Ensworth is a kindergarten through twelfth grade, coeducational independent school. The School promotes academic excellence and inspires students to be intellectually curious, to use their talents to the fullest, to be people of integrity, and to be contributors to society.
WE ENVISION A SCHOOL COMMUNITY DEDICATED TO FOLLOWING THE HIGHEST PRINCIPLES WITH THE GREATEST LOVE, AS CHARACTERIZED BY MORAL INTEGRITY, INTELLECTUAL VITALITY, DISCIPLINE, COMPASSION, HUMOR AND JOY.
Dear Lower School Families,
What a fantastic year it has been, filled with learning and growth! As we gear up for the summer break, we’re buzzing with excitement for the adventures ahead—and the endless opportunities for discovery (and maybe some much-needed naps). Let the next chapter begin!
This summer, we’re excited to continue the learning journey with you through reading, writing, and numbers. In this summer work booklet, you’ll find a list of recommended books tailored to your child’s age group. We recommend that your child read every day, aiming for a weekly goal aligned with their grade level. You’ll find an outline of reading and writing assignments to help structure their summer learning.
In addition to reading and writing, we want to help keep those math muscles sharp. Our students have been hard at work all year, developing and mastering their math skills. Just as fluency in reading is key to comprehension, fluency in math facts and concepts is essential for problem-solving and mathematical reasoning. This summer, we encourage your child to continue practicing math to build on their solid foundation and prepare for the next grade level. You’ll also find a math practice workbook for your child to complete over the summer.
Completed summer booklets should be returned to your child’s teacher the first week of school—so they can kick off the year with a fresh, confident mindset!
Here’s to a summer filled with reading, writing, and problem-solving, and lots of well-earned breaks. We can’t wait to see all the progress your child will make—and hear all about the exciting adventures they have with books and numbers when we reunite in the fall!
Summer Work Booklet Contents:
1. Recommended reading list and reading log to complete.
2. Reading and Writing assignments to complete.
3. Math Workbook: Please complete and feel free to write parent notes on any page.
We are excited for your child’s continued growth over the summer, and we hope you have a joyful and relaxing summer filled with big adventures!
Happy Summer, Tigers!
Kerry Ann Masoner, HEAD OF LOWER SCHOOL
Peter Terwilliger, ASSOCIATE HEAD OF LOWER SCHOOL
Liz Atwood, ACADEMIC SUPPORT, LITERACY CHAIR K-2
Michelle Chang, LITERACY CHAIR 3-5
Bethany Humphrey, MATH SPECIALIST K-5
Book List
SUGGESTED BOOKS
Return to Sender Vera Brosgol
VISITING AUTHOR!
FANTASY
The Undead Fox of
Ben Franklin’s In My Bathroom!
Candace Fleming
VISITING AUTHOR!
FANTASY
Outside
Jennifer L. Holm
SCIENCE FICTION
A Tale Dark & Grimm Adam Gidwitz
VISITING AUTHOR!
FANTASY
Holding on for Dear Life Dusti Bowling
REALISTIC FICTION
FANTASY
Deadwood Forest
Aubrey Hartman
Is it Real? The Loch Ness Monster
Candace
Fleming
VISITING AUTHOR!
NONFICTION
It’s About Time! (Big Ideas That Changed the World)
Don Brown
NONFICTION
History Smashers: The American Revolution
Kate Messner
NONFICTION
What Made California the Golden State?: Life During the Gold Rush
Shing Yin Khor
NONFICTION
Where Only Storms Grow
Alyssa Colman
HISTORICAL FICTION
National Archive
Hunters: Capitol Chase
Matthew Landis
MYSTERY
Reading Log
BOOK TITLE
FICTION
NONFICTION
AUTHOR DATE PARENT INITIALS
JULY / EARLY AUGUST
BOOK TITLE
FICTION
NONFICTION
AUTHOR DATE PARENT INITIALS
BOOK TITLE
FICTION
NONFICTION
AUTHOR DATE PARENT INITIALS
BOOK TITLE
FICTION
NONFICTION
AUTHOR DATE PARENT INITIALS
BOOK TITLE
BOOK TITLE
AUTHOR DATE
YOUR CHOICE: YOUR CHOICE: YOUR CHOICE:
FICTION
NONFICTION
AUTHOR DATE PARENT INITIALS
FICTION
NONFICTION
INITIALS
GOAL
Read a minimum of four chapter books independently.
