Learning Contract for Students of Compacted Material

4th Grade - English and Language Arts Standards

ELACC4L1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and the
usage when writing or speaking.
A. Use relative pronouns and relative adverbs.
B. Form and use the progressive verb aspects.
C. Use modal auxiliaries to convey various conditions.
D. Order objectives within sentences according to conventional patterns.
E. Form and use prepositional phrases.
F. Produce complete sentences, recognizing and correcting inappropriate
fragments and run-ons.
G. Correctly use frequently confused words.
H. Writes legibly in cursive, leaving spaces between letters in a word and between
words in a sentence.
ELACC4L3: Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading,
or listening.
A. Choose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely.
B. Choose punctuation for effect.
C. Differentiate between contexts that call for formal English and situations where
informal discourse is appropriate.
ELACC4W1: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
A. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational
structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writers purpose.
B. Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.
C. Link opinion and reasoning using words and phrases.
D. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.
Rules & Conditions
1. Students must complete class assignments as well as individual enrichment
assignment.
2. Students must participate in group and classroom discussions.
3. During free work time, those students working on their IEA must work quietly
and ask teachers permission to leave the room or use any resources that are not the
students own possessions.
a. If a problem arises between two students attempting to utilize
any resource, quietly attempt to work out a fair solution. If you cannot come to
an agreement, bring it to the teachers attention if they are not busy with
another student.
4. If any issues arise, consult the teacher if:
a. The teacher is not busy assisting another student or group of
students.
b. The teacher is not lecturing.
5. Students will utilize time outside of the classroom to complete the project, if
necessary.
6. Students will not work with other students - this is an independent activity.
Consequences

Positive:
Students grade will reflect the effort and time they put into the project.
At the end of the unit, if the contract has not been broken, students who
completed the activity will be allowed to attend the pizza viewing party.
Negative:
Breaking the contract results in a call home and the student will not be allowed
to attend the pizza viewing party.
I, _______________, understand that by obeying the above rules and completing all
assignments on time will result in a grade deserving of effort shown. I promise to complete all
assignments and do my best in every effort. I promise to follow the contract rules.
Student Signature ________________________
Date: ___________________
Teacher Signature ________________________

Date: ___________________

Students will:
Participate in the classroom lessons and group lessons covering the reading,
writing, and speaking standards for the first week.
Write persuasively in their journals every day during the following week. This
can take the form of whatever topic they wish, but they must:
Offer an opinion on a topic
Offer a reasonable defense of their opinion
Use at least 5 of the units vocabulary words in each entry
Students will share parts of their journal entries aloud with the class, allowing
themselves and the other students access to how each student constructs and builds
their arguments. Showing how each students arguments change and build throughout
the week, hopefully resulting in some awareness on the students part on how they
construct sentences, employ grammar effectively or not so effectively, and build
knowledge.
At the end of the unit the students will choose an opinion piece from the many
the teacher has included in the hand-out materials and the students will form different
groups and debate on whether the author persuasively argues his/her point. Then the
students will come together as a group and share opinions with the class.
Acceleration/Enrichment Activity (Time: 2 weeks)
Students will spend 4-5 days independently researching political speeches,
studying politicians rhetoric, rhythm, and oration style.

 Students will choose a speech that they consider to be particularly effective and
impressive and analyze it, writing a 1-2 page paper addressing why they think it is so
effective.
Students will choose a topic about government or politics, a topic that they care
about, and they will write a persuasive essay to their local congresswoman or
congressman about the issue and their opinion on it. Each student will take their essay
and give a speech in front of the other participants. Each speech will be filmed.
A week later the students will watch the video of their speech and compare it
against the speech they chose for their paper. They will write a 1-2 page reflective paper
on their speech, what they did well, what they could do better, referencing the politicians
speech for comparing and contrasting.

Materials

time)

Potential for extra time outside the classroom

Computer access (available in classroom and in the media center during class