READING / LITERACY

FOURTH AND FIFTH GRADES

Many teachers working with gifted and advanced students are required to focus on specific disciplines. The following resources have a major literacy component: literature, research, writing, poetry, or vocabulary development. If you have any questions about any of these resources or have suggestions for additions, please send a MESSAGE. If you are new to this site, you may want to view the 4-minute video tour found HERE.

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RECOMMENDED MATERIALS / CURRICULUM

Junior Great Books Series 4 and 5

Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Series – Grade 4 ~ (free webinar)

Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Series – Grade 5 ~ (free webinar)

The Icon Game: Responding to Literature With Depth & Complexity

A Deep and Complex Look at Biographies and Literary Characters

Philosophy and Children’s Literature – (Center for Philosophy for Children) ~ books to help generate classroom philosophical conversations that encourage questioning and thinking

Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts ~ see blog post

A Greek Root is Worth 1,000 Words ~ (resources for teaching Greek/ Latin roots – blog post)

Building Language – vocabulary curriculum / Latin stems (gr. 3-4 book)

Caesar’s English – many components (Latin, poetry, culture, writing, vocabulary – gr. 4-5)

Shakespeare Can Be Fun series (see bulletin board based on Macbeth)

One-Minute Mysteries – read about how this can be a first-day icebreaker here

The Weighty Word Book and Weighty Words, Too – vocabulary stories

Mindware Deducibles (Level B) – a paper-and-pencil Wordle-like game. Also Level A.

Vocabulary Cartoons

Crypt-O-Words – advanced vocabulary in hidden words, poetry, and codes (see blog post)

Teaching Advanced Analogies (blog post) ~ see also English for Everyone)

Advancing Through Analogies ~ see blog post

Science News for Students ~ nonfiction science articles to incorporate into thematic units

Quotation Quizzlers – famous quotations presented in puzzles

Pun and Games – (see blog post)

Daily Word Puzzles by Mensa for Kids ~ blog post

Word Winks ~ visual verbal puzzles

Unjournaling ~ (see blog post for how the prompts might be modified for units of study)

Socratic Dialogue Guidelines – (see blog post ~ ideas for introducing student-led discussions)

LESSON and UNIT IDEAS 

Lesson with a Twist (paradigm-shifting reading of a text ~ blog post)

Research Project with Depth ~ Eminent People / “Guess Who” Hidden-Picture (w/ tech tutorial)

Lofty Language – (vocabulary enrichment activity- ~ see blog post)

Novel Study One-Pager ~ A Culmination Project (links to many great ideas and templates)

World of Words Virtual Museum (and Teacher Guide with a scavenger hunt ~ see blog post)

Learning Logs and Writing to Learn: Kids’ Brains Benefit! ~ (blog post / free resources)

The Journey of a Question ~ independent research ~ great kickoff for Genius Hour / blog post)

“Connect-the-Dot” Research: Zooming from One Topic to the Next (blog post)

Gnome for the Holidays ~ A Creative Writing Project for Any Season

Chasing Vermeer ~ (TPT – $6.50 / Advanced Book Study / see blog post)

Kid-Created Word Puzzles: FUNdamental Brainwork! (blog post / free resources)

Inflationary Language (lesson – see blog post with featured video clip and free resources)

“O, Captain, My Captain” – (lesson to introduce metaphorical thinking ~ see blog post)

Constrained Writing – creative writing activities with a twist (blog post)

Off Limits Game ~ (TPT -free / like the game of Taboo™ ~ see blog post for a GT variation)

Unique Poetry Forms ~ lipogrammatic, univocalic, fibonacci, pilish, and more (blog post)

An Introduction to Greek Mythology (MENSA for Kids)

The Art of Storytelling (MENSA for Kids)

The Mysterious Benedict Society ~ (TPT – $5.50 / Advanced Book Study / see blog post)

Depth and Complexity with The Giver (TPT – $1.00)

The Phantom Tollbooth ~ (TPT – $6.50 / Advanced Book Study) / see blog post)

A Classic Read-Aloud ~ “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry / see also Holiday / Seasonal

Gifted Teachers’ Suggestions for Literature

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