Standard 4: Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
Skills Indicator	Benchmark (to be met by Sixth  Grade)
4.1.1 Read, view, and listen for pleasure and personal growth.	* Participate in book talks and discussion groups. * Seek information about personal interests. * Set reading goals.
4.1.2 Read widely and fluently to make connections with self, the world, and previous reading.	* Use evidence from text to discuss author’s purpose. * Read widely to explore new ideas. *Make predictions and inferences about events and characters. * Identify problems and solutions in a story. * Draw conclusions about the theme of a story. * Connect story to previous reading.
4.1.3 Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats and genres.	* Connect own feeling to emotions, characters, and events portrayed in literature. * Understand and restate ideas presented through creative formats. * Identify story elements in various fiction genres. * Discuss theme of stories.
4.1.4 Seek information for personal learning in a variety of formats and genres.	* Select books, try new genres when suggested. * Select texts in various formats connected to classroom learning or personal interest. * Recognize works of a single author.
4.1.5 Connect ideas to own interests and previous knowledge and experience.	* Use prior knowledge to understand and compare literature. * Understand and identify main points. * Compare various types of resources to experiences in real life.
4.1.6 Organize personal knowledge in a way that can be called upon easily.	* Use graphic organizers to capture main ideas. * Use note-taking to make connections to information.
4.1.7 Use social networks and information tools to gather and share information.	* Identify ways that technology has been used to address real-world problems. * Use on-line catalog to locate information.
4.1.8 Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning.	* Present creative products in a variety of formats.