How You Can Help Your Child at Home
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Canadian Daily Reading Comprehension Grade 4 © Chalkboard Publishing
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Text Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Social Studies
Who Invented That? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Making Silk in Ancient China . . . . . . . 6
Rivers of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Egypt’s Women Pharaohs . . . . . . . . . . 10
Slavery in Ancient Rome . . . . . . . . . . 13
Games Across the Ages . . . . . . . . . . . 16
The History of Bicycles . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Geography
Our Growing Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Living in Iqaluit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Health
Eating Breakfast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Why Playing Sports Is Good for You. . . . 27
Turn Down the Music! . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Character Education
When You See Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Be a Good Sport! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Fact Sheet: Peer Pressure . . . . . . . . . . 36
Science
The Truth About Tyrannosaurus Rex . . . 39
Where Did the Lions Go? . . . . . . . . . . 42
Growing Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Habitat Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
How Does That Help? . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers 52
Deforestation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Canola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
How Hard Is That?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Magnets Are More Than Fun . . . . . . . . 62
A Star Is Born. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Seeing Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
The World at Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Earthquake! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Careers
What Does a Marine Biologist Do? . . . . 75
What Does a Carpenter Do? . . . . . . . . 77
What Does a Firefighter Do? . . . . . . . . 79
Biography
Roald Dahl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Spider-Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Who Was Paul Bunyan? . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Marie Curie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
Pauline Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Fables and Folktales
The Goose and the Golden Eggs . . . . . . 94
The Rich Miser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
The Rich Man and the Thief . . . . . . . . 98
Graphic Organizers . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
How Am I Doing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Reading Comprehension Student
Tracking Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Achievement Certificate. . . . . . . . . . 112
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
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© Chalkboard Publishing
Introduction
Reading comprehension is the cornerstone of a child’s academic success. By
completing the activities in this book, children will develop and reinforce
essential reading comprehension skills. Children will benefit from a wide variety
of opportunities to practice engaging with text as active readers who can self-
monitor their understanding of what they have read.
Children will focus on the following:
Identifying the Purpose of the Text
• The reader understands, and can tell you, why they read the text.
Understanding the Text
• What is the main idea of the text?
• What are the supporting details?
• Which parts are facts and which parts are opinions?
Analyzing the Text
• How does the reader’s background knowledge enhance the text clues to help
the reader answer questions about the text or draw conclusions?
• What inferences can be made by using information from the text with what
the reader already knows?
• How does the information from the text help the reader make predictions?
• What is the cause and effect between events?
Making Connections
How does the topic or information they are reading remind the reader about
what they already know?
• Text-to-self connections: How does this text relate to your own life?
• Text-to-text connections: Have I read something like this before? How is this
text similar to something I have read before? How is this text different from
something I have read before?
• Text-to-world connections: What does this text remind you of in the real
world?
Using Text Features
• How do different text features help the reader?
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© Chalkboard Publishing
Text Features
Text features help the reader to understand the text better. Here is a list of text
features with a brief explanation on how they help the reader.
Contents
Here the reader will find the title of each section, what page
each text starts on within sections, and where to find specific
information.
Chapter Title
The chapter title gives the reader an idea of what the text will be
about. The chapter title is often followed by subheadings within
the text.
Title and
Subheading
The title or topic is found at the top of the page. The subheading
is right above a paragraph. There may be more than one
subheading in a text.
Map
Maps help the reader understand where something is happening.
It is a visual representation of a location.
Diagram and
Illustration
Diagrams and illustrations give the reader additional visual
information about the text.
Label
A label tells the reader the title of a map, diagram, or illustration.
Labels also draw attention to specific elements within a visual.
Caption
Captions are words that are placed underneath the visuals.
Captions give the reader more information about the map,
diagram, or illustration.
Fact Box A fact box tells the reader extra information about the topic.
Table
A table presents text information in columns and rows in a
concise and often comparative way.
Bold and
Italic text
Bold and italic text are used to emphasize a word or words, and
signify that this is important vocabulary.
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© Chalkboard Publishing
Who Invented That?
Mesopotamia is called the “cradle of
civilization” because it was the first place
where people came together to live in one
place. First there were small villages and
towns. Some towns became large cities as
the population grew. Governments were
formed to take care of the people.
There were many things that helped
Mesopotamia grow. Many of these
inventions are as important today as they
were then.
The Wheel
Scientists do not know for sure who
invented the first wheel. Many say the
people of Mesopotamia did. Many agree
that Mesopotamians were the first people
to use the wheel for everyday things.
They used a potter’s wheel to make pots.
They used carts with wheels to move
goods from place to place. Carts helped towns and cities trade with other places. Trade meant they
could sell things they did not need and buy from other people things they needed.
Irrigation
Farmers in Mesopotamia needed lots of water from the rivers to grow crops. Carrying water by
hand or in carts was hard work. It took a lot of time. Mesopotamians invented irrigation so they
could have bigger farms and would not have to work so hard. They dug canals that would bring
water from the rivers to their farms.
The Seeder Plough
Farmers needed to plough the fields before they could plant seeds. Then they had to go back to put
seeds in the ground. The Mesopotamians invented the seeder plough. In the seeder plough, there
was a funnel with seeds behind the plough. As the plough dug up the soil, the seeds were dropped
into the soil right away. This meant that farmers could plant more crops in a shorter time.
