Reading Topics

Monday, August 29, 2011

Fourth Grade Reading and Language Arts Academic Vocabulary

Fourth Grade Reading and Language Arts Academic Vocabulary 

acronym
A word that is made by putting together parts of other words.
The word "radar" is an acronym that was built from "radio detecting and ranging"
( "ra  + d  +  a  +  r" ).

adjective
A word or phrase that  modifies (describes) a noun .
The word "brilliant" is an adjective in the sentence "Yatzari is a brilliant student".  "Brilliant" describes the noun "student".

adverb
A word that Modifies (describes) a verb.
"Suddenly" is an adverb in the sentence "Anthony suddenly remembered his homework assignment".  "Suddenly" describes the verb "remembered."

almanac
A book that gives useful information about a particular subject;  sometimes published  in a month-by-month order.
For example, a gardening almanac might tell when to plant different flowers and vegetables.

analogy
A phrase or sentence that shows how different things may be alike in some ways.
"A human heart is like a pump" is an analogy.  The heart and pump are alike in one way:  they each pump something.

anthology
A book that is a collection of different writers' works (essays, stories,  poems, etc.).
"Mr. Taylor had so many interesting stories to tell.  One day he was going to publish his collection as 'An Artist's Anthology.' "

antonym
A word that has an opposite meaning.
An antonym of  "hot"  is  "cold";  an antonym of  "fast"  is  "slow".

aphorism
A short, clear, wise statement that tells an opinion or a saying that many people believe is true.
An aphorism about a famous musician is the sentence "Irving Berlin has no place in American music - he IS American music."
 
audience (as listeners and readers)
A group of people that gather to see or hear a performance  -  when the performance is an "out-loud" reading, the performers are the readers and the audience are the listeners.
For example:  "Mr. Taylor and Maria were taking turns reading 'The Chamber of Secrets' to the class.  The audience was very quiet as the readers reached a scary part of the story."

author's purpose
The reason for writing  - to inform, to question, to entertain.
"Fernando worked hard on his first prompt.  His author's purpose was to entertain his readers with his funny story."

autobiography
The story of someone's life, written by that person.
"Mr. Taylor had given the students their first assignment of the year:  a one-page autobiography."

bibliography
A list of the books and materials consulted;  appearing at the end of the text. 
"Leslie was sure to include her bibliography at the end of her science report."

brochure
A booklet or pamphlet that describes a subject; often an advertisement.
"Mrs. Kuhn carefully read the brochure that announced the opening of the  University Science Fair."

caption
A short description or title of an illustration in a text.
"Gloria had written the caption  ' What I Want to be When I Grow Up ' under her drawing of a jet pilot ."

category
A set of things that are grouped together because they have something in common.
"Eric had lots of homework to do.  Which category would he start with?  Reading, Writing, Science, Math ...? "

cause/effect characteristics
Cause is the action that makes something happen;  Effect is the something that happens.
"Sarah knocked over a glass of water onto her homework pages.  Knocking over the glass was the cause of soaking her homework.  Wet homework was the effect  of knocking over the glass."
conclusion
The part that brings something to an end  OR
a decision that is made after looking at all the facts.
"Andrew thought the conclusion of ‘Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets‘ was really exciting!"
"After much thought, Anthony came to the conclusion that  the answer to  the long division problem  was '286'  "
 
conjunction
A connecting word that links sentences or words ("and",  "or",  "if",  "but" ...).
"David and Jose wanted to talk to Gage or Sam before school, but the bus was late."
Conjunctions in this sentence were "and",  "or",  and "but".

contest
An organized test among entrants to find out which is best at doing something.
"On Tuesday there was a contest between the two fourth grades to see which class was best at playing cricket."

conversation
A  talk with someone.
"Mrs. Kuhn would have a conversation with the "Wheels in Motion" people to learn whether their contest would come to Rio Vista this year."

diary
A book of a person's daily happenings and thoughts.
"George Washington's diary was full of interesting things that happened before the United States became a nation."

double negatives
 Using two negative forms together in a phrase or sentence;  not good English.

"I won't never use double negatives when I write a story!"

drama
Works written for performance on stage, television, or radio;  usually serious subjects and manner of performance.  Sometimes anything that is not a comedy is called a drama.
The book “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” was dramatized into a movie.

drawing conclusions
Reaching a conclusion, or a final decision, about something. 
"After Mr. Taylor sees the results of the test, he will be drawing conclusions on  on the next homework assignment."


encyclopedia
A reference book or set of books giving much information on all areas or specialized areas of knowledge.
"Jade, did you find 'Mount St. Helens' in the encyclopedia?"

fable
A make-believe short story that teaches a moral, especially with animals as characters.
 In the fable “The Tales of Peter Rabbit“, a young rabbit has adventures and learns about the world.

genre
A category of artistic works, based on form, style or subject matter.
For example, a detective novel is a genre of fiction.


noun
A word (or group of words) that names a person, place, or thing.
The sentence "Ellie quickly gathered up her books to fill her backpack ,"
contains three nouns.

making inferences
Reaching a conclusion or decision from facts and reasoning.
"Hector and Alexis were making inferences on the cost of their field trip by adding up their lunch expenses."

 
outline
A rough plan of a written work or speech; a list of main points or features to be covered.
"Mr. Taylor's drew an outline of his chapter on the smart board."

possessive nouns
Persons, places, or things that show ownership.
In the sentence "Sally’s car is with yellow stripes,"  the possessive noun is  "Sally's" .

preposition
A relation or function word  that connects a noun or pronoun to another part of a sentence ( "in", "by", "for", to", etc.).
In the sentence "Steven hit the ball and ran for first base,"  the word "for" is a preposition that joins "first base" to the rest of the sentence.

pronoun
A word that may be substituted for a noun ("I", "you", "them", "who", "ours", "he", "she", "anybody", etc.).
"Adriana has been working hard on long division, and it has been worth the effort because she scored high on her math test!"  The three pronouns in this sentence are "it",  "she",  and "her".

proofread
To check written work for errors and mark the changes to be made.
"Pedro just needed to proofread and correct his 'Read and Response' chapter, and he would be finished."

sentence fragment
Words that do not form a complete sentence of subject and verb.
"Mr. Taylor for the first time." is a sentence fragment because it has no verb.

simple predicate
The verb or action word of a sentence or phrase, without words that modify the verb.
"Ran" is the simple predicate of the sentence "Monique expertly ran the cotton candy booth for the Rio Vista's Fantasy Fair."

simile
A figure of speech that compares two different things (often with "as" or "like") .
"Red as a beet" is a simile in the sentence "Tim's face was red as a beet."

simple subject
The subject of the verb of a sentence, without words that modify the subject.
In the sentence "The shiny spotted horse frisked around the pasture," the word "horse" is the simple subject.

synonym
A word that means the same, or almost the same, as another word.
The word "scholar"  is a synonym for "student".

tall tale
A story with characters or happenings that are exaggerated or made bigger than real life.
"Pecos Bill" is a tall tale of a cowboy who could  do unbelievable  things, like rope a tornado with his lariat.


title page (parts of)
A title page is a page at the beginning of a book that gives the book’s title, the author, and the publisher.
The title, “HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE”; the author, “J.K. ROWLING”; and the publisher, “Arthur A. Levine Books” all appear on the title page for the first Harry Potter book.

 verb tense
The form of a verb that shows not only the action, but when the action happens  (in the past, present, or future).
In the sentence “ Mr. Taylor’s class will leave for lunch in 15 minutes”, the verb tense is future;  In the sentence “The class is leaving now”, the verb tense is present;  In the sentence “The class left,  the verb tense is past.

Online Tier 3 ELA Vocabulary Test 4th Grade
Reading Vocabulary Test 4th
Name:
                 

Instructions: Choose the best answer for each question.
1.                  a published collection of interesting and useful facts about many different subjects.
 caption
 simile
 bibliography
 almanac
2.                  a particular type, sort, or category.
 almanac
 acronym
 genre
 simile
3.                  a heading, title, or legend for printed matter such as a magazine article, newspaper photo, or graph.
 anthology
 caption
 genre
 antonym
4.                  a figure of speech in which two dissimilar things are likened, often linked by "like" or "as," as in "a cake light as a feather". (Cf. metaphor.)
 analogy
 simile
 caption
 antonym
5.                  similarity or correspondence between two otherwise dissimilar things.
 conjunction
 antonym
 acronym
 analogy
6.                  a terse, sometimes witty statement of a general truth or observation; adage.
 aphorism
 antonym
 analogy
 acronym
7.                  in grammar, a word such as "in," "to," or "about" that is used with a noun or noun equivalent to create a phrase that modifies a noun, verb, or adjective.
 caption
 preposition
 antonym
 autobiography
8.                  in grammar, a word such as "and," "while," or "because" that connects words, phrases, clauses, or sentences.
 acronym
 conjunction
 autobiography
 aphorism
9.                  the events of a person's life written or told by that person.
 preposition
 anthology
 caption
 autobiography
10.              a collection of written works, often of a particular type, by one or several authors.
 simile
 anthology
 adjective
 autobiography
11.              a word having a meaning opposite to that of another word.
 antonym
 adjective
 bibliography
 almanac
12.              a type of abbreviation used as a word, formed by combining the initial letters (or initial parts) of words in a series of words, such as "scuba" for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus."
 bibliography
 conjunction
 acronym
 caption
13.              in grammar, a word that modifies a noun or noun equivalent.
 adjective
 antonym
 autobiography
 acronym
14.              a list of writings about a certain subject.
 autobiography
 simile
 caption
 bibliography



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