Fourth Grade Units of Study
Titles to Support Curricular Calendar
*Some title may be used to support more than one unit of study
September Unit 1: Building a Reading Life Benchmark P/Q
This purpose of this Unit of Study is to motivate and engage students
as readers, support them in selecting “just-right” books and establish
routines and procedures for reader’s workshop. You will also want
to pull favorite titles in this range from your Leveled Book Room.
Lucy Calkins shares examples from Stone Fox in the introduction to
this unit.
Level Title
O Adventures According to Humphrey – Betty Birney
P Adventures of Captain Underpants – Dav Pilkey
N Amber Brown is Not a Crayon – Paula Danzinger
R American Chillers #1 – Jonathan Rand
R – American Chillers #2 – Jonathan Rand
R American Chillers #7 – Jonathan Rand
N Babymouse #10 Musical – Jennifer Holm
N Babymouse #11 Dragonslayer – Jennifer Holm
N Babymouse #12 Burns Rubber – Jennifer Holm
P Beast From the East – R.L. Stine
S/T Beast Quest #1 – Adam Blade
S/T Beast Quest #2 – Adam Blade
S/T Beast Quest #3 – Adam Blade
R Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Attacking… Dav Pilkey
P Danger on Midnight River – Gary Paulsen
R Danger on Panther Peak – Bill Wallace
N Fanny’s Dream – Caralyn Buhner
Q Free Climb – Jake Maddox
Q Go Kart Rush – Jake Maddox
N Goldilocks Returns – Lisa Capbell Ernst
T Goosebumps Horrorland #1 R.L. Stine
T Goosebumps Horrorland #2 R.L. Stine
T Goosebumps Horrorland #3 R.L. Stine
Q Island #1 Shipwreck – Gordon Korman
Q Island #1 Survival – Gordon Korman
Q Island #1 Escape – Gordon Korman
Q Kart Crash – Jake Maddox
Q Just a Dream - Chris Van Allsburg
P Legend of Spud Murphy – Eoin Colfer
Q Life in the Crusher -
Q Paintball Blast – Jake Maddox
Q Punished – David Lubar
S Secrets of the Dripping Fang #1 – Dan Greenburg
S Secrets of the Dripping Fang #2 – Dan Greenburg
Q Speedway Switch – Jake Maddox
Q – Stranded –Ben Mikaelsen
Q Surprises According to Humphrey – Betty Birney
R Top Secret – John Gardiner
Q Trouble According to Humphrey
Q True Story of the Three Little Pigs – Jon Scieszka
Q Vet Volunters #1 – Laurie Halse Anderson
L Wretched Stone – Chris Van Allsburg
M Zack Files #26 Me and My Mummy – Dan Greenburg
M Zack Files #27 My Teacher Ate My Homework – Dan Greenburg
M Zack Files #27 Tell a Lie and Your Butt Will Grow – Dan Greenburg
October/Early November Unit 2: Following Characters into
Meaning Benchmark P/Q/R
During this Unit of Study students will be exploring characters in
depth examining character traits, motivations, and reactions.
Lucy Calkins uses Tiger Rising as a mentor text for this unit, but any
novel that has complex characters will work.
Again you will want to also include favorites from your classroom
library and Leveled Book Room. Most titles from Unit of Study #1
will work with this Unit too.
Level Title
R 39 Clues #1 Maze of Bones – Gordon Korman
R Castle in the Attic – Elizabeth Winthrop
R Clarice Bean Spell Trouble – Lauren Child
S Dollhouse Murders – Betty Ren Wright
R Every Living Thing – Cynthia Rylant
R Fig Pudding – Ralph Fletcher
NA Guardians of Gahoole #1 – Kathryn Lasky
NA Guardians of Gahoole #2 – Kathryn Lasky
R Hank Zipzer: Holy Enchilada – Henry Winkler
R Hank Zipzer: Help Somebody Get Me Out of Fourth Grade– Henry
Winkler
S Hank Zipzer: Summer School … – Henry Winkler
R Landry News – Andrew Clements
R Lunch Money – Andrew Clements
R On the Run #1 Chasing the Falconers – Gordon Korman
R On the Run #2 Fugitive Factor – Gordon Korman
R On the Run #3 Now You See Them … – Gordon Korman
R On the Run #4 Stowaway Solution – Gordon Korman
R On the Run #5 Public Emnemies – Gordon Korman
R On the Run #6 Hunting the Hunter – Gordon Korman
R Our Only May Amelia – Jennifer Holm
R Pete the Cat – Trapped – Peg Kehret
R Report Card – Andrew Clements
R Rules – Cynthia Lord
R School Story – Andrew Clements
R Shredderman #1 Secret Identity – Wendelin Van Draanen
R Spider Boy – Ralph Fletcher
R Spiderwick Chronicles – Tony Diterlizzi
L Someday a Tree – Eve Bunting
Late November/December Unit 3: Nonfiction Reading: Using Text
Structures to Comprehend Expository, Narrative and Hybrid
Nonfiction Benchmarks Q/R
In this Unit of Study your students will switch gears to nonfiction
reading. You will want to begin the unit with expository nonfiction
texts that have medium to heavy text support (diagrams, captions,
headings, bolded vocabulary, table of contents, indexes, etc.) You
will move to books that are narrative nonfiction such as biographies
and true adventures. Hybrid texts include a mix of narrative and
expository information.
