Domain-Specific Words is a free printable Grade 4 English worksheet on working out a subject word from the text around it, aligned to Common Core standard RI.4.4. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 22 of them with different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.
Set 1 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
22 of these 25 sets ask different questions — this skill does not have 25 questions to give. The rest reorder them, so no two pupils have the same paper in front of them.
Domain-Specific Words
RI.4.4
NameDate
Read the text, then answer the questions.
1.Read the text, then answer the questions.
What a Coral Reef Is
A coral reef looks like rock and is built by animals.
A coral polyp is a soft creature the size of a pinhead. It draws calcium from the sea water and builds a hard cup around itself. Millions of polyps, cup upon cup, become a reef.
Inside each polyp live tiny algae. The algae make food from sunlight and pass most of it to the polyp. In exchange they get shelter and the polyp's waste. Neither could build a reef alone.
When the water gets too warm, the polyps expel the algae. Without them the coral turns white and starves. That is what bleaching means.
A reef takes centuries to build and can bleach in a single hot summer.
1. What does "expel" mean here?
2. What does "bleaching" mean in this text?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.
Lichen
A lichen is not one organism. It is a fungus and an alga living as one body.
The fungus provides the structure and holds water. The alga photosynthesises and makes sugar. Separated, the fungus starves and the alga dries out.
Because it needs no soil, a lichen can grow on bare rock, on gravestones and on the roofs of cars that have not moved for a decade.
Lichens grow extremely slowly — some crustose species less than a millimetre a year. Scientists use that rate to date rock surfaces, a method called lichenometry.
Lichens also absorb whatever is in the air. Where the air is dirty, they disappear, which makes them a living measure of pollution.
1. What does "photosynthesises" mean?
2. What does "absorb" mean here?
LessonPrint · RI.4.4 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Domain-Specific Words
Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. Push out — the polyps force the algae out. 2. Coral turning white and starving after losing its algae.
2.1. Makes food from sunlight. 2. Take in from the air around it.
Questions about Domain-Specific Words
What does the Domain-Specific Words worksheet cover?
It practises working out a subject word from the text around it — 2 questions for Grade 4, all on Common Core RI.4.4: Work out what an academic or subject word means in this text. The instruction to pupils is “Read the text, then answer the questions”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.
Which Common Core standard does Domain-Specific Words practise?
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.4 — RI.4.4, in the Reading: Informational Text domain for Grade 4. The published standard reads: “Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area.” The worksheet assesses that standard rather than a paraphrase of it.
What age or grade is this worksheet for?
Domain-Specific Words is written for Grade 4, typically ages 9-10. It is one of the sheets on RI.4.4, so it suits any pupil working at that standard — including older pupils revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.
Does Domain-Specific Words come with an answer key?
Yes. All 2 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.
How many different versions of Domain-Specific Words can I print?
25 versions, of which 22 ask genuinely different questions — this skill does not have 25 distinct questions to give, so the rest reorder them and no two pupils still share a paper. Set 1 downloads all 25 as one PDF.
Is Domain-Specific Words free to print and photocopy?
Yes. Domain-Specific Words, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.
Is there a lesson plan to teach RI.4.4?
Yes — “Subject Vocabulary in Context” is a 40-minute Grade 4 plan for RI.4.4, timed section by section, with the misconceptions to expect and an exit ticket. Domain-Specific Words is the practice that follows it.
More practice for RI.4.4
Work out what an academic or subject word means in this text.