People from Mesopotamia also invented the first writing system, the first sailboat, and the first
12-month calendar. They were a remarkable civilization.
(site of modern
Baghdad)
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© Chalkboard Publishing
“Who Invented That?”—Think About It
1. Why is Mesopotamia called the “cradle of civilization”?
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2. How did trade help the people of Mesopotamia?
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3. What do you think the word remarkable means? Why?
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4. What happened when the Mesopotamians invented irrigation?
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5. What problem did the invention of the seeder plough solve?
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6. What is the purpose of this text? Why do you think the author wrote it?
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© Chalkboard Publishing
Making Silk in Ancient China
The making of silk fabric was one of the most important
discoveries in ancient China. The ancient Chinese discovered
that silkworms make tiny strands of silk, and these strands can
be used to make a fabric that is beautiful and very strong. Read
on to find out how the ancient Chinese made silk.
Step 1: The eggs laid by silkworm moths are collected and kept
in a cool place where the temperature can be controlled. Over
time, the temperature is slowly increased to about 25°C. The
silkworms will then hatch from the eggs.
Step 2: Silkworms are fed fresh mulberry leaves. They eat
constantly until they grow very fat. The fat provides the energy
the silkworms need to create a cocoon.
Step 3: Silkworms produce a jelly-like material that hardens
into a thin strand of silk when it is exposed to air. The worm
wraps itself in the long strand to create a white cocoon.
Step 4: The cocoons are kept in a dry place for several days. The
cocoons are then steamed or baked to kill the silkworm inside
before it starts to break out. Each cocoon is then dipped in hot
water to loosen the strand of silk.
Step 5: Each cocoon is then unwound to get the long strand of
silk. This strand is between 600 metres and 900 metres long.
The strands are then wound onto a spool.
Step 6: Several strands of silk are then twisted together to make
strong silk thread. Natural materials are used to dye the threads
different colours. The threads are then woven into colourful
fabric.
Silkmoth
Silkworm
Silk cocoon
Fun Fact
According to Chinese legend, Empress Hsi Ling Shi, wife of Emperor Huang Ti
(also called the Yellow Emperor), was the first person to accidentally discover silk. It
happened when a silkworm cocoon fell into the cup of tea she was drinking under a
mulberry tree. When she pulled out the cocoon, the strong silk fiber came loose.
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© Chalkboard Publishing
“Making Silk in Ancient China”—Think About It
1. Complete the chart to show causes and effects in the text.
2. What is the main idea of the text?
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3. How do you know that it takes a lot of energy for a silkworm to create a cocoon?
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Cause Effect
The temperature where the eggs are kept
reaches about 25°C.
The silkworms have enough energy to create a
cocoon.
The jelly-like material hardens into a thin
strand of silk.
The cocoons are steamed or baked.
The strand of silk that makes up the cocoon
becomes loose.
Strong silk thread is created.
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© Chalkboard Publishing
Rivers of Life
Thousands and thousands of years ago, humans lived in small groups. They travelled to find food
and shelter. Then they started to live in larger and larger groups. They began living in one place
and growing some of their own food. Most of the places where these people settled were near or on
rivers. Why?
The Nile River
The Nile River flows
through five countries
in Africa. One of these
countries is Egypt.
One of the oldest
civilizations in the world
began in Egypt. Most of
Egypt was desert, but the
Nile River created a green
space along its banks. The land around the river was very flat. The river flooded every year from
water that came rushing down from mountains in another country. After the flood, people planted
their crops in the thick mud left behind. The mud was very good for growing crops. These crops
provided food for the people and their animals. People fished in the river and caught birds for food.
The river also provided transportation. People could use boats to travel from town to town to trade.
The Indus River
The Indus River starts in the Himalayan Mountains. It flows through what is now Pakistan. The
Indus River is in a very dry area. One of the earliest civilizations in the world began here, just
like in Egypt. The river flooded at least once a year. It brought good soil along with it, and left the
soil behind. This soil was excellent for farming. The flooding also provided water for irrigation.
Farmers grew crops such as melons, wheat, peas, and cotton. Historians believe that there were
more than 1500 settlements in the valley created by the Indus River.
The River Thames
Great cities also began on rivers. London, England, is one example. London is on the River Thames.
The city was first built by the Romans. It was called Londinium. After the Romans left, people
continued to live in and move to London. The river provided people with transportation. Ships
could come in from the sea, and goods could be moved into England. So London became an inland
port and a major trading city. Many crafts people lived and worked in London because it was easy
to ship what they made to the rest of England and other parts of the world.
Queen Hatshepsut’s sailing boat travelled the Nile.
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© Chalkboard Publishing
“Rivers of Life”—Think About It
1. How is this text organized? What is the author comparing?
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2. What is the same about the land around the Nile and Indus Rivers?
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3. How did the flooding of the Nile and Indus Rivers help farmers?
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4. What was the most important use of the River Thames?
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5. What are the sections on the Nile River and the Indus River about? What is the main idea of
both?
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6. What is the section on the River Thames about? How is this different from the other two
sections?
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2017 © Chalkboard Publishing
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