SEVENTH AND EIGHTH GRADE ENGLISH
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT
The learning process is lifelong and ongoing. This summer's assignments provide students an opportunity to maintain their writing and reading skills, preparing them for a great start to the following school year. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions you may have regarding how to complete each assignment at rcastellano@saintpats.org . Thank you!
**Clarification - Please complete the following assignment for your assigned Classic Fiction only: Wind in the Willows (7th) and Adventures of Tom Sawyer (8th).
After reading your assigned novels for the summer, the following will be completed by the end of the first two weeks of school. Please type your assignments.
*A summary - summarize each chapter of the book in your own words. A summary should be able to give someone an idea of what the major events were of the section of reading that you are summarizing. An efficient summary will give a beginning, middle and end, making sure to include major events and development of main characters.
(Eighth grade - Your assigned classic Adventures of Tom Sawyer has thirty-six chapters. Please create a summary every two chapters for a total of eighteen entries)
*Four journal entries - Dividing the book up into quarters (four parts), create a journal entry that responds to each of the four parts of your book. This is not a summary, but a place to react to and give analysis for what you've read. For example, you can comment on the development of the main character. Do you relate to him/her at all? How are you different? Does anything about the novel so far surprise you? Do you think this book is worthy of being called a classic?
You can add anything you'd like, keeping in mind that this is a place for your to respond and react, NOT summarize! Each entry should be one full paragraph.
*Vocabulary - create a list of twenty vocabulary words the you have newly encountered. Define each of them, note the part of speech (verb, adjective, noun, etc.), and give a sentence as an example. Your sentence should include enough context that hints at the meaning of the vocabulary word.
**Create a "treasure box" that includes items representing themes, events or other ideas from the book. Try to reach beyond the literal into symbolic. Are there pictures from your own life that mirror events in the book? Is there another book that reminds you of this one? Perhaps materials from the outdoors would fit well. How about the container/box itself? Is there a container that would resemble the theme or main ideas in your novel?
*These assignments will be due within the first two weeks of school. PLEASE BE SURE that your reading is done ahead of time to avoid being "slammed" by work. In addition to these assignments, an essay will be assigned as well, however, we will review writing traits first.
**This assignment is due the SECOND day of class.