I'm a teacher. My school has just gotten their standardized test results back, and they've found that the 4th graders are having trouble with short-answer responses to poems and stories. One of the 4th grade teachers told me that they're looking for more short stories that are appropriate for kids so that they can practice analyzing and responding to them. Unfortunately, they don't have enough planning time to find good stories, so they've resorted to using ChatGPT to generate material.
I don't teach 4th grade, but I am a book nerd, and I'm trying help my colleagues by brainstorming literary short stories that are appropriate for 4th graders. I saw that they've already had the kids read Ray Bradbury's "All Summer In A Day." I immediately started suggesting other Bradbury stories that would be appropriate for 4th graders, and I thought of the stories in "Dandelion Wine." I also thought of some short stories by Neil Gaiman that could be a lot of fun.
But that's where I got stuck. So I wanted to turn to y'all. What are some good, quality literary short stories that would be fun for 4th graders to read and analyze?
by SuperheroChuck