Glencoe Elementary School

Weekly Homework is due on Every Wednesday

If the student cannot turn the homework on time, then they will do the work during Friday fun.

Morning Reports will start again in January 

          The fourth graders have been doing morning reports, and have been practicing how to stand in front of the class to give an oral report. They are now ready to prepare a speech that will be graded according to the Statewide Scoring Guide.

          Attached to this letter is a copy of the informational article your child wrote earlier in the school year. Your child may use this for the speech, although the wording of some of it may need to be changed to fit the speech. If your child would prefer to start over with a new topic, he/she can write a speech about the same length; five paragraphs.

          All the students can write notes on cue cards to use when they give the speeches, but they must memorize most of it. They can bring props to make the speech more interesting. For example, if the speech is about rockets, that person could bring a model rocket or photos to support the information.

          If there is an area on the informational article where your child did not receive a score of 4 or above, he/she can rewrite that part to improve it for the speech. The scoring guide for speeches is also attached to this letter, so you can see what is important.

Here are some tips on how to liven up the informational article to make it into a better speech:

-         Write a lively introduction; ask a question, get the listener’s attention right away.

-         Use props to illustrate the main ideas (posters, photos, diagrams, objects).

-         Add some fun facts to leave the listener with something to think about.

-         Speeches should be 2 to 4 minutes long.

Remember: eye contact, loud and clear voice, no wiggles! Be prepared. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

Your child signed up to give their speech on February ______.

This is homework for the next two weeks. Students will start giving speeches in class on February 13, 2012. Anyone who is ready before that is welcome to give the speech early. Write the speech with notes on index cards, using just a few words to follow. The index cards are allowed during the speech, but reading from them the whole time is not.

          There is very little other homework during the next two weeks, so fourth graders will have time to prepare for the speech at home. They will also have some time to prepare at school, but it is mostly for homework.

 Morning Reports:  Reports happen once a week for each child. They are short(about a minute) speeches that give the child a chance to get comfortable in front of the class. Each week there will be a different topic for morning reports. The reports start on Monday, September 20th.

Week #1: Joke or riddle

Week #2: Poetry; Choose a poem to memorize or read to the class.

Week #3: Book talk; choose a book to talk about for one minute, bring the book, tell what the title is and say what it's about and why it's a good book.

 Week#4: Newspaper article; cut out a short newspaper article and summarize it. Explain to the class what it's about. No comics.

Week #5: Potluck; students can choose any of the above.

The students can earn up to 5 points. Points are given for eye contact, no wiggling, loud and clear, being on time, being prepared.

Daily reading log:

Read at least 20 minutes every night and write down the pages read on the log.

Writing log:

Students will have a writing prompt that they glue into their composition book. They will write a page responding to the prompt. This writing log is due every other Wednesday with the other homework.

Spelling:

Students are responsible for their own lists. Each student has a different spelling list. They are to write the words down on Monday and then study these words throughout the week. On Monday I will give a spelling pretest on words that every fourth grader needs to know. If the student correctly spells the words then he/she will need to find other words to study. They will find these words in their own writing and from a selected list of words that every fourth, fifth, and sixth grader should know. They will have a test on Friday.

Spelling sheet:

This a way that the students can study the fourth grade words for the week. Generally this sheet is made for the parents to help the student learn and remember spelling patterns.

Spelling words for the week of  February 20  important, than, then, completely, example, it's, its, winter, brought, they're, beautiful, already, everyone, carefully, problem. half, special, aren't, follow, there, their

 The math homework will now come home in the regular homework packet and will be due on Wednesday.