Shared read-alouds are also encouraged.
BOOK TITLE
YOUR CHOICE:
FICTION
NONFICTION
AUTHOR DATE
BOOK TITLE
AUTHOR DATE
YOUR CHOICE:
PARENT INITIALS
FICTION
NONFICTION
PARENT INITIALS
BOOK TITLE
YOUR CHOICE:
FICTION
NONFICTION
AUTHOR DATE PARENT INITIALS
BOOK TITLE
YOUR CHOICE:
FICTION
NONFICTION
AUTHOR DATE PARENT INITIALS
BOOK TITLE
YOUR CHOICE:
FICTION
NONFICTION
AUTHOR DATE PARENT INITIALS
BOOK TITLE
AUTHOR DATE
YOUR CHOICE:
FICTION
NONFICTION
INITIALS
Reading&Writing
READING REQUIREMENTS
Weekly Goal: 90+ minutes a week. This is a habit that will be continued in Grade 5.
Read a minimum of four chapter books. Check the suggested list in this packet for great ideas! The following are required:
1. One fiction book (realistic fiction, fantasy fiction, historical fiction, science fiction)
2. One nonfiction book (informational, biography, autobiography, memoir)
3. One book of your choice
4. Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly (Please read in late July-early August)
Graphic novels may be read in addition to the four required books.
Keep a list of books you’ve read on the Reading Log provided.
WRITING REQUIREMENTS
ASSIGNMENT #1: Opinion Paragraph
ASSIGNMENT #2: Hello, Universe Character and Plot
Bring your completed summer workbook to class on the first day of school.
WRITING ASSIGNMENT #1
OPINION PARAGRAPH DIRECTIONS
1. Select a fiction book that you chose to read this summer. (You may not choose Hello, Universe.)
2. Complete the chart below by brainstorming at least three reasons why this book captured your attention. Consider writing about these elements of fiction: characters, plot, and setting.
Brainstorm
BOOK TITLE:
AUTHOR:
REASON #1
REASON #2
REASON #3
REASON #4 (optional)
PARAGRAPH:
Write a paragraph explaining why you found this book enjoyable.
1. Write a topic sentence that includes the book title and author.
2. Include at least three supporting sentences using details and examples from the story.
3. Write a closing sentence.
4. Use proper capitalization and punctuation.
5. Use standard spelling.
WRITING ASSIGNMENT #2
Complete this assignment in late July or early August, after you have read Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly.
PART 1: CHARACTERS
For each main character, select a character trait from the list below. Next, prove that this trait fits the character by providing text evidence from the story.
Pick one of these four characters above and explain why they caught your attention. (Does this character remind you of someone you know or have another connection to your life? Explain.)
BONUS: Who is “Just Renee,” and why does the character use this name?
PART II: PLOT
Replay the story of Hello, Universe by numbering the events in the order they happened.
1 - 7 Event
Each week, Virgil goes to the resource room on Thursdays to practice his multiplication table.
Virgil and Gulliver return home, accompanied by Sacred, the dog. Lola assures everyone that Virgil will take care of Sacred.
Virgil and Gulliver meet Kaori and Gen in the spirit chamber, and Virgil shares that he’d like to be friends with a girl whose initials are V.S.
Virgil climbs down a ladder into the well to save Gulliver.
Virgil walks through the woods to find five stones before his Saturday 11:00 am appointment with Kaori.
