Ah yes, it’s that time of year, when the evenings get longer, the days blend together, and… there’s still homework!! Actually, summer is the perfect time for curling up with a good book and escaping into another world, and the summer homework is focused on maintaining your habit of personal reading.
Sixth graders are required to read two books over the summer. Seventh and Eighth graders are required to read three books over the summer, with at least one non-fiction choice. All middle schoolers are required to read a challenge book—something that is difficult for you or different from your usual reading. Please keep a list of your summer reading (attached). You are required to turn this list in during the first week of school. Yes, these assignments are part of your fall grade, and we will continue this personal reading project once we are back together at school. 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! This recommendation list compiled from a variety of sources was last updated in May 2014.
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, and another book depending on student interest. 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!
You don’t need to be limited by this list! 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:
o This infographic has your fiction needs covered!
o Fantastic list by the American Library association that is perfect for those who have read everything, since all the books are from 2014. Some of them are more appropriate for slightly older teen readers.
o 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.
o There are a number of books on here I haven’t read, but they look interesting. Some non-fiction and culturally diverse choices.
o A great list with lots of fantastic titles, but no descriptions, unfortunately.
o Focused on fiction books and “teen reads.” But it’s an engaging website with video content and lots of pretty book covers.
And of course, ask real, live people! Try your friends, your parents, librarians, and teachers!
The Summer Reading Letter is HERE
The Summer Reading Chart is HERE
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 