South Dakota ELA 4.RF.2

ELA4th GradeReading Foundational Skills

The Standard

There is not a grade 4 standard for this concept. Please see preceding grades for more information.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students who need review listen to spoken words, identify individual sounds, and change one sound to make a new word. They do this by ear before seeing the word in print.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student hears four sounds in “smile” and says “mile” after removing /s/. They can do this without looking at the written word.
Common Misconceptions: Students may count the five letters in “smile” as five sounds. They may remove the whole “sm” blend instead of just /s/, or name the letter S instead of saying its sound.
How to Assess It: Say “smile” aloud without writing it. Ask, “How many sounds do you hear, and what word is left if you take away /s/?” Look for four sounds and “mile.”

Lesson moves

Give students four counters for the sounds in “smile”; have them slide one per sound, remove the /s/ counter, and say “mile.”
Ask partners, “Why does smile have five letters but four sounds?” Have each partner explain aloud.
Play a sound-change relay: say “stop,” remove /s/ to make “top,” then replace /t/ with /m/ to make “mop.”
At a hallway STOP sign, say “stop” aloud, then have students say it without /s/ and name the new word, “top.”

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 4.RF.2, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

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