English Language Arts Pre-AP Summer Reading Requirements 2015 Congratulations and welcome to ELA PreAP! One of the first requirements for all 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students enrolled in ELA PreAP is the completion of the summer reading prior to the first day of school. Below is the list of books to choose from for each grade level. Books chosen are to be purchased or checked out at the public library. The summer reading requirements set a foundation of rigor and expectation for all PreAP students, which allows for rich discussion and enrichment the first couple of weeks in their ELA classes.
6th grade
● Bragg, Georgia. How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous ● DePrau, Jeanne. City of Ember ● Korman, Gordon. Schooled ● Lewis, C.S. The Magician’s Nephew
*Summer Reading Companion see attached
7th grade
● Peters, Julie Ann. Define Normal ● Shusterman, Neal. The Schwa Was Here ● Spinelli, Jerry. Crash
*Book Mosaic see attached
8th grade
● Condie, Ally. Matched ● Pearson, Mary E. The Adoration of Jenna Fox ● Sepetys, Ruta. Between Shades of Gray
*Book Mosaic see attached
th 6 grade Summer Reading Companion 2015 Congratulations on being selected for PreAP ELA for the upcoming school year! Your summer reading project consists of you choosing an approved novel from the Summer Reading List, reading it, and filling out this companion during and/or after reading your novel. Either type and print or handwrite your observations on whatever type of paper you wish. As long as you follow the directions below, you may be creative with the product you make to represent the information below. This companion will be turned into your PreAP ELAR teacher during the first week of school. Title:
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Author:
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Fiction Novel Connection Activity Directions: You will complete part one and two if you choose to read one of the fiction novel choices: City of Ember , Schooled , or The Magician’s Nephew . 1.) Character Descriptions
For each character, write a description of their physical features, and how they are important to the story. For major characters you will probably write at least one paragraph about them. For minor characters, you may write only one or two sentences. Make sure you label who the protagonist and antagonist are in the story (if you aren’t familiar with these terms, look them up in the dictionary). 2.) Summary Timeline : Directions for this section: Create a timeline of 10 or more important events that take place in the novel. Write at least one sentence for each event, and include a picture or symbol to represent that event. These events should be placed on the timeline in chronological order.
NonFiction Novel Connection Activity Directions: If you choose to read the novel How They Croaked , you will choose three of the people discussed in the book, and for each of the three people, you will complete one of the activities below. You may choose to do the same activity repeated three times, you may complete each separate activity for a different person, or any combination in between.
Activity Choice #1: Comic Strip Creation You will create between a six and nine panel comic strip that tells the reader of your comic strip about the character you choose. For example, if you choose King Tut as one of your characters, your comic strip can explain how he was mummified, or what the explorers would have found when they discovered his tomb in 1922. ● Between six and nine panels for your comic strip ● Your comic strip should be in color ● It must clearly explain some or all of the information presented about this person Activity Choice #2: Top Ten List You will create a list of the ten most important pieces of information you learned from reading about this person. Anything in their section is fair game. Activity Choice #3: Write an Obituary for the Character Obituaries are written and published in a newspaper after someone dies. These are for people who don’t know the person too well to get a better understanding of that person’s life. Some of these ideas will be easy to find directly from the text, but other ideas you may need to infer from what you are reading. This obituary should be between ½ and one full page either handwritten or typed. For your obituary, you will need to think about including the following things:
● The name of your person ● Their birth and death dates ● How they died ● Some important things people should know about this person, such as: ○ Their job, or accomplishments in life ○ Interesting things about their life ○ Any family members they may have
7th grade Pre-AP ELA Summer Reading Book Mosaic The project is a major grade worth 60%.
Directions: You are going to create a mosaic of ideas, quotes, thoughts, etc. about your novel. Your mosaic will contain 12 squares. Using a ruler and pen/marker, divide a piece of cardstock, printer paper, or construction paper into 12 squares. DO NOT FOLD UP THE PAPER TO GET THE SQUARES . Your paper should not be any larger than 11”X17” and not smaller than 8.5”X11”. You will be evaluated on depth of thought, neatness, creativity, spelling/grammar, and following instructions. We NEVER use pencil on projects or major assignments. Some students choose to type the information for the boxes and paste the information into the boxes.
Title and Author of Book
Overall tone of the novel with an explanation.
Figurative Language…text evidence in MLA format that shows either a simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification, etc. Label the figurative language.
One word that best describes the main character.
Piece of text evidence in MLA format that paints a sensory picture (imagery) in your mind…
Unfamiliar Word ~ quote the sentence in MLA format, underline the word. Write the definition for the word.
Text evidence in MLA format that reinforces the word you chose for your main character.
Identify a conflict in the novel and explain how the conflict is resolved.
Personal connection ~ How do you connect to the novel? Explain.
Picture of something that reminds you of your main character with an explanation of why it reminds you of the character~ you may draw, cut from magazines, or use clip art.
Describe the setting of your novel. Include several pieces of text evidence to reinforce your description. Text evidence should be in MLA format.
Evaluation of the novel ~ What did you think? Would you recommend the novel to a friend? Explain.
Example of MLA format: “The quick, brown fox jumped over the fence” (56). (notice that sentence punctuation is outside the parenthesis)
th 8 grade Book Mosaic
Directions: You are going to create a mosaic of ideas, quotes, thoughts, etc. about your summer reading novel. Your mosaic will contain at least 16 squares. ∙ Responses using text must be in MLA format
Title and Author of Book
Picture of Main Character (Drawing, clip from magazine, newspaper, or clip art)
Picture of Setting (Drawing, clip from magazine, newspaper, or clip art)
Vocabulary Word (word as it appears in context and definition)
Statement of Tone (with text evidence)
Writer’s Craft (the author’s voice – how the author uses diction to get his/her ideas to the reader: text evidence).
Identify conflict (type of conflict with text evidence)
Picture of something important to main character (Explain the importance).
Quote (a quote from the book that you like)
Vocabulary Word (word as it appears in context and definition)
A significant event (describe the event and the significance of the event to the plot of the story)
Identify conflict (type of conflict with text evidence)
Statement of Theme (What is the Theme and why?)
A picture that connects to a literary element. Label the literary element & draw or cut out a picture that connects. Write about the connection.
Mood – provide text evidence from novel.
Quote (a quote from the book that you like)