While in the well, Virgil imagines Pah, an enormous bird, who controls the darkness and torments people.
While snake hunting in the woods, Chet runs into Virgil. He takes Virgil’s backpack and throws it down a well.
Replay the story of Hello, Universe by numbering the events in the order they happened.
1 - 5 Event
Kaori, Gen, and Valencia go to the woods to search for Virgil.
Kaori shares her concern about Virgil with Valencia because he is always prompt and has missed his 11:00 am appointment.
Gen offers her jump rope to help rescue Virgil and Gulliver from the bottom of the well.
Valencia meets Kaori on Saturday at 1:00 pm after seeing her advertisement at the Super Saver grocery store. She’s hoping Kaori can help her get rid of her nightmares.
When the girls meet Chet, Valencia questions the severity of his snakebite.
MATH FUN
Our Grade 4 students have been working hard all year developing and mastering their skills. Fluency of these skills will help them build upon their solid foundation in mathematics and prepare them for Grade 5. The Grade 5 program builds upon their pre-existing foundation, so the time spent reinforcing and practicing these skills will be essential for your child. Just as reading fluently is imperative to reading comprehension and writing development, mastery and fluency of facts is imperative to problem solving and mathematical reasoning. The first four units in Grade 5 rely heavily on the student’s automatic recall of multiplication facts.
SUMMER EXPECTATIONS
• Your child should complete 10 math activities and return the finished booklet on the first day of school.
• In addition, regular fact practice — even just a few minutes a day — will make a tremendous difference.
REFLEX ACCOUNT
SCAN QR CODE FOR ANSWER KEY, GAMES, VIDEOS, AND EXTRA PRACTICE!
Returning students have access to their Reflex account over the summer.
2. What is the quotient and the remainder to the following division problem?
506 ÷ 4 =
Quotient: _____________
Remainder: _____________
3. Using the digits below, create 2, 3-digit numbers whose sum is the smallest possible number. Each number can only be used once.
2 3 4 5 7 8
ACTIVITY #4
MULTIPLICATION
1. Use the following clues to figure out the 3-digit mystery number. All of the digits are different numbers.
Clue #1: The hundreds digit and the tens digit are both multiples of four.
Clue #2: The ones digit is one more than the tens digit.
Clue #3: The ones digit is three less than the hundreds digit.
Clue #4: The number can be divided by five with no remainder.
The mystery number is: ______ ______ ______
2. List the factors of 24 (Hint: There are eight of them). Circle the prime factors.
3. List the first five multiples of 3.
4. Solve the following:
a) 678 x 9 = ______
b) 3796 x 4 = ______
5. Anthony solved some of the problems below. Did he get them correct? If he made a mistake, can you find the correct answer?
Anthony’s Work Is Anthony correct? Your Correction (if needed)
1. Simplify the following fractions:
2. Arrange the fractions in order, starting with the smallest: a) ______ < ______ < ______ b) ______ < ______ < ______ c) ______ < ______ < ______
3. Find the value of the ? = ? = _________
4. What are the missing numbers?
5. Draw a model for the mixed number 2 ¾.
6. In 2 ¾ there are ___________ fourths.
ACTIVITY #6
OPERATIONS WITH FRACTIONS
1. Solve the following: a) + = _______
2. In the teachers lounge, there was 3/5 of an apple pie and 4/5 of a chocolate pie. How many pies are there altogether?
3. Linda drank 3 ¾ cups of coffee. Henry drank 2 ¼ cups of coffee. How many cups did Linda and Henry drink altogether?
4. Jenni had 2 5/8 pies. She gave 1 3/8 pies to her friends. How many pies does she have left?
_______________ pies
5. There are 36 Jedis on the council. 2/9 of them have a blue lightsaber. How many Jedis do not have a blue lightsaber? _______________ Jedis
6. Challenge question! There are 9,485 books in the library. 3/5 of them are fiction and the rest are nonfiction. How many books are nonfiction? A bar model is available for help.
