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Texas Standards

4th Grade ELA TEKS

All 63 Texas English language arts standards for 4th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is one click away under each one.

63 standards

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, discussion, and thinking--oral language

4 standards
The student develops oral language through listening, speaking, and discussion.
4.1(A)
Listen with full attention, ask questions that clear up details, and add useful comments, like building on a partner's point in a book talk.
Official wording
listen actively, ask relevant questions to clarify information, and make pertinent comments;
4.1(B)
Follow, repeat and give spoken instructions with several linked steps, like the directions for a fire drill or a math game.
Official wording
follow, restate, and give oral instructions that involve a series of related sequences of action;
4.1(C)
Share an opinion backed by correct facts while making eye contact, speaking at a good pace and volume, saying words clearly and using proper grammar.
Official wording
express an opinion supported by accurate information, employing eye contact, speaking rate, volume, enunciation, and the conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively; and
4.1(D)
Work with a group to make a plan that splits up the jobs, like who researches, who writes and who presents.
Official wording
work collaboratively with others to develop a plan of shared responsibilities.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--beginning reading and writing

3 standards
The student develops word structure knowledge through phonological awareness, print concepts, phonics, and morphology to communicate, decode, and spell.
4.2(A)
Sound out words using spelling rules, including plurals like leaves and mice, syllable types and breaks like di-et, prefixes and suffixes, and read sight words.
Official wording
demonstrate and apply phonetic knowledge by:idecoding words with specific orthographic patterns and rules, including regular and irregular plurals;iidecoding multisyllabic words with closed syllables; open syllables; VCe syllables; vowel teams, including digraphs and diphthongs; r-controlled syllables; and final stable syllables;iiidecoding words using advanced knowledge of syllable division patterns such as VV;ivdecoding words using knowledge of prefixes;vdecoding words using knowledge of suffixes, including how they can change base words such as dropping e, changing y to i, and doubling final consonants; andviidentifying and reading high-frequency words from a research-based list;
4.2(B)
Spell multisyllable words using syllable types and advanced syllable division, homophones like their and there, and words that add prefixes or suffixes.
Official wording
demonstrate and apply spelling knowledge by:ispelling multisyllabic words with closed syllables; open syllables; VCe syllables; vowel teams, including digraphs and diphthongs; r-controlled syllables; and final stable syllables;iispelling homophones;iiispelling multisyllabic words with multiple sound-spelling patterns;ivspelling words using advanced knowledge of syllable division patterns;vspelling words using knowledge of prefixes; andvispelling words using knowledge of suffixes, including how they can change base words such as dropping e, changing y to i, and doubling final consonants; and
4.2(C)
Write in clear, readable cursive to finish class assignments.
Official wording
write legibly in cursive to complete assignments.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--vocabulary

4 standards
The student uses newly acquired vocabulary expressively.
4.3(A)
Use a dictionary or glossary, in print or online, to check a word's meaning, its syllables and how to pronounce it.
Official wording
use print or digital resources to determine meaning, syllabication, and pronunciation;
4.3(B)
Use clues inside and around a sentence to pick the right meaning of a new word or a word with several meanings, like current in a river.
Official wording
use context within and beyond a sentence to determine the relevant meaning of unfamiliar words or multiple-meaning words;
4.3(C)
Work out and use words with prefixes and suffixes like mis-, sub-, -ment and -ity, and roots like auto, graph and meter, such as autograph.
Official wording
determine the meaning of and use words with affixes such as mis-, sub-, -ment, and -ity/ty and roots such as auto, graph, and meter; and
4.3(D)
Recognize, use and explain homophones, words that sound alike but differ in spelling and meaning, like pair and pear.
Official wording
identify, use, and explain the meaning of homophones such as reign/rain.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--fluency

1 standard
The student reads grade-level text with fluency and comprehension.
4.4
Read 4th-grade texts aloud at a natural speed, getting the words right and using expression and phrasing that match the meaning.
Official wording
use appropriate fluency (rate, accuracy, and prosody) when reading grade-level text.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--self-sustained reading

1 standard
The student reads grade-appropriate texts independently.
4.5
Pick books that interest you and keep reading quietly on your own for a long, steady stretch, like a chapter book during silent reading.
Official wording
self-select text and read independently for a sustained period of time.

Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

9 standards
The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts.
4.6(A)
Set a goal for reading before starting any text, assigned or chosen, like finding out how a machine works or following a mystery.
Official wording
establish purpose for reading assigned and self-selected texts;
4.6(B)
Come up with questions at every stage of reading, from previewing to finishing, to dig deeper and find out more, like why a character lied.
Official wording
generate questions about text before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding and gain information;
4.6(C)
Predict what a text will say or what will happen using its features, genre and structure, then confirm or revise the prediction while reading.
Official wording
make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures;
4.6(D)
Form pictures in your head from the words you read to grasp the text more deeply, like seeing each stage of a volcano erupting.
Official wording
create mental images to deepen understanding;
4.6(E)
Relate a text to things you have experienced, to ideas in other books and to issues in the community, like a story about recycling.
Official wording
make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society;
4.6(F)
Read between the lines to work out unstated ideas, backing each one with details from the text, like why a character feels left out.
Official wording
make inferences and use evidence to support understanding;
4.6(G)
Weigh the details in a passage to tell which ones carry the key ideas and which are just extra information.
Official wording
evaluate details read to determine key ideas;
4.6(H)
Combine pieces of information as you read to reach a new, bigger understanding, like seeing how all the clues in a mystery fit together.
Official wording
synthesize information to create new understanding; and
4.6(I)
Check your understanding while reading and, when you get lost, reread, draw on background knowledge, ask questions or jot notes on the text.
Official wording
monitor comprehension and make adjustments such as re-reading, using background knowledge, asking questions, and annotating when understanding breaks down.

Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

7 standards
The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed.
4.7(A)
Tell how a range of sources, such as books you picked, articles and videos, relate to your own experiences.
Official wording
describe personal connections to a variety of sources, including self-selected texts;
4.7(B)
Write about what you read to show understanding, and compare and contrast ideas found in different sources, like two articles about sharks.
Official wording
write responses that demonstrate understanding of texts, including comparing and contrasting ideas across a variety of sources;
4.7(C)
Support your response with evidence from the text, like quoting the sentence that shows how a character felt.
Official wording
use text evidence to support an appropriate response;
4.7(D)
Retell a text, put it in your own words or sum it up briefly, keeping the meaning accurate and the ideas in a sensible order.
Official wording
retell, paraphrase, or summarize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order;
4.7(E)
Engage with sources through notetaking, annotating, quick writing or sketching, like jotting key facts in the margin.
Official wording
interact with sources in meaningful ways such as notetaking, annotating, freewriting, or illustrating;
4.7(F)
Put recently learned vocabulary to work when responding to texts, like calling a setting desolate instead of empty.
Official wording
respond using newly acquired vocabulary as appropriate; and
4.7(G)
Discuss the key ideas in a text that shape its meaning, like the moment a character changes their mind.
Official wording
discuss specific ideas in the text that are important to the meaning.

Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--literary elements

4 standards
The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts.
4.8(A)
Work out simple themes of a story and back them up with details from the text, like the value of never giving up.
Official wording
infer basic themes supported by text evidence;
4.8(B)
Explain how characters act on one another and how they change over the course of a story.
Official wording
explain the interactions of the characters and the changes they undergo;
4.8(C)
Analyze the build-up, turning point and wind-down of a plot, naming the rising action, climax, falling action and resolution.
Official wording
analyze plot elements, including the rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution; and
4.8(D)
Explain how a story's setting, including its time in history and its culture, affects the plot, like a tale set during the Gold Rush.
Official wording
explain the influence of the setting, including historical and cultural settings, on the plot.

Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres

6 standards
The student recognizes and analyzes genre-specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts.
4.9(A)
Identify what makes myths, legends, fables, folktales and tall tales different from one another, like the huge exaggerations in a tall tale.
Official wording
demonstrate knowledge of distinguishing characteristics of well-known children's literature such as folktales, fables, legends, myths, and tall tales;
4.9(B)
Explain how a poet uses simile, metaphor and personification to paint pictures in the reader's mind, like the wind whispered.
Official wording
explain figurative language such as simile, metaphor, and personification that the poet uses to create images;
4.9(C)
Explain how a play is organized into acts and scenes, with character tags before lines and stage directions, like a note telling an actor to exit.
Official wording
explain structure in drama such as character tags, acts, scenes, and stage directions;
4.9(D)
Recognize the central idea and its support in nonfiction, features like diagrams and pronunciation guides, and compare and contrast organization.
Official wording
recognize characteristics and structures of informational text, including:ithe central idea with supporting evidence;iifeatures such as pronunciation guides and diagrams to support understanding; andiiiorganizational patterns such as compare and contrast;
4.9(E)
Find the claim in a persuasive text, explain how the author uses facts to argue for it, and identify the readers the author is aiming at.
Official wording
recognize characteristics and structures of argumentative text by:iidentifying the claim;iiexplaining how the author has used facts for an argument; andiiiidentifying the intended audience or reader; and
4.9(F)
Notice the traits of digital and multimodal texts, such as a web page that combines writing, photos, links and video.
Official wording
recognize characteristics of multimodal and digital texts.

Author's purpose and craft: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

7 standards
The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors' choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author's craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances.
4.10(A)
Explain what an author is trying to do in a text, like inform or entertain, and the message the author wants to send.
Official wording
explain the author's purpose and message within a text;
4.10(B)
Explain how an author's choice of structure, such as cause and effect, serves the purpose of the text.
Official wording
explain how the use of text structure contributes to the author's purpose;
4.10(C)
Analyze why an author includes features like headings, bold print, maps and charts and what each one helps the reader do.
Official wording
analyze the author's use of print and graphic features to achieve specific purposes;
4.10(D)
Describe how imagery, similes, metaphors, alliteration and assonance help an author create effects, like a mood or a vivid picture.
Official wording
describe how the author's use of imagery, literal and figurative language such as simile and metaphor, and sound devices such as alliteration and assonance achieves specific purposes;
4.10(E)
Identify and understand an author's literary devices, including telling first-person narrators, who say I, from third-person narrators.
Official wording
identify and understand the use of literary devices, including first- or third-person point of view;
4.10(F)
Discuss how word choice and sentence style give an author's writing a distinct voice, like playful or serious.
Official wording
discuss how the author's use of language contributes to voice; and
4.10(G)
Identify and explain an anecdote, a short true story an author tells to make a point, like a scientist recalling a childhood discovery.
Official wording
identify and explain the use of anecdote.

Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--writing process

5 standards
The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions.
4.11(A)
Prepare a first draft by choosing the right genre for the topic, goal and audience and generating ideas with lists, quick writes or maps.
Official wording
plan a first draft by selecting a genre for a particular topic, purpose, and audience using a range of strategies such as brainstorming, freewriting, and mapping;
4.11(B)
Shape a draft into a focused piece with an opening, transitions between ideas and a closing, plus an engaging idea with fitting details.
Official wording
develop drafts into a focused, structured, and coherent piece of writing by:iorganizing with purposeful structure, including an introduction, transitions, and a conclusion; andiideveloping an engaging idea with relevant details;
4.11(C)
Improve a draft's sentences and words by inserting, removing, joining and reordering ideas until the writing is clear and connected.
Official wording
revise drafts to improve sentence structure and word choice by adding, deleting, combining, and rearranging ideas for coherence and clarity;
4.11(D)
Edit for run-ons and fragments, irregular past tense verbs, reflexive pronouns, capitals for titles and history, quotation marks in dialogue and spelling.
Official wording
edit drafts using standard English conventions, including:icomplete simple and compound sentences with subject-verb agreement and avoidance of splices, run-ons, and fragments;iipast tense of irregular verbs;iiisingular, plural, common, and proper nouns;ivadjectives, including their comparative and superlative forms;vadverbs that convey frequency and adverbs that convey degree;viprepositions and prepositional phrases;viipronouns, including reflexive;viiicoordinating conjunctions to form compound subjects, predicates, and sentences;ixcapitalization of historical periods, events, and documents; titles of books; stories and essays; and languages, races, and nationalities;xpunctuation marks, including apostrophes in possessives, commas in compound sentences, and quotation marks in dialogue; andxicorrect spelling of words with grade-appropriate orthographic patterns and rules and high-frequency words; and
4.11(E)
Publish polished writing for an audience that fits it, like a class anthology, a school newsletter or a letter to a local leader.
Official wording
publish written work for appropriate audiences.

Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres

4 standards
The student uses genre characteristics and craft to compose multiple texts that are meaningful.
4.12(A)
Write literary pieces like personal narratives and poems, using the traits of each genre and the writer's craft, like vivid detail and line breaks.
Official wording
compose literary texts such as personal narratives and poetry using genre characteristics and craft;
4.12(B)
Write brief reports that explain a topic around one clear central idea, using features of informational writing like headings and facts.
Official wording
compose informational texts, including brief compositions that convey information about a topic, using a clear central idea and genre characteristics and craft;
4.12(C)
Write opinion essays and other arguments that take a clear stand and support it with reasons, using persuasive writing techniques.
Official wording
compose argumentative texts, including opinion essays, using genre characteristics and craft; and
4.12(D)
Write a letter or email asking for information, like requesting a brochure from a museum or facts from a park ranger.
Official wording
compose correspondence that requests information.

Inquiry and research: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

8 standards
The student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes.
4.13(A)
Write questions about a topic and refine them into clearer ones to guide short or extended research projects.
Official wording
generate and clarify questions on a topic for formal and informal inquiry;
4.13(B)
Create and stick to a plan for research with help from a teacher or other adult, like a checklist of questions and sources.
Official wording
develop and follow a research plan with adult assistance;
4.13(C)
Locate and gather information that fits the research question from many kinds of sources, like encyclopedias, videos and experts.
Official wording
identify and gather relevant information from a variety of sources;
4.13(D)
Identify primary sources, made by people who were there, and secondary sources, written later by others, like a letter versus an encyclopedia.
Official wording
identify primary and secondary sources;
4.13(E)
Show understanding of your research findings, such as by sorting notes into categories or explaining key facts to a partner.
Official wording
demonstrate understanding of information gathered;
4.13(F)
Recognize that rewording ideas in your own words and giving credit is different from copying someone else's work, which is plagiarism.
Official wording
recognize the difference between paraphrasing and plagiarism when using source materials;
4.13(G)
Make a bibliography that lists each source used, like the title, author and website for a report.
Official wording
develop a bibliography; and
4.13(H)
Present research findings in the format that suits them best, such as a report, an oral presentation or a slideshow.
Official wording
use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results.

The official Texas documents

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, 19 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 110, adopted by the Texas State Board of Education.

The plain-English lines are EMStudio's own explanations, shown beside the official wording. They are not part of the standards.