7th Grade Summer Reading
7th Grade Summer Reading Summer 2016 Dear Rising 7th Grade Students, In The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, the protagonist says, “You read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.” This quote is about how sometimes a book is so good, it changes the way you see your life or the world, and you want everyone to read it and have the same experience you did. We hope that all of our students find books they love to read this summer. As a means of moving you in the right direction, we ask you to do the following: 1. Read at least 3-4 books this summer. Consult the Upper School book list for suggestions. Read at least one book from your grade level or higher from the list. Accelerated students should read two books from the list. The others can be of your choosing. 2. For each book that you read, complete a reading response from the attached list of possible response topics. a. Each response needs to be at least a half page long, double spaced. b. For each response, make sure your name, the title of the book (correctly punctuated!), the author’s name, and the number of pages are written in the upper left hand corner. Please do not include the heading as part of your half page summary. c. Please note that there is an attached rubric to help you know how we will assess your responses when you return. d. Please proofread your work! 3. Challenge yourself: Looking for a way to stretch yourself a little this summer? a. Read more than 4 books. (Fill out the reading log with any additional books) b. Aim to make your responses a little longer—do this by adding more depth and detail to your responses. c. Read books of a variety of different genres. Try some fiction and non-fiction. Books give us rare and magical opportunities: to time travel, to experience different worlds, to engage with the imaginations of others, to reflect on our own journeys and, in the words of John Green, to heal the shattered world. Happy reading! The Upper School English Department
Suggestions for Reading Response Topics
Write about your favorite part of the book and why it was important to the story. Explore how the main character changed throughout the story. Write about something that surprised you or that you found interesting. Describe an interesting or important character in your book. Describe parts of the book that puzzled you or made you ask questions. Write about an important lesson that was learned in the story. Tell your thoughts or feelings about the theme of the story. Write your predictions about the story and tell whether or not they were right. Explain how the book reminds you of yourself, people you know, or of something that happened in your life (Text to Self Connections). Explain how the book reminds you of other books, especially the characters, events, or setting (Text to Text Connections). Describe how this book is like other books by the same author, on the same topic, or in the same genre. Retell the ending of the story AND write your feelings about it. Describe the author's craft: What was good about the author's writing? What things might you try to do in your own writing that you learned from this author? Explain why you think that your book is popular with students in the class (if it is popular with other readers in the class). Would you recommend the book to another reader? Explain why or why not. Describe what you would change about the book if you could rewrite it. Describe in details the setting of your book and how it fits into the story. Write a letter to a character in the book or a letter from one character to another. Write a diary entry in the voice of a character in your book. Compare two characters in the book to each other by describing their similarities and their differences. Compare a character in your book to a character in another book you have read. Make a list of “lingering questions” you have after finishing the book. What would you and your favorite character talk about in your conversation? Begin the conversation. Do you think the title fits the book? Why or why not? What was the author saying about life and living through this book? Has the book helped you in any way? Explain.
How have you changed after reading this book? Explain What do you know now that you didn’t know before? What questions in this book would you like answered? What do I think will happen next? Explain why you think this. What does the writer’s purpose seem to be? What do I notice about characters, setting, and point of view? My favorite character is…….because….. I can relate to…. Because… If I was the author, I’d change….. because… Something that doesn’t make sense about this story is… because… If I were….(character in story), I’d…..because… I believe the author wanted the reader to……because…
Name _____________________________________________________ 3 2 Details from Text Two or more details One or two details are are used from the text. used from the text. Details may be either Details are only explicit or implicit. implicit. The details The details from the somewhat support and text clearly and respond to the completely support question. the response. Elaboration of Ideas Response Response demonstrates a high demonstartes an level of interpretive interperative and and evaluated evaluated understanding of the understanding of the reading. Raises reading. May raise questions and questions and illustrates insight into illustrate some insight reading. Goes beyond into reading. May an elaborate have more summary summary. than response. Mechanics Sentences begin with a captial and have end punctuation. Sentences are smooth and complete. Writing is Mostly correct. Elements of the Reading response Reading log includes: (upper left corner) --Title --Author --Pages --Date Completed The response question should be included before beginnign the response. Score: ____________ / 10
1 No or only one detail from the text is used in the written reading response. The detail has no connection or support to the response. Response is no more than an elaborate summary.
Writing is somewhat correct, but has some proofreading errors.
Reading log is missing one or more of the required parts.
Suggestions for Reading Response Topics
Write about your favorite part of the book and why it was important to the story. Explore how the main character changed throughout the story. Write about something that surprised you or that you found interesting. Describe an interesting or important character in your book. Describe parts of the book that puzzled you or made you ask questions. Write about an important lesson that was learned in the story. Tell your thoughts or feelings about the theme of the story. Write your predictions about the story and tell whether or not they were right. Explain how the book reminds you of yourself, people you know, or of something that happened in your life (Text to Self Connections). Explain how the book reminds you of other books, especially the characters, events, or setting (Text to Text Connections). Describe how this book is like other books by the same author, on the same topic, or in the same genre. Retell the ending of the story AND write your feelings about it. Describe the author's craft: What was good about the author's writing? What things might you try to do in your own writing that you learned from this author? Explain why you think that your book is popular with students in the class (if it is popular with other readers in the class). Would you recommend the book to another reader? Explain why or why not. Describe what you would change about the book if you could rewrite it. Describe in details the setting of your book and how it fits into the story. Write a letter to a character in the book or a letter from one character to another. Write a diary entry in the voice of a character in your book. Compare two characters in the book to each other by describing their similarities and their differences. Compare a character in your book to a character in another book you have read. Make a list of “lingering questions” you have after finishing the book. What would you and your favorite character talk about in your conversation? Begin the conversation. Do you think the title fits the book? Why or why not? What was the author saying about life and living through this book? Has the book helped you in any way? Explain.
How have you changed after reading this book? Explain What do you know now that you didn’t know before? What questions in this book would you like answered? What do I think will happen next? Explain why you think this. What does the writer’s purpose seem to be? What do I notice about characters, setting, and point of view? My favorite character is…….because….. I can relate to…. Because… If I was the author, I’d change….. because… Something that doesn’t make sense about this story is… because… If I were….(character in story), I’d…..because… I believe the author wanted the reader to……because…
Name _____________________________________________________ 3 2 Details from Text Two or more details One or two details are are used from the text. used from the text. Details may be either Details are only explicit or implicit. implicit. The details The details from the somewhat support and text clearly and respond to the completely support question. the response. Elaboration of Ideas Response Response demonstrates a high demonstartes an level of interpretive interperative and and evaluated evaluated understanding of the understanding of the reading. Raises reading. May raise questions and questions and illustrates insight into illustrate some insight reading. Goes beyond into reading. May an elaborate have more summary summary. than response. Mechanics Sentences begin with a captial and have end punctuation. Sentences are smooth and complete. Writing is Mostly correct. Elements of the Reading response Reading log includes: (upper left corner) --Title --Author --Pages --Date Completed The response question should be included before beginnign the response. Score: ____________ / 10
1 No or only one detail from the text is used in the written reading response. The detail has no connection or support to the response. Response is no more than an elaborate summary.
Writing is somewhat correct, but has some proofreading errors.
Reading log is missing one or more of the required parts.