Often times students read nonfiction at a lower level than they read
fiction.
The list of books for this Unit of Study is longer in order to expand
nonfiction classroom libraries.
Level Title
P A to Z Kenya – Justine Fontes
Q All About Manatees – Jim Arnosky
Q All About Sharks – Jim Arnosky
Q All About Turtles – Jim Arnosky
R Dog Finds Lost Dolphins – George Shea
N Animal Superstars (NGK) - Aline Newman
N Ape Escape and More True Stories of Animals Misbehaving – Aline
Alexander
S Apollo 13 Mission Graphic – Donald Lemke
L Are You though Enough – Body Systems – Paul Mason
R Armadillo – Steve Potts
NA Ask Dr. K. Fisher About the Earth – Claire Llewellyn
R Bat Spit, Maggots, and Other Amazing Medical Wonders – Kristi
Lew
P Bermuda Triangle – Andrew Donkin
Q Big Cats – Seymour Simon
L Bravest Dog Ever: Balto – Natalie Standiford
R Can It Rain Cats and Dogs? – Melvin Berger
Q Caroline Quarlls and the Underground Railroad NA Clothing Creations –
P Colony of Ants and other Insect Groups –
S Come Back Salmon – Molly Cone
NA Communication Inventions –
P Crows: Strange and Wonderful – Laurence Pringle
R Curly Lambeau: Building the Green Bay Packers –
P Dolphin; Prince of the Waves –
R Don’t Know Much About the Solar System – Kenneth Davis
T Earthquakes – Seymour Simon
P Earth’s Shiftng Surface –
Q Exploring Space –
R Farts, Vomit and Other Functions That Help Your Body NA Frogs and Toads - Bobbie Kalman
S Gaylord Nelson – Champion for Our Earth
NA Global Warming – Seymour Simon
P Gorillas – Seymour Simon
R Gut Bugs, Dust Mites and Other… S Harley and the Davidsons: Motorcycle Legends – Pete Barnes
L Has a Cow Saved Your Life – Deborah Underwood
N Henry Aaron’s Dream – Matt Tavares
S Hindenburg Disaster – Matt Doeden
P Horse Heroes – Kate Petty
P Ice Cream – Full Scoop – Gail Gibbons
L Jackie Robinson Breaking the Color Barrier – Sean Price
R Knucklehead – Jon Scieszka
NA Lives of the Athletes – Kathleen Krull
S Lucius Fairchild: Civil War Hero –
P Making Cities Green –
O Mammal Menu –
R Mars – Steven Kipp
Moon - Seymour Simon
P Moon Book Gail Gibbons
Q Mountain Wolf Woman: A Ho-Chunk Girlhood – Dianne Holliday
R Now and Ben – Gene Baretta
R Ocean in Motion –
R Onion Juice, Poop and Other Surprising Sources… Mark Weakland
Q Outside and Inside Snakes – Sandra Markle
R Pets Parents Hate – Trevor Day
M Picture Book of Amelia Earhart – David Adler
N Picture Book of Jesse Owen – David Adler
M – Pirate
M Sea Mysteries –
P Shark Attack –
Q Snake Scientist – Sy Montgomery
Q Survival: Staying Alive in the Wild –
L Tenement Stories – Sean Price
R Tents, Tigers, and the Ringling Brothers –
N Top Secret Adventure of John Darragh – Peter Roop
NA Transportation Inventions –
P Traveling Green –
P Using Earth’s Underground… R What is A Biome – Bobbie Kalman
Q What is a Life Cycle by Bobbie Kalman
O Who Was Harriet Tubman? – Yona McDonough
O Who Was Harry Houdini? – T. Sutherland
Q Who Was Helen Keller? – Garett Thompson
P Wilma Unlimited – Kathleen Krull
L Working for Chang: Struggle for Women’s Rights – Leno Donlan
P Worst Earthquakes of All Time P Worst Hurricanes of All Time P Worst Tornadoes of All Time –
P Worst Volcanic Eruptions of All Time –
Late December/January Unit 5: Historical Fiction: Tackling Complex
Texts Benchmarks Q/R
As in any unit of study you will want to make sure your students are
reading “just right’ books. You may want to pull in some of the
Magic Treehouse Series and American Girl, or any other historical
fiction you have available. This unit could also lead to some
integration of nonfiction is students are interested in a specific time
period or subject.
