Georgia Milestones Grade 4 ELA cheat sheet

Reading literature and informational text: state the main idea or theme as a complete sentence, then cite at least one detail from the passage that supports it.

Text structure signal words: cause/effect (because, as a result, since), compare/contrast (both, unlike, whereas), sequence (first, then, finally), problem/solution (the trouble is, so they decided).

Summarizing a fiction passage: name the characters, setting, conflict, and resolution in order; a summary leaves out minor details and personal opinions.

Context clues for unknown words: definition clue (often set off by commas or dashes), example clue (such as, for example), contrast clue (but, however, instead), and inference clue (surrounding sentences).

Figurative language to identify in Grade 4 texts: simile (comparison using like or as), metaphor (direct comparison without like/as), personification (human trait given to a nonhuman thing), idiom (nonliteral common phrase).

Point of view: first person uses I, me, my, we; third person uses he, she, they, or character names. A narrator who is a character speaks in first person.

Author's purpose is usually to inform, persuade, or entertain; a passage with facts, dates, and headings most often informs, while a passage urging an action most often persuades.

Comparing two texts on the same topic: identify what both passages state, then name one detail only the first text gives and one detail only the second text gives.

Informational text features and their jobs: heading (groups related information), caption (explains a picture), bold print (signals an important term), glossary (defines words), index (gives page numbers for topics), diagram (labels parts).

Writing an opinion piece: state a clear claim, give at least two reasons, support each reason with evidence or an example, then close with a restatement of the claim.

Writing an informative piece: introduce the topic, group related facts into paragraphs, use linking words (also, another, for example, in addition), and end with a concluding statement.

Writing a narrative: establish a situation and characters, use dialogue and description, order events with transition words, and resolve the problem at the end.

Revising versus editing: revising changes ideas, word choice, sentence order, or details; editing fixes capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and grammar.

Complete sentence test: a sentence needs a subject (who or what) and a predicate (what happens), and it must express a complete thought. A fragment lacks one of these.

Capitalization rules tested at Grade 4: proper nouns and adjectives (Georgia, Monday, Spanish), titles before names (Dr., Ms.), the first word of a sentence, and the pronoun I.

Commas in a series separate three or more items (bread, milk, and eggs); commas also follow introductory words (After lunch, we walked) and set off a speaker's exact words in dialogue.

Subject-verb agreement: a singular subject takes a singular verb (The dog runs); a plural subject takes a plural verb (The dogs run). Compound subjects joined by and take a plural verb.

Verb tense consistency: do not shift from past to present inside one passage unless the time frame actually changes; irregular past forms include went, saw, ate, wrote, took, brought.

Pronoun-antecedent agreement: a pronoun must match its noun in number and gender (Maria lost her book; the students raised their hands).

Relative pronouns who, whom, whose, which, that: use who for people, which for things, and that for either, depending on the sentence's need for essential information.

Ordering adjectives: opinion before size before age before color before material (a lovely small old blue wooden box); do not use more than about three in a row in Grade 4 writing.

Homophones to distinguish by meaning: their/there/they're, its/it's, to/too/two, your/you're, then/than, affect/effect.

Reference sources: dictionary (spelling, pronunciation, meaning), thesaurus (synonyms and antonyms), atlas (maps), almanac (facts and statistics by year), encyclopedia (broad topic overview).

Prefixes and suffixes change meaning: un- and dis- mean not, re- means again, pre- means before, -less means without, -ful means full of, -able means capable of being.