ORATORY PIECESFourth Grade

THE ORATOR… THE LISTENER…

stands up straight, makes eye contact, and looks confident.

has prepared and obviously practiced.

speaks loudly and clearly. Their voice is easy to hear.

speaks with expression that makes your presentation interesting and helps the audience understand the message.

has their eyes on the speaker.

listens to the speaker.

has a silent voice. keeps their hands

still and to themselves.

sits up and keeps their feet still.

WE MUST BE POLITE(LESSONS FOR CHILDREN ON HOW TO BEHAVE UNDER PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES)BY: CARL SANDBURG

If we meet a gorilla, what shall we do?Two things we may doif we so wish to do.Speak to the gorilla,very, very respectfully,“How do you do, sir?”Or, speak to him with lessdistinction of manner,“Hey, why don’t you go back where you came from?”   

If an elephant knocks on your doorand asks for something to eat,there are two things to say:Tell him there are nothing but coldvictuals in the house and he will dobetter next door.Or say: We have nothing but six bushelsof potatoes- will that be enough foryour breakfast, sir?  

O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAINBY WALT WHITMAN1. O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:But O heart! heart! heart!O the bleeding drops of red,Where on the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.

2. O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills; For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding;For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;Here Captain! dear father!This arm beneath your head;It is some dream that on the deck,You've fallen cold and dead.

3. My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!But I, with mournful tread,Walk the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.

THE GETTYSBURGADDRESS By Abraham Lincoln November 19, 1863 Given in Gettysburg, PA at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg. Senator Charles Sumner said, “The world noted at

once what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech.”

The words are engraved in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

All: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Part 1: Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

Part 2: But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

Part 3: It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion –

All - …that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS BY ABRAHAM LINCOLNAll: Four score and seven years

ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Part 1: Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

Part 2: But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

Part 3: It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion –

All - …that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

The Gettysburg Address, By Abraham Lincoln

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

By Robert FrostWhose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though;He will not mind me stopping hereTo see his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse nearBetween the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shakeTo ask if there is some mistake.The only other sound's the sweepOf easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.

The Road Not TakenBy Robert FrostTwo roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claimBecause it was grassy and wanted wear,Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to wayI doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.

NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBE ORATORY Select one fact of importance about your

Native American tribe. (It should be one sentence). You will have five minutes to choose and write

your fact on a notecard. We will practice delivering the facts as

orators, paying special attention to volume and clarity.

THE NEW COLOSSUSBY EMMA LAZARUS

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries sheWith silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

JOYCE KILMER… …was an American writer and poet mainly remembered

for a short poem titled "Trees" (1913), which was published in the collection Trees and Other Poems in 1914.

Though a prolific poet whose works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his Roman Catholic religious faith, Kilmer was also a journalist, literary critic, lecturer, and editor.

He enlisted in the New York National Guard in WWI and was deployed to France with the 69th Infantry Regiment (the famous "Fighting 69th") in 1917. He was killed by a sniper's bullet at the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918 at the age of 31.

He was married to Aline Murray, also an accomplished poet and author, with whom he had five children.

Kilmer's companions wrote: "He was worshipped by the men about him. I have heard them speak with awe of his coolness and his nerve in scouting patrols in No Man's Land.” This coolness and his habit of choosing, with typical enthusiasm, the most dangerous and difficult missions, led to his death.

(1886-1918), his 1908 Columbia University yearbook photo.

TREESBY: JOYCE KILMERI think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.