Pennsylvania Flexible Instructional Days: A 4th Grade ELA Pack to Print
Pennsylvania Flexible Instructional Days: A 4th Grade ELA Pack to Print
Yes, you can have 4th grade ELA ready for Pennsylvania's Flexible Instructional Days before the first storm. The Grade 4 ELA Pack holds five literacy packs: grammar, writing prompts, phonics and word study, a reading story and a vocabulary trainer. Print them in the fall, tuck a set into each backpack, and the morning the roads ice over you already know what your class is doing.
See the Grade 4 ELA PackThe Grade 4 ELA Pack costs $13.99 and bundles five Grade 4 resources: a grammar pack on sentence structure, tenses and punctuation, writing prompts with word banks and support tools, phonics and word study, the reading story The Mystery of the Missing Map, and an English vocabulary trainer. Bought one by one the parts come to $19.95. It is a digital download you print, so it fits an FID plan that runs on paper packets.
The resources
Grade 4 ELA Pack, Grade 4
5 resources in one download: $13.99 instead of $19.95 bought separately.
Start with the first resource; the others are optional add-ons. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
Grade 4 ELA Pack | Grammar, Writing Prompts, Phonics, Reading & Vocabulary
Grade 3 ELA Pack | Grammar, Creative Writing, Phonics, Reading & Vocabulary
Grade 5 ELA Pack | Grammar, Writing Prompts, Phonics & Two Reading Stories
Grades 1–6 Literacy Skills Curriculum | Grammar, Writing, Phonics & Reading Packs for Every Grade
The real problem
Why a 4th grade FID is harder to plan than it looks
Under School Code §1506, a Pennsylvania school can use up to five Flexible Instructional Days a year for alternative instruction when hazardous weather or a similar disruption would otherwise close the building. The day is meant to be instruction, so a word search will not do, yet you write the work weeks ahead without knowing the date, the unit you will be in, or whether every family has a working device that morning. In 4th grade the gap shows quickly. Students are moving toward reading longer texts on their own, and their grammar now includes tenses and sentence structure that they usually need a model for. A packet that assumes you taught a lesson the day before falls apart at home. What holds up is material that stands on its own: a real reading text with questions, writing prompts that carry their own word banks and structure, and practice a parent can glance at and understand. Five possible days also means five packets, copied before the December copier line.
Why it fits
How the pack fits a paper-based FID
Each of the five parts can carry a day by itself, which lines up neatly with the five-day ceiling.
- The Mystery of the Missing Map gives one complete reading day: a story plus comprehension work.
- Grade 4 Writing Prompts include word banks and support tools, so nobody stalls at a blank page.
- The grammar pack covers sentence structure, tenses and punctuation, which a parent can check quickly.
- Phonics and word study pages make quiet independent work when siblings share the kitchen table.
- The vocabulary trainer suits a shorter FID or the second half of a reading day.
- Everything downloads at once, so all five FID packets come out of one copy run.
Getting started
Turning the pack into five FID packets
One suggested layout; adjust it to your school's FID plan and what students turn in.
- Give each FID one main partReading story, writing prompts, grammar, phonics and word study, vocabulary. Put the reading day first, because a story is the easiest thing for a family to start cold on a surprise morning.
- Pull pages instead of sending everythingChoose a reasonable day's worth from each part rather than the full set. Keep the rest for class review later in the year, so the pack still earns its place after winter.
- Add a one-page cover sheetWrite the FID number, the order of tasks and what comes back to school. A parent should see in ten seconds what a finished day looks like and when it is due.
- Copy and store before the first stormPrint all five packets in the fall and keep them in labeled folders in cubbies or backpacks, so nothing depends on the school being open the night before.
- Plan the return and the follow-upDecide how you will collect and look at the work once school reopens. A short talk about the story the next day ties the FID back to class.
What to buy
Grade 4 pack, or something wider?
For one 4th grade class, the Grade 4 ELA Pack at $13.99 is the straightforward choice; the five parts would cost $19.95 separately. If several students read well below grade level, the Grade 3 ELA Pack ($13.99) gives you easier grammar, phonics and its own reading story to send home instead. Strong readers can work from the Grade 5 ELA Pack ($13.99), which includes two reading stories. If you teach a split class or support several grades, the Grades 1–6 Literacy Skills Curriculum at $49.99 holds 24 packs across all six grades, compared with $95.76 bought separately.
Honest limits
What the pack will not do for you
This pack was not written for Pennsylvania and contains nothing state-specific: no Pennsylvania standards codes and no FID paperwork. Check the content against the standards your district uses and against your school's FID plan, including how attendance and returned work are handled. You still decide which pages go home, write the cover sheet and do the copying. The license covers your own class; if your grade team wants to use one copy across rooms, send Teach Lessons a short message first. If the pack turns out not to fit, you can exchange it within 7 days for store credit of the same value.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Is the pack aligned to Pennsylvania standards or approved for FIDs?
No. It is not aligned to, endorsed by or approved under Pennsylvania's academic standards or any FID rule, and the store makes no such claim. It is a general Grade 4 ELA resource. Compare the grammar, writing, phonics and reading pages with the standards your district follows and with your school's FID plan before anything goes home.
Do students need a device to use it?
No device is needed once the pages are printed. The pack is a digital download, so you need a computer and printer on your end, but the student side can be entirely paper. That matters on an FID when a storm also knocks out power or one laptop is shared by several children.
How many FIDs will the pack cover?
The pack is not divided into days. With five parts, one part per day is a natural match for the five-day ceiling, but how much work a day needs depends on your school's FID plan and expectations. Pull more pages for a longer day and fewer for a short one.
Can a parent help without a teaching background?
Yes, that is the point of sending structured pages. The writing prompts come with word banks and support tools, and the reading story has its own questions, so a parent mostly reads the directions and keeps the child on task. A short note from you on what done looks like still helps.
When can I print it?
Right after you buy. The download link arrives by email and also sits in your customer account under Orders, so you can print a fresh set whenever you need it, for example after a second storm in February or for a student who lost the first packet.
Can our whole grade team use one copy?
The standard license is for use in your own teaching. If three or four 4th grade teachers want to build their FID packets from the same pack, send Teach Lessons a short message before sharing it and ask about team use. Do not post the pages on a public class website or open shared drive.
Get the FID folders done this fall
Open the Grade 4 ELA Pack, look through the five parts, and print your packets before the first winter weather warning.
See the Grade 4 ELA Pack