_______________ books are nonfiction
ACTIVITY #7 DECIMALS
1. Arrange the decimals in order, starting with the smallest.
2. Solve the following:
3. Write each number as a decimal:
a) 3 tenths = ______ b) One and five tenths = _____
c) 13 tenths = ______ d) 3 and 8 tenths = _____
4. Fill in the box with the correct decimal numbers on the number line:
5. Write each fraction as a decimal:
1/10 = _______
= ______
ACTIVITY #8 MEASUREMENT
1. Answer the following questions about angles.
a) Write 3 capital letters that ______ ______ ______ contain 2 right angles.
b) Write 3 capital letters that ______ ______ ______ contain at least 1 acute angle.
c) Write 1 capital letter that ______ contains an obtuse angle.
3. Draw an example of the different figures with the given properties.
a) A 4-sided figure with 4 equal sides. ↑ ↑ ↑
b) A 4-sided figure with 1 set of parallel sides and a right angle.
4. Is the following angle 35 degrees or 145 degrees? How do you know?
5. Use the following clock to answer these questions.
a) What time does the clock show?________
b) You started reading a book at the time the clock shows and you read for 45 minutes. What time did you finish reading? ________
c) If the time on the clock represents the time you finished playing outside and you played for 2 hours and 15 minutes, what time did you start playing? ________
d) If you started watching a movie at the time the clock shows and you finished watching the movie at 3:05, how long did you watch the movie? ________
AREA AND PERIMETER
1. Faith, Bishop, Lucy, and Ruben are planting flowers in their gardens. They have each chosen a shape and a single flower color for their garden.
a) What is the area and perimeter of each person’s garden?
Orange Flowers
Pink Flowers
Purple Flowers Yellow Flowers
b) Based on the following statements, which garden belongs to who?
Clue #1: The area of Faith’s and Bishop’s gardens is the same, but the perimeter of Faith’s garden is greater than that of Bishop’s.
Clue #2: The actual number of feet in the perimeter of Faith’s garden is equal to the number of square feet in Ruben’s garden.
Clue #3: The perimeter of Ruben’s garden is greater than the perimeter of Lucy’s garden.
Clue #4: The area of Lucy’s garden is less than the area of Bishop’s garden.
Orange: _________________________
Pink: ____________________________
Yellow: __________________________
Purple: __________________________
2. The length of a garden is 17 feet. The perimeter of the garden is 64 feet. What is the area of the garden? _________________ square feet
WORD PROBLEMS
1. Solve the word problem and show your work:
Leo has 14 fruit trees. He has 1 apple tree and 1 plum tree, and the rest are divided evenly among apricot, pear, and peach trees.
Last Thursday, Leo picked 6 apricots from each apricot tree, 10 peaches from each peach tree, 3 pears from each pear tree, and 4 apples from the apple tree. How many pieces of fruit did Leo pick last Thursday?
pieces of fruit
2. Solve the word problem and show your work:
Penny, Robert, Li Na, Jen, and Chris made 87 cookies altogether.
• Robert made 16 cookies. He put nuts in ¼ of them.
• Penny made 1 less cookie than Robert. 1/3 of them had nuts.
• Li Na and Jen each made 3 more cookies than Penny made.
• Li Na put nuts in ½ of her cookies.
• Jen put nuts in ½ of her cookies.
• Chris put nuts in ¼ of his cookies.
How many cookies in all had nuts?
cookies.
3.
Solve the word problem and show your work:
There are 500 apples and oranges in a crate. There are 156 more apples than oranges.
a) How many oranges are there?
b) How many apples are there?
4. Solve the word problem and show your work:
There are 840 people at Super Saturday. There are 4 times more children than adults.
a) How many more children than adults are there?
b) There are 3 times as many boys as girls. How many boys are there?
