stories with a setting, narrator or characters, a clear plot, dialogue and sensory details, time transitions, and a fitting ending.
ELA.4.C.4.1
Write one or more paragraphs with correct grammar and varied sentences, using capitals, commas, appositives, adjective order, and fixing fragments and run-ons.
ELA.4.C.5.1
Plan, revise, and edit drafts to make them stronger, mixing in ideas of their own and from classmates, like a detail a partner suggested.
ELA.4.C.6.1
Write in cursive smoothly and neatly enough for others to read, like copying a short paragraph in joined letters.
ELA.4.C.7.1
Give oral reports, tell stories, or recount experiences with good body language, volume, and clear speech, using digital tools with adult help.
ELA.4.C.8.1
Join structured class discussions by speaking at the right moment, listening closely, asking and answering questions, and reflecting on what others said.
ELA.4.C.9.1
Listen to a speaker, then name the point being argued and explain which reasons and evidence back it up.

The official South Carolina documents

The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of South Carolina's standards, not the official wording, which South Carolina Department of Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.