Language/Reading Curriculum in the Fourth Grade
Reading Policy
Reading instruction is regulated by the National Core Curriculum, which includes goals and tasks, and the Curriculum Framework, containing the actual educational components. According to these documents, the primary goal of reading instruction in the first four grades is to make reading a basic skill and enable students to comprehend the texts and instructions in school books using silent reading. Students should learn to retrieve information and use it in new tasks. In this stage of their education, students learn to read expressively out loud and form a basis for analytical, critical, and creative reading. In the curriculum, the first two grades are intended to serve developmental purposes, and there are no set goals for the end of the first year. At the end of this introductory phase, students are expected to be able to read a known text out loud without breaks. By the end of Grade 4, students are expected to be able to read a known text out loud after some preparation and read age appropriate texts silently, understand their meaning, and communicate their central ideas.
Summary of National Curriculum
The National Core Curriculum and Curriculum Framework regulate the time and content framework for reaching the aforementioned goals, methodology, and types of activities. Preparing students to read and write are the first tasks in the introductory phase. During this period, it is mandatory to practice speech recognition and comprehension, identifying and naming sounds and noises, role playing, and imitating movements. Students starting school have to familiarize themselves with the terms “sentence,” “word,” “voice, ” and “letter.” They also have to be able to detect the sequence of sounds within a word and develop hand-eye coordination. During this period, students are asked to break words up into syllables and sounds; are given synthesizing exercises to form syllables, words, and sentences; and then break these up again.
To prepare for reading and writing, students clap, draw rhythmic lines, and develop big and fine movements. In the final stage of preparing for learning to read, students learn to use words, reproduce stories, navigate a textbook, recognize similarities and differences between shapes, and get used to the right position required for reading and writing.
In Grade 1, 70 hours are allocated for teaching reading’s system of signs. During this period, students learn terms such as “vowel,” “consonant,” “sentence,” “word,” “long and short sounds,” and “the alphabet.” They also observe the use of capital letters and punctuation. Other lessons include the articulation of vowels, learning small and 32 to 42 big printed letters, combining letters, reading words, learning syntax, and saying sentences out loud and explaining their meaning. Students also practice reading out loud and learn the basics for silent reading through exercises and texts. The goal of this phase is to prevent and correct any severe mistakes in reading technique.
Although there are no set requirements that a student must possess before entering the next level, Grade 2 implicitly assumes that students have reading skills taught in Grade 1. During the phase of literary reading and comprehension development, students must prepare short oral presentations about what they have read. They must be able to name the topic and plot elements, identify characters, evaluate and summarize the storyline, and observe the word usage in the texts they read. Grade 2 considers proper pronunciation, tone, beats, and rhythm to be the most basic elements in developing reading skills. The goal is to achieve the speed of reading out loud that matches the natural speed of students’ speech and to practice silent reading through exercises and increasingly self-sufficient work.
Reading comprehension and evaluating characters’ actions and qualities are among the Grade 3 requirements. Students start to familiarize themselves with the basics of creating outlines and highlighting central ideas. To advance to the next grade, students must also be able to differentiate between poetry and prose, respond to basic questions, and answer composition tasks pertaining to the texts.
Grade 4 is concentrated primarily in the field of developing tools for general understanding. New elements include structure, space, and time; highlighting connections; and condensing and expanding sections. By the end of Grade 4, students are expected to be able to compose their view of a story and their reading experiences.6