World of Inquiry7th Grade

Summer Reading

Dear Crew,

As you already know, the time a child spends reading leads to advanced proficiency in all academic subjects. We ask your help in providing a positive and enthusiastic attitude toward reading. This positive attitude is important regardless of your child’s current interest level in reading. Making reading a priority in your home will greatly impact your child’s future success.

Please feel free to call or email me with any questions. I “go off the grid” several times over the summer, but will do my best to respond within 48 hours. I look forward to seeing you all in September!

Sincerely,The 7th Grade Team

What You Should Know About Reading(Adapted from Jim Trelease, author of The Read Aloud Handbook)

Across the world, children who read the most, read the best. And that includes all social levels-rich or poor, urban or suburban. Among all incomes, the more they read at home, the higher they scored in literacy tests.

A child needs reading in order to master other subjects. It’s extremely

difficult to do word problems in math if you can’t read the words. How can you answer the questions in social studies if you can’t read and understand the textbook?

Reading at home is extremely important. A child spends 900 hours a year in school and 7800 hours at home.

Reading research shows that children who come from homes with the most print resources- books, magazines, and newspapers- have the highest reading scores. They also use the library more than those with lower scores.

There is a strong connection between over-viewing of TV by children and under-achieving in school. Simply put: those who watch the most TV, know the least. Research shows that up to 10 TV hours a week has no impact on children’s grades, but beyond that the grades decline.

Directions for Summer Reading

Students will read one fiction and one non-fiction book this summer. All students are expected to read a minimum of 30 minutes per day, five days a week (about 50 pages per week).

It is important that students like their summer reading, so if your student has a book or series he or she is dying to read, encourage him or her to do so. You can find recommended reading on my teacher website through the school 58 portal.

Some students will read with gusto, others are more reluctant. In order to structure the reading routine without killing the joy, students should complete 3 short journal entries, or “metalogs” per week.

Students should get connected with the public library. This is a place for you. Please visit the nearest public library or visit teen central downtown to discover the newest, hottest reads, as well as classes, groups, and other opportunities. Have your metalog signed by the librarian for extra credit.

Students will complete one “Book Talk.” This should be done on the book the student enjoyed most. Please see the documents and directions, which can also be found on my web page.

Students should also get plenty of fresh air and exercise! It is recommended that books be taken to parks and/or read under trees whenever possible!

Recommended ReadingFictionHunger Games by Suzanne CollinsHouse on Mango Street by Sandra CisnerosThe Giver by Lois LowryStargirl by Jerry SpinelliThe Outsiders by S.E. HintonPercy Jackson and the Olympians (or other books from this series) by Rick RiordanHoles by Lois SacharThe Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman AlexieLittle Women by Louisa May AlcottZ for Zachariah by Robert O’BrienA Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’EngleAnything by Gary Paulsen, Sharon G. Flake, Angela Draper, or Walter Dean MyersBronx Masquerade by Nikki GrimesWonder by R.J. Palacio Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Chomp by Carl HiaasenLiar & Spy by Rebecca The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick Additional Fiction Titles: http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/middle-school-fiction

Non-Fiction Twelve Mighty Orphans by Jim DentTwice Toward Justice by Claudette ColvinInto the West: From Reconstruction to the Final Days of the American FrontierWomen of the Frontier: 16 Tales of Trailblazing Homesteaders, Entrepreneurs and Rabble-Rousers by Brandon Marie MillerWe’ve Got the Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March

Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the HolocaustPhineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science by John FleischmanThe Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankBad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal by Vaunda Micheaux NelsonMaterial World: A Global Family Portrait by Peter MenzelImmersed in Verse: An Informative, Slightly Irreverent & Hilarious Guide to Living the Poet’s Life by Alan WolfWhat Are You?: Voices of Mixed-Race Young People by Fuyo GaskinsNever Cry Wolf by Farely MowatAdditional Non-Fiction titles http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/middle-school-nonfiction

Non-fiction by category: http://www.downersgrovelibrary.org/teens/great_reads/nonfiction.php:

Adventure and Travel

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston - 2004, 354p.Ralston recounts the harrowing story of his near death and self-amputation alone on a canyon wall in Utah.

Men of Salt: Crossing the Sahara on the Caravan of White Gold by Michael Benanav - 2006, 220p.A perilous journey across the desert leads to a glimpse at a vanishing way of life in the ancient salt trade.

