Dear Students and Families,
Happy summer! Perfect time to relax, with your nose in a book!
Over the summer, it’s important to keep the up the habit of reading—for personal pleasure, to build a strong vocabulary, and for exposure to new ideas and worlds. With these goals in mind, students are expected to complete a summer reading log and record their responses to a number of books over the summer. Students should choose books based on their interests and reading level, aiming to include at least one book that is a personal “challenge.” This challenge could be based on the complexity of the writing in the book, or maybe because the book is a departure from their preferred genre.
Incoming sixth graders are required to read two books over the summer. Incoming seventh and eighth graders are required to read three books over the summer, with at least one non-fiction choice. Students should keep a list of their summer reading (attached). Students will turn this list in during the first week of school. Yes, these assignments are part of their fall grade, and we will continue this personal reading project once we are back together at school. And yes, of course you can read and record more than the minimum!
But what should I read? Is this book a good book? How about this one?
I don’t have a definitive answer to those questions! Instead, here are some recommendation lists to get you started to find out the answer for yourself. Experiment with audio books, new authors, and new genres! Some books are available as ebooks or audiobooks through Synergy Library, and of course the public libraries offer these too. Read the first page to check and make sure it’s a good level for you—not too easy but not something that would be painfully hard going either. Don’t forget about graphic novels, short stories, essay collections, and other text types like magazines!
In Language Arts next year, the sixth graders will be reading The Giver by Lois Lowry and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Seventh graders will be reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Eighth graders will read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. However, these whole class novel choices are subject to change depending on the class’ interests. Please feel free to either read these over the summer to get a head start, or to avoid them so you are pleasantly surprised when we read them together!
Don’t be limited by this list! Explore recommendations from the library, friends, parents, teachers, the internet… The possibilities are endless, and there’s a whole word of amazing writing for you to explore!
Online Lists: There are a number of fantastic book recommendation lists online. GoodReads has a lot of lists composed by users around different themes, including “middle school reads.” Most publishers (like Scholastic and PrenticeHall) also have recommendation lists targeted at middle school or young adult readers. Here are a few places to get started looking online:
- http://time.com/100-best-young-adult-books/
- Time collated the most recommended young adult books in a pretty image focused format that you can click through- because they are the 100 best, they vary in level and from modern reads to classics
- http://www.ala.org/yalsa/2015-best-fiction-young-adults
- Fantastic list by the American Library association that is perfect for those who have read everything, since all the books are from 2015. Some of them are more appropriate for more mature teen readers.
- http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1606.Top_100_Middle_School_Must_Read
- A comprehensive list that includes both fiction and non-fiction, classics and new reads. I love how GoodReads has so many reviews and breaks everything down into all their sub-genres.
- http://www.phschool.com/curriculum_support/reading_list/middle_school.htm
- There are a number of books on here I haven’t read, but they look interesting. Some non-fiction and culturally diverse choices.
- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/teens-teen-books/379003056/
- Focused on fiction books and “teen reads.” But it’s an engaging website with video content and lots of pretty book covers.
Here’s the full summer reading letter and recommendation lists: summer reading June 2015
And here’s the chart to complete as you read: summer reading chart
Happy reading! 🙂
In the sixth and seventh grades, students have been drafting and refining their research reports. We’ve talked about structure and what questions each paragraph answers, especially about how to make an effective conclusion that answers “so what?” about the topic as a whole. We’ve also returned to the persuasive writing starters and completed essays about The Book Thief or The House on Mango Street.
This week, we spent a lot of time researching and writing! We are doing two things in the 6th and 7th grades right now: writing novel response essays about themes and researching for the history projects. I’m impressed by how students’ qu
In 8th grade, students have begun writing their report about their eighth grade project topic, and I am already learning a lot about a variety of things: from peanut butter to the Titanic! Mark your calendars for Tuesday, April 29th from 4:30 to 6:30 for their presentations: it should be an informative evening!
Phew! I’m ready for a week to look over your poems, quotes, maps, essays, memoirs, blogs, and also, honestly, catch up on my sleep! I hope you all get a chance to recharge and relax as well, and I look forward to hearing all your adventurous or lazy stories when we’re back.
Synergy Language Arts 