New Hampshire Grade 4 English

Grade 4: combine information without losing its source

Two texts on one topic may contribute different information. A useful combined explanation uses both while keeping their limits clear. Here, two invented accounts concern a classroom display. Students decide which details are shared, which come from one account, and what a reader can say using them together. Use the task alongside the school’s current reading and writing work.

Curriculum reference: 2010 Common Core ELA/literacy standards, original publisher’s document, from the New Hampshire school-approval rules (Ed 306.29).

New Hampshire Grade 4 references for this activity

New Hampshire’s current school-approval rules, Ed 306.29, allow local boards to use the adopted 2010 Common Core English standards or approved alternative academic standards. Confirm the school’s choice and competencies first. The selected Common Core references here were checked in the original publisher’s 2010 document, using the correct grade column. These references identify this activity’s focus and are not a complete local curriculum checklist.

These selected reference labels identify an activity focus, with the grade column and PDF page linked separately. Read the complete standards selected by the school and its learning sequence, including reading, writing, language, speaking, and listening. This short original example does not fulfill the entire curriculum or establish a student’s grade-level proficiency.

What can both accounts tell us about the display?

This original classroom example is separate from official assessment questions.

Text A — The class prepared a display about its reading projects. Students grouped their summaries by the books they had read and placed an introduction above each group.

Text B — Visitors stopped at the display on Friday. Several asked which books belonged to the same series. Students answered by pointing to the labels beside the summaries.

Try the activity

Write two or three sentences explaining how the display was organized and how visitors used it. Use a detail from each text. Then name one question these accounts do not answer.

Follow the reasoning

The class grouped reading-project summaries by book and added introductions above the groups. When visitors asked about books in the same series, students used nearby labels to answer them. Together, the accounts describe the arrangement and one way people used the display. The first organizational detail comes from Text A; the visitor interaction comes from Text B. The combined explanation should not say that the labels caused every visitor to understand every book. Neither account identifies all the books, counts every visitor, or reports how much visitors learned.

Notice what needs more practice

Copying one sentence from each account can be a starting note, but a combined explanation needs a clear connection. Do not blend Friday into the preparation date: Text B dates the visitors’ stop, not the earlier work. Do not say all visitors asked about a series when the account says several. Preserving these distinctions is part of using information accurately, even when the two accounts do not disagree.

Grade 4 English worksheets

Choose printable practice that matches the skill being taught. Check the task, reading difficulty, and directions before assigning it; the collection is independently published.

Browse Grade 4 English worksheets

Use the next session to build independence

1. Make a two-column note: information supplied by Text A and information supplied by Text B. Keep each detail with its source.
2. Combine an arrangement detail with a visitor-use detail in a connected explanation. Check that neither detail changes meaning.
3. Add a teacher-selected third account or image later. Decide whether it answers the remaining question before extending the explanation.

Choose two suitable classroom texts on a shared topic for the next session. Before writing, ask what each adds. Students who need support can rehearse their combined explanation aloud; students ready for more can identify a detail that only one source provides and explain why it matters.

For more general reading and writing resources, visit the Grade 4 English Online Center.

New Hampshire Grade 4 English: useful planning questions

Must two texts disagree to be useful together?

No. These accounts contribute different kinds of information about the same display. A combined explanation uses both and preserves which account supplies each detail.

Which standards does the school use?

New Hampshire’s current school-approval rules, Ed 306.29, allow local boards to use the adopted 2010 Common Core English standards or approved alternative academic standards. Confirm the school’s choice and competencies first. The selected Common Core references here were checked in the original publisher’s 2010 document, using the correct grade column. These references identify this activity’s focus and are not a complete local curriculum checklist. The school’s sequence also includes reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language work beyond this example.