Lucy Calkins recommends Where the Mountain Meets the Sea by
Grace Lin as a mentor text for keeping track of unfolding time lines
or plots. A few picture books recommended are: Rose Blanche,
Terrible Things, and The Butterfly.
Level Title
O And the Turtle Still Watched – Sheila MacGill-Callahan
O And Then What Happened Paul Revere – Jean Fritz
NA At Ellis Island – Louise Peacock
R Attack on Pearl Harbor – Jane Sutcliffe
N Aunt Clara Brown – Linda Lowery
O Baseball Saved Us – Ken Mochizuki
R Bracelet – Yoshiko Uchida
NA Butterfly – Patricia Polacco
R Can’t You Make Them Behave King George- Jean Fritz
P Children of the Fire – Harriette Robinet
N Coolies – Yin
L Danger at Sand cave – Candice Ransom
L Daring Escape of Ellen Craft – Cathy Moore
U Dear Benjamin Banneker – Andrea Pinkney
L Dirty Thirties – Sean Proce
S Donner Party – Scott Welvaert
M Dust for Dinner – Ann Turner
P Fire At the Triangle Factory - Holly Littlefield
N Freedom on the Menu – Carole Boston Weatherford
R From Slave Ship to Freedom Road – Julius Lester
S Great Chicago Fire – Kay Olson
R I Survived: Attacks of September 1, 2001 – Lauren Tarshis
S I Survived: Battle of Gettysburg 1863 – Lauren Tarshis
S I Survived: Hurricane Katrina 2005 – Lauren Tarshis
R I Survived: The Bombing of Pearl Harbor 1941 – Lauren Tarshis
R I Survived: The San Francisco Earthquake 1906 – Lauren Tarshis
R I Survived: The Shark Attacks of 1915 – Lauren Tarshis
R I Survived: The Sinking of the Titanic 1912 – Lauren Tarshis
Q If You Lived 100 Years Ago – Ann McGovern
Q If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War – Kay Moore
Q If You Lived at the Time of the Great San Francisco Earthquake
P If you Lived in the Williamsburg in Colonial Days – Barbara Brenner
P If You Lived When There Was Slavery In America – Anne Kamma
Q If You Lived With the Cherokee – Peter and Connie Roop
Q If You Lived With the Hopi – Anne Kamma
Q If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island – Ellen Levine
Q Immigrant Kids – Russell Freedman
S Letters From Rifka – Karen Hesse
N Lotus Seed – Sherry Garland
Q Mary On Horseback – Rosemary Wells
T Misadventures of Maude March – Audrey Coulombis
NA Molly Bannaky – Alice McGill
S My Name is Sally Little Song – Brenda Woods
M Night the Chimneys Fell – Marty Figley
S Orphan of Ellis Island – Elvira Woodruff
L Rescue on the Outer Banks – Candice Ransom
P Riding Freedom – Pam Munoz Ryan
NA Rose Blanche – Robert Innocent
P San Collier and the Founding of Jamestown – Candice Ransome
P Scraps if Time 1928 Song For Harlem – Patricia McKissack
P Scraps if Time 1906 Abby Takes A Stand – Patricia McKissack
S Shackleton and the Lost Antarctic Expedition – B.A. Hoena
N Shadow of the Wolf – Gloria Whelan
L Smokestacks and Spinning Jennys – Sean Price
R Snow Treasure – Marie McSwigan
Na Terrible Things – Eve Bunting
P Titanic: Disaster That Spooked the World – Mark Dubowski
Q Train to Somewhere – Eve Bunting
T Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire - Jessica Gunderson
N Wall – Eve Bunting
NA What Was That Battle of Gettysburg – Jim O’Connor
NA What Was The Boston Tea Party? Kathleen Krull
P Your Life as a Cabin Attendant on the Titanic – Jessica Gunderson
P Your Life as a Cabin Boy on a Pirate Ship – Jessica Gunderson
February/ March Unit 6: Interpretation Text Sets Benchmark R/S
This unit of study will lead students to do more analytical thinking as
they read and/or reread texts. Some of the titles Lucy refers to in the
unit overview are classics such as: Because of Winn-Dixie, Tiger Rising,
Hatchet, My Side of the Mountain, and the Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe, Little House on the Prairie, Dragon Slayer Academy, Fly
Away Home, Those Shoes ,Giving Tree, and Fly Away Home . .
You may want to pull books from previous units as well as novels from
your Leveled Book Room. Some titles from Unit 9 will also be
appropriate for this unit of study.
