Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

This novel set in Manhattan, features a boy and his younger brother who drives him crazy. The story is quite factual and the places are real which makes this a wonderful opportunity for students to learn about New York. A natural for grade four students. This novel study provides teachers with a highly structured format for teaching language arts as students develop a love for reading longer materials like novels. Various areas such as reading comprehension, vocabulary development, spelling, grammar, and writing are all entwined in this integrated approach eliminating the need for teaching these skills separately. Activities are divided into three main sections: 1. Chapter Questions: For each chapter, students answer a thorough set of questions requiring answers in complete sentences. Reading comprehension is key as students must read and understand the entire book in order to answer the questions. (One major strength of the novel study approach is that students must understand the novel or they will be unable to do the required assignments) 2. Vocabulary and Language: Each chapter also includes activities dealing with such things as word meanings, use of the dictionary, spelling, parts of speech, antonyms/synonyms, syllables, punctuation and grammar. Also numerous crossword puzzles, design an ad, map study, nicknames, make a cartoon and more. 3. Writing and Creativity: In this section, students apply what they have learned about language and grammar skills to write more effectively. Creative writing is the focus of this less-structured segment allowing teachers more opportunity to incorporate their own ideas into developing creative writing skills.