Rising Fourth Graders Summer Reading

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Welcome to Summer Reading!                                                           Elementary School, Rising Grade 4

Summer Reading is a great way to relax and have fun as well as keep up your skills over the summer! Try to read at least twenty minutes each day. Research has shown that 20 minutes of reading per day can significantly increase student achievement. 

This year each student will be required to read two books over the summer. One book is assigned: Spies at Mount Vernon by Steven K. Smith. The second book will be one of your child’s own choosing in which he or she will complete a project. Both books, the one oral project, and book jacket are to be completed by Wednesday, August 20, 2025. We will begin the first day of school with book discussions and activities using our assigned book, and enjoy presentations of our Student Choice Books. Books may be obtained from the public library, borrowed from friends or family, or purchased. They may be paper or eBooks. All students in rising grades 3-8 are expected to read the books independently. Help your child to choose a Student Choice Book he or she can read by themselves. Please do not use audiobooks or read-alouds for these assignments unless your child has an SAP stating this accommodation; our purpose is to practice independent reading. We do, however, encourage parents to also read the books and have fun discussing them with their child!

Book 1: Assigned  Book:

Spies at Mount Vernon by Steven K. Smith

This book must be read by Wednesday, August 20, 2025. Activities will take place in class. Students should be ready to discuss the characters, setting, and plot (beginning, middle and end). No written assignment or project is required for this book.

Book 2: Student Choice Book

Each student will select a book of their own choice and complete an oral report and book jacket visual (see directions below) concerning their selection. The selection should follow our usual Cover-to-Cover rules (see below). If you would like some suggestions, please see the list below. Oral reports and book cover visual should be ready to present on Wednesday, August 20, 2025. Be neat and have fun! Be prepared to show off your project and encourage someone else to read your book!

A list of book suggestions for Rising Fourth Graders is included here. 

Guidelines for choosing a book:

A Cover-to-cover book....

1.       … has a beginning, middle, and end, and the story reaches from the front cover to the back cover. Any fiction book would do. Nonfiction books with a beginning, middle, and end are appropriate if you read the entire book and it is NOT written in a manner to give quick facts (i.e. an encyclopedia, a collection of short biographies or articles, statistical information, museum style books, etc). Biographies, historical accounts, diaries, personal narratives, and narrative history can all be appropriate. Reference books are not Cover-to-Cover reads.

2.       …can be easily read the student. We want students to get into the flow of reading independently. In order to create a flow, students should choose books that are slightly below working reading comprehension level.  Stopping to decode and define more than a word or two per page may interrupt the comprehension flow and can lead to frustration.  However, if the student is highly motivated to reading a slightly more difficult book, this flow can be achieved. Beginning readers should read with a partner to help decode and define words as necessary, and may need more than one reading to achieve comprehension.

3.       …takes more than 20 minutes for the student to read. Put a bookmark in it and go play! There is great value in being able to hold the story or events in your child's mind while your child does something else and comes back to the book later. This helps your child to retain the story and improve reading comprehension.

4.       …interests the student. No learning will take place unless the student desires to read the book.

Oral Report Guidelines

Please include:

·         Title

·         Author

·         Main Characters with a short description of each

·         Setting (place and time frame)

·         A plot summary (all three parts)

o   What happened at the beginning or what is the problem?

o   What happened in the middle or what was the rising action(s)?

o   Do not tell the ending, rather leave the audience wanting to know what will happen next so they will want to read the book.

·         Tell about something you learned from reading the story.

OR

·         Tell about your favorite part of the story.

Practice your report out loud in front of family or friends before coming to school. You can use notecards to help you remember what to say, if you wish.

Book Cover Guidelines

Please design and make your own book cover for your book on an 8.5x11 piece of paper (colored paper is fine). Your book cover should include the Title and Author. Fill the entire page. Only the front cover is needed, do not make a full jacket. Be creative and neat; they will be displayed.