A few additional titles are included below:
Level Title
S Each Little Bird That Sings – Deborah Wiles
R Edge Chronicles #1 - Paul Stewart
R Edge Chronicles #2 - Paul Stewart
R Edge Chronicles #3 - Paul Stewart
NA Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School – Candace
Fleming
S Flying Solo – Ralph Fletcher
T Forgotten Door –
S Gold Cadillac –
S Hey World Here I Am – Jean Little
R Homework Machine –Dan Gutman
R Jacket – Andrew Clements
U Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – Kate DiCamillo
S- Penderwicks – Jeanne Birdsall
S Project Mulberry – Linda Sue Park
S Taste of Blackberries
T Where the Mountain Meets the Sea – Grace Lin
March/April Unit 7: Test Preparation Benchmarks R/S
In this Unit of Study you will want to collect available practice tests
and have the students read across genres. Articles from Highlights,
Cricket, Cobblestone, Storyworks, and Sports Illustrated for Kids.
You will want to have your students read across genres, realistic
fiction, historical fiction folktales, reports, information pieces, howto pieces, and poetry. You will want to keep your students reading,
reading, reading.
May Unit 8: Informational Reading; Reading, Research, and Writing
in the Content Areas
In this Unit of Study is written in two tiers the first is a whole class
study and the second is subtopics. Lucy Calkins used government as
an exemplar for this unit.
You will also want to include primary sources, photographs, maps,
audio and video clips, and internet resources.
Level Title
O State Governor – Mary Firestone
P Stated Judicial Branch – Mary Firestone
O State Legislative Branch – Mary Firestone
P U.S. House of Representative – Muriel Dubois
P U.S. Presidency – Muriel Dubois
P U.S. Senate– Muriel Dubois
P U.S. Supreme Court - Muriel Dubois
R What Are Goods and Services – Carolyn Andrews
N What’s A Governor? – Nancy Harris
N What’s A President and Vice President? – Nancy Harris
N What’s Congress? – Nancy Harris
N What’s Government? – Nancy Harris
N What’s the State Judicial Branch? – Nancy Harris
N What’s the State Legislative Branch? – Nancy Harris
N What’s the Supreme Court? – Nancy Harris
June Unit 9: Social Issue Book Clubs Benchmark S
In this unit students will explore social issues, issues that affect lots
of people. Some examples are; not fitting in, poverty, homelessness,
racism, bullying, and peer pressure. The students will not only be
thinking about how the issue affects the characters in their books,
but how the issue affects the world at large. Students can also think
about how their character deals with issues in their lies and think
about how that might apply in their own lives.
Students may revisit texts from previous units. You will encourage
students to read across genres, novels, picture books, poetry,
nonfiction and biographies.
Each Kindness would be a wonderful mentor text for this unit.
Level
Text
NA 14 Cows for America – Carmen Agra Deedy
S 6th Grade Nickname Game – Gordon Korman
Q Day Gogo Went to Vote –Elinor Sislulu
U Don’t Say Ain’t - _ Irene Smalls
NA Each Kindness – Jaqueline Woodson
P Gleam and Glow – Eve Bunting
Q Great Joy – Kate DiCamillo
T How to Steal a Dog- Barbara O’Connor
S Ida B. – Katherine Hannigan
N Keepers – Jeri Hanel Watts
O Leah’s Pony – Elizabeth Friedrich
NA Let’s Talk About Race – Julius Lester
S Mick Harte Was Here – Barbara Park
NA My Secret Bully – Trudy Ludwig
S Sahara Special - - Esme Raji Codell
O Sister Anne’s hands – Marybeth Lorbiecki
Mentor Texts
Mentor texts can be used as read alouds for Units of Study of
Reading and you may also use the texts or portions of the texts for
Writing Units of study.
These are a some suggestions for mentor text, you may find may
other ways to use them.
Best Shorts: Favorite Short Stories for Sharing – Avi
Cactus Hotel – Brenda Guiberson - Narrative non-fiction
Chicken Soup for the Kid’s Soul- Short stories (personal narraties,
memoir)
Each Kindness – Jaqueline Woodson – character study, social issues
Freedom on the Menu –Carole Boston Weatherford – historical
fiction
Help Me Mr. Mutt – Janet Stevens – persuasive
Hey World Here I Am – Jean Little- characters stucy, personal
narratives
If You Find a Rock – Peggy Christian – beautiful language, transitions
If You’re Not From The Prairie – Dave Bouchard - beautiful
language, using repetition, appealing to the senses
Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street – Roni Schotter – gathering
ideas
Other Side – Jaqueline Woodson – character study, historical fiction,
social issues
What You Know First - Patricia Maclachlan – beautiful languane,
gathering ideas, writing about what you know
Poetry
P Joyful Noise – Paul Flesichman
P Mammalabilia
NA Poke in the Eye – Paul Janeczko
P Punctuation Celebration – Elsa Knight Bruno