Frost on My Moustache: The Arctic Exploits of a Lord and a Loafer by Tim Moore - 2000, 280p.Travels across Iceland by boat and mountain bike retrace the steps of a once famous explorer in this darkly humorous travelogue.

Animals

The Lost Pet Chronicles: Adventures of a K–9 Cop Turned Pet Detective by Kat Albrecht - 2004, 243p.A fascinating peek into the life of a cop turned pet detective and the lives she helped save.

Babylon’s Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo by Lawrence Anthony - 2007, 248 p.Terrific tale about how Iraqis, a South African conservationist and American soldiers saved the animals of the Baghdad Zoo in April 2003 after the Baghdad Zoo was bombed during the opening days of the Iraq war.Zamba by Ralph Helfer - 2005, 258p.The inventor of "affection training" for Hollywood's screen animals tells of his relationship with a lion cub.CrimeFlim-Flam Man: A True Family History by Jennifer Vogel - 2004, 213 p.An absorbing memoir of the author’s beloved father who also happened to be a liar and criminal.

True Notebooks: A Writer’s Year at Juvenile Hall by Mark Salzman - 2003, 330 p.These thoughts of teens behind bars are full of insight and emotion.

Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case by Chris Crowe - 2003, 128 p.A bold and honest look at how young Emmett Till’s murder ignited the spark of America’s civil rights movement.HistoryEinstein's Refrigerator: And Other Stories from the Flip Side of History by Steve Silverman - 2001, 183p.Off-beat stories from the annals of science history. See more at his website, www.uselessinformation.org.

Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, WWII's Forgotten Heroes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 2004, 302p.

Abdul-Jabbar chronicles the bravery of Patton's all-black tank battalion and its 183 days on the front lines at the Battle of the Bulge.

War by Sebastian Junger - 2010, 287p.In this riveting combat narrative Junger spends 14 months in 2007–2008 intermittently embedded with a platoon of the 173rd Airborne brigade in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, one of the bloodiest corners of the conflict.

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Phillip Gourevitch - 1999, 355p.In Rwanda, after 800,000 ethnic Hutus are murdered in 100 days the survivors try to rebuild their lives while awaiting the slow-moving justice system.

Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa by Mark Mathabane - 1986, 354p.Mathabane's hopeless life in Johannesburg is full of violence and poverty, but he is determined to get out.

Real Life StoriesBorn on a Blue Day: A Memoir: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet - 2007, 226 p.Recounting his long struggle to emotionally connect with others, Tammet vividly describes his childhood and adolescence as an autistic savant.

Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood by Jennifer Traig - 2004, 246p.In this humorous memoir, the author recalls her experiences as a child with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Working Fire: The Making of an Accidental Fireman by Zac Unger - 2004, 262p.This action-packed story of life as a firefighter tells it from the inside.

The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream by Sampson Davis - 2002, 248p.Three black high school students who vow to finish college together must rely on each other to keep from returning to the streets.

Mr. Gatling’s Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It by Julia Keller - 2008, 294 p.Both a biography of Richard J. Gatling and an analysis of how his invention permanently changed warfare. It created a blueprint for future rapid-fire weapons and contributed to American military success, yet it also produced unprecedented carnage that forever changed the way people looked at war.

The Full Burn: On the Set, at the Bar, Behind the Wheel, and Over the Edge with Hollywood Stuntmen by Kevin Conley - 2008, 218 p.Conley visited the sets of action films to talk with Hollywood stuntmen and women.

Clara’s War: One Girl’s Story of Survival by Clara Kramer - 2009, 339 p.Chronicling the 18 months she spent as a teen hiding with other polish Jews under Nazi occupation.

Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran by Ruya Hakakian - 2004, 245 p.A haunting story of being a Jewish teenager in Tehran as civil rights are stripped away.

Shane Comes Home by Rinker Buck - 2005, 272p.The moving story of the first American killed in the Iraq War.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah - 2007, 229 p.A former child soldier in Sierra Leone recalls the heart-wrenching experiences that transformed him from an innocent 12-year-old into a cold-blooded killer.

Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board by Bethany Hamilton - 2004, 213p.

Could you return to the water after losing an arm in a shark attack? Hamilton did.

Like Family: Growing Up in Other People's Houses: A Memoir by Paula McLain - 2003, 260p.Growing up shuffled between foster homes, the author records the wretched conditions she and her sisters endured.

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls - 2005, 288p.This unusual memoir of making it on your own while living with your parents is full of the "adventures" of being homeless.

Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood by Julie Gregory - 2003, 244p.This astounding story describes a life crippled by an insidious form of child abuse, and the struggle to move beyond it.

Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos - 2002, 199p.Gantos tells a true and gripping tale about his teenage years in jail for trafficking drugs.

ScienceHidden Evidence: 40 True Crimes and How Forensic Science Helped Solve Them by David Owen - 2000, 240p.The world of forensic crime fights for justice with the invisible.

Silent Snow: The Slow Poisoning of the Arctic by Marla Cone - 2005, 246p.A wake up call to change our thinking and behavior to salvage our Arctic environment.

Count Down: Six Kids Vie for Glory at the World's Toughest Math Competition by Steve Olson - 2004, 244p.This story of the 2001 Math Olympiad and its U.S. team shows that math is not just for nerds.

The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe by Theodore Gray - 2009, 240 p.The 118 elements of the periodic table are photographed and described with humor, style and authority.

The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero by Robert Kaplan - 2000, 225p.It's amazing how interesting a book about nothing can be.

Spix’s Macaw: The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird by Tony Juniper - 2003, 287p.Rare parrots sold on the black market can go for $40,000. There is only one Spix's macaw left in the wild—can it survive?

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach - 2003, 303p.For anyone interested in what happens when you donate your body to science, this humorously macabre work shines some light on the bizarre details of your entrails.

The Radioactive Boy Scout: The True Story of a Boy and His Backyard Nuclear Reactor by Ken Silverstein - 2004, 209p.Quiet David Hahn sidesteps his dysfunctional family to create a dangerously effective reactor in the middle of his suburban neighborhood.

Electric Dreams: One Unlikely Team of Kids and the Race to Build the Car of the Future by Caroline Kettlewell - 2004, 290p.This true tale of a high school competition to convert an automobile into an electric vehicle is full of characters and will leave you "shocked."

SportsGlory Road: My Story of the 1966 NCAA Basketball Championship and How One Team Triumphed Against the Odds and Changed America Forever by Don Haskins - 2006, 254p.Haskins changed the face of college basketball by introducing great players who were black.

Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams by Darcy Frey - 1996, 230p.Frey followed four star players, including Stephon Marbury, from Lincoln High’s basketball team in New York. When you’re a talented basketball player from the projects, there are a million things that can go wrong, and only one thing that can go right.

The Jump: Sebastian Telfair and the High Stakes Business of High School Ball by Ian O'Connor - 2005, 307p.If you were a high school basketball player in a gang-ridden neighborhood and the NBA wanted you in the draft, would you make the jump?

The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It by Neal Bascomb - 2004,322p.Breaking the four-minute mile had never been done, but in 1954 three men were determined to be the first to do it.

Blood in the Cage: Pat Miletich and the Furious Rise of the UFC by Jon L. Wertheim - 2009, 251 p.A look into the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and its rival organizations and its rise into the mainstream. Focuses on Pat Miletich, who runs the most famous MMA training school in the world.

Between Boardslides and Burnout: My Notes from the Road by Tony Hawk - 2002, 169p.The skateboarding superstar's competitive travels and adventures in words and pictures.

Weekly Book MetalogUse these sentence starters to journal about what you have read. Record each entry in your metalog. At the end of each week you will write your 7th grade ELA teacher a letter about your reading. It should be at least 3 paragraphs long.

I wonder… When I read…it made me think of… I found…interesting because… Something I’d like to investigate further is… If I were (character’s name), I would… I feel…because… This (character or event) reminds me of… I think the character most like me is…because… A question I have about this concept/theme/topic/vocabulary

word is… Based on what I read today, I visualize that… I started to think about…, so I… I struggled to understand…, so I… I got stuck when…and so I… My book annoyed me because… The time went quickly because… I figured out that… At first I thought that…but then I realized… I finally understood…

Use a sentence starter from the list to describe your thoughts while reading. Week of______________

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Book Talk Assignment

For your Book Talk, you will give one 3 minute presentation on a book you’ve read over the summer. The purpose of a book talk is to convince the listener to read the book you are recommending. This book talk is essentially a persuasive speech to convince the listener that they should read a specific book.

A book talk is very similar to a trailer for a film, which shows you just enough information to convince you that you should watch the movie.

The book talk will cover some elements of the novel, but you should focus much of your time on the plot, themes and conflict in the novel. NO SPOILERS!!! (Don’t give away anything juicy.)

