4th Grade Reading · Parent guide
What Reading Level Should
a 4th Grader Be At?
By the end of 4th grade, a child should read stories, poems, plays and nonfiction in the Common Core grades 4-5 band (740L to 1010L), with help at the harder end. A typical 4th grader reads about 133 words correctly per minute in the spring. The big new reading skills this year are finding a theme and summarizing, comparing first-person and third-person narration, describing how a nonfiction text is organized (cause and effect, problem and solution), comparing firsthand and secondhand accounts, and using Greek and Latin roots to work out new words.
Reviewed against the Common Core standards and published reading norms.
4th Grade Reading Benchmarks
Fluency is the typical (50th percentile) spring score in words read correctly per minute on an unpracticed grade-level passage, from Hasbrouck and Tindal's 2017 compiled oral reading fluency norms. The Lexile range is the Common Core grades 4-5 band from the standards’ Appendix A supplement; 4th graders are expected to reach the high end with help. None of these is a pass or fail cutoff; ask your child’s teacher which reading assessment the school uses and what it shows.
What 4th Graders Learn in Reading, by Strand
These are the Common Core English Language Arts standards for Grade 4 reading, put into plain English and grouped by strand. Many states use them as written or in an adapted version. The code after each skill is the standard it comes from, and each strand links to the full text on the Common Core site.
Reading Stories, Poems & Plays
Common Core RL.4- Use details and examples from the text to explain what it says and what it implies (RL.4.1)
- Find a theme and summarize the text (RL.4.2)
- Understand words from mythology, such as Herculean (RL.4.4)
- Explain how poems, plays and prose differ, using terms like verse, meter, stage directions and dialogue (RL.4.5)
- Compare first-person and third-person narration (RL.4.6)
Reading Information
Common Core RI.4- Find the main idea, explain how details support it and summarize (RI.4.2)
- Explain what happened and why in history, science or technical texts (RI.4.3)
- Describe text structure: chronology, comparison, cause and effect, problem and solution (RI.4.5)
- Compare a firsthand and a secondhand account of the same event (RI.4.6)
- Combine information from two texts to write or speak about a topic (RI.4.9)
Word Reading & Fluency
Common Core RF.4- Read unfamiliar multisyllable words using letter-sound patterns, syllables, roots and affixes (RF.4.3)
- Read grade-level prose and poetry accurately, at a good pace and with expression (RF.4.4)
Vocabulary
Common Core L.4- Use Greek and Latin roots and affixes as clues: telegraph, photograph, autograph (L.4.4b)
- Explain simple similes and metaphors (L.4.5a)
- Explain common idioms, adages and proverbs (L.4.5b)
- Use synonyms and antonyms to understand words (L.4.5c)
What 4th Grade Reading Tasks Look Like
Short original passages and questions written to match the standards above, with what a good answer includes.
Theme (RL.4.2)
In a story, Maya practices piano every day for months, fails her first recital, and keeps practicing until she plays the piece perfectly at the spring show. What is a theme?
Answer: Something like "hard work and not giving up lead to success." A theme is a message about life, not a one-word topic like "piano."
First vs. third person (RL.4.6)
Which is first person? (A) "I grabbed my backpack and ran." (B) "She grabbed her backpack and ran."
Answer: A is first person: the narrator is in the story and says "I." B is third person.
Firsthand vs. secondhand (RI.4.6)
You read a letter written by a girl who watched the first airplane flight, and an encyclopedia entry about the same flight. Which is firsthand? How are they different?
Answer: The letter is firsthand: she was there and describes what she saw and felt. The encyclopedia is secondhand: it gives facts and dates but not personal feelings.
Signs Your 4th Grader May Be Behind in Reading
Fourth grade texts get longer and more complex, especially in science and social studies. Watch for these signs:
- !Gives a topic ("friendship") when asked for a theme, or retells every event instead of summarizing
- !Struggles with long science and social studies words and skips them
- !Cannot say how a nonfiction article is organized or find the cause of an event
- !Reads plays and poems the same way as stories, ignoring stanzas and stage directions
- !Takes much longer than classmates to finish reading assignments
Short At-Home Activities (10 to 15 Minutes)
Theme at dinner
After a book or movie, ask "what lesson might the author want us to learn?" and then "what happened in the story that shows that?"
Root word detective
Pick a root like "graph" (write) or "tele" (far). List words with it together and guess their meanings before checking a dictionary.
Two accounts
Find a diary entry or interview from someone who saw an event, and an article about it. Ask what each one tells you that the other does not.
Read a play aloud
Choose a short play or reader’s theater script and assign parts. Point out that stage directions are not spoken.
Summary in one sentence
After a chapter, ask for a one-sentence summary: who, wanted what, but what got in the way, so what happened.
Find Your Child's Exact Level
Fourth grade reading is about depth: themes, structure and vocabulary. Our diagnostic shows exactly which 4th grade reading skills your child has and which need work, in about 10 minutes.
Start the DiagnosticQuestions Parents Ask
What Lexile level is 4th grade?
The Common Core groups grades 4 and 5 into one text-complexity band, 740L to 1010L. By the end of 4th grade, students should read texts in that band proficiently, with help at the high end (RL.4.10, RI.4.10). By the end of 5th grade they should read at the high end on their own.
How fast should a 4th grader read?
In Hasbrouck and Tindal’s 2017 compiled norms, a typical 4th grader reads about 94 words correctly per minute in the fall, 120 in winter and 133 in spring. By 4th grade, check understanding as well as speed: ask your child to summarize what they just read.
What is the difference between a theme and a main idea?
A theme is the life lesson or message of a story, poem or play, like "honesty matters" (RL.4.2). A main idea is what a nonfiction text or paragraph is mostly about, like "owls are skilled hunters" (RI.4.2). Fourth graders are expected to find both and to summarize.
My 4th grader was a good reader but now struggles. Why?
Fourth grade texts are harder: longer sentences, more academic words and more nonfiction. A child who decoded easily in 2nd grade can still stall on words like "photosynthesis" or on a text organized by cause and effect. Work on roots and affixes and on noticing how a text is organized.
What are idioms, adages and proverbs?
Common sayings whose meaning is not literal. An idiom: "under the weather" (sick). An adage or proverb: "the early bird catches the worm" (starting early pays off). Fourth graders are expected to explain them (L.4.5b).