Your presentation must include a visual aid, such as an illustration or original book cover, poster, power-point, or google presentation. If you are super tech-y, you might have an even better idea.

Presentation Outline:

Attention getter: Find an interesting, exciting, or mysterious quote to start off your presentation. This quote will get the reader’s attention. Don’t just pick any old quote… choose carefully and deliberately to try to capture the attention of the audience. Also explain why you chose the quote.

Introduction: Clearly introduce your book by giving the title, author and genre of the book.

Body: Describe the setting, characters, and plot of the book without giving too much away of the story. What is the main conflict? What themes are developed? What lessons do characters learn? Please use precise and descriptive language. Don’t just give a list of characters. Don’t over-summarize. (Hint—you are doing this if you find yourself saying “and” too much.)

Conclusion: Without giving away the ending, convince the reader that you loved this book and that this is the book they want to read next. Make some predictions about what kind of student would enjoy this book (“if you like…, you’ll love…”).

Tips:

Practice your presentation a few times before you present. Time yourself. Use note-cards or an outline. This will prevent nerves.

Alternative: Students can pre-record a book-talk and upload it to youtube.com. All other requirements are the same. Search “book talks” or “book trailers” on youtube.com for examples.

Organizer:

Attention-Getter (Quote to hook the audience)

Introduction (Title, Author, Genre)

Body (Describe the plot, characters, conflict, themes, lessons learned without giving too much away!)

Conclusion (Why you loved the book, and why other students should read it—be specific)

An example of a short Book Talk on The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman:

(Attention-Getter)

“There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.” 

(Intro)

The Graveyard Book is a fictional novel by Neil Gaiman, who also wrote Coraline.

(Body)

In this book, Neil Gaiman tells the story of Nobody Owens, known as Bod.  On the night his parents are brutally murdered, 2 year old Bod calmly climbs out of his crib and toddles out of the house and into a nearby cemetery.  There he is adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Owens (childless and dead for 250 years!)  who gladly care for the child and protect him from harm.

With loving ghostly parents, teachers, friends, and protectors, Bod grows from age two to fifteen in the graveyard.  He learns to read and do numbers, and he also learns some ghostly skills.  But not all the residents of the graveyard are friendly.  There are witches, ghouls and creatures and let’s not forget Jack – the evil fiend who is out to finish the job he started.

(Conclusion)

Filled with great illustrations, this is a funny, exciting and suspenseful story.  How will Bod survive?  Or will he?  Can his loving family and friends really protect him from the evil Jack?  This delightfully gruesome and very English tale will certainly appeal to both boys and girls who like adventure stories, suspense and some action. The Graveyard Book won the Newbery Award in 2009, and the awards said that the book is a “delicious mix of murder, fantasy, humour and human longing,” according to Diane Ferbrache, Hazen High School Librarian for The Washington Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, 2011

Rubric for Book Talk

Criteria Excellent 20 - 16

Above Average 15 - 10

Average 10 - 7

Below Average0 - 6

Introduction attracts audience

Exceptionally creative beginning with an excellent quote

Creative beginning with a good quote

Not a very creative or interesting beginning with a quote

Not a very good beginning with no quote

Discusses the plot, setting, and characters

Discusses the theme

Thorough and interesting summary of these elements

Makes an insightful argument about the theme

Inconsistent summary of these elements

Correctly discusses theme but fails to elaborate on the importance

Average summary of the elements

Touches upon theme without much depth

Missing a component

Does not discuss theme or makes a very general statement about the theme

Conclusion makes us want to read the book (or not read the book)

Very enticing conclusion – draws the listener to read the book

Somewhat interesting conclusion- listener might want to read the book

Concluded but did not draw the listener to read the book

Very boring conclusion or no conclusion at all

Presentation skills&

Enthusiasm for the book

Very enthusiastic and knowledgeable

Voice is clear, words are pronounced correctly and tempo is good

Maintains eye-contact

Somewhat enthusiastic and knowledgeable

Voice is mostly clear and audible,

Mostly maintains eye-contact

Shows average enthusiasm and understanding

Sometimes hard to understand or hear the student

Little eye-contact

Not enthusiastic at all

Spoken word is too soft, mumble, speaking much too fast or slow.

No eye-contact

Visual aid

Visual aid is well done, colorful, and very helpful to the presentation

Visual aid is colorful, and helpful to the presentation

Visual aid is completed and might be helpful to the presentation

Visual aid is not done or very poorly done

Stays within time limit: Yes / No

Comments: Score: