North Dade Middle Summer Reading Packet 2015-2016

Principal: Fabrice Laguerre
Assistant Principal: Kayla Edwards
Dear Parents/Guardian,
Research studies have shown that during an extended summer vacation, children
can lose an average of 2.6 months’ worth of knowledge. Summer reading enables
children to maintain the literacy skills they learned during the school year. There
are many ways that parents can help their children continue the reading habit when
school is not in session. We have provided a list of summer reading books and
assignments for your child to complete. We hope you find them useful in making
reading an enjoyable family pastime. While your child is only required to read one
book, we have offered this extensive list to encourage them to read more than the
minimum. Each selection can be read with friends or family members to enhance
their experience and understanding of the text.
All students are expected to fulfill the required summer reading and the
assignments. Assignments will be graded by their Language Arts teachers and
counted towards the first marking period grades in the 2016-2017 school year.
Please contact the school at (305) 624-8415 should you have any questions.
The Summer Break Language Arts/Reading Student Packet will also be available
online at http://ndms.dadeschools.netthroughout the summer.
Thank You for your Cooperation,
ELA/Reading Department
Dear Student,
Listed below are directions for the summer reading requirement.
1. Choose one novel from the Suggested Reading List. Make sure to read novels
that are not too easy and not too difficult.
2. While reading complete the Reading and Vocabulary log for your selected novel.
Write the selected word, copy the sentence in which it is used and write a
definition using your own words.
3. When you are finished reading, complete at least one Summer Reading
Assignments suggested in this packet.
4. Bring your Summer Reading Assignments or Activity on the first day of school.
5. This summer reading activity will count as the first grade in your Language Arts
class. If it is not finished, you will lose points every week it is past due. At the end
of the first marking period, you will be given a zero if you do not complete the
project.
Happy Reading!
ELA/Reading Department
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the
more places you'll go." – Dr. Seuss
Summer Reading Assignments Grades 6-8
Select one assignment or more to complete for the book you have
selected to read. Submit the assignment(s) to your Language Arts
teacher the first week of school for a grade.
 Write a paragraph telling about the title. Is it appropriate? Why not? If you
feel it is not appropriate provide an alternate title and explain why this title is
better.
 Look through magazines for words and pictures that describe your book. Use
these to create a collage or a bookmark.
 Write a summary of your book in the most compelling way you can on paper the
size of a business card.
 Using email or other means of corresponding, write to another person (friend or
parent) about the book as you read it, having a written conversation about the
book.
 Write a poem about the idea, character, concept or information presented in
your book.
 Some characters are interesting and you can relate to, while others possess a
specific personality that is intriguing. Select one of those characters that
possess a specific personality that is intriguing, explain how and why it is
intriguing. Use evidence from the text to support your answer.
 Instead of traveling into the book, write a scene or story including pictures in
which the character(s) travel out of the book into today.
 Tape an interview with one of the characters in a book you have read. Pretend
that this character is being interviewed by a magazine or newspaper reporter.
Write a script before taping in case you might want to ask the assistance of a
partner.
 Design a T-shirt that promotes your book and write a jingle to sell it.
 Search the Internet for virtual tours based on the book you are reading. Log
your findings in your reading log/journal. Visit the author’s official website to
conduct research and write your findings.
 Design a poster with words and pictures to advertise your book. Be
creative…use details…elaborate…use color! Try to make it 3-D or movable.
 Draw/Paint a multi-colored cover for your book. It must be different from any
other cover for that book. Write important “book jacket” information.
 Plan a party for the characters in the book you read. In order to do this,
complete each of the following tasks: (a) Design an invitation to the party which
would appeal to all of the characters. (b) Imagine that you are the characters in
the book and tell what each would wear at the party. (c) Tell what food you
would serve and why. (d) Tell what games or entertainment you will provide and
why your choices are appropriate. (e) Tell how the characters act at the party.
(f)What kind of a party is this? (birthday, housewarming, anniversary, etc.)
 Write a character diary, writing at least six journal entries as if you are the
main character in the story. Write down events that happen during the story
and reflect on how they affected the character and why.
 Write a one page “pitch” to a producer explaining why the story would or would
not make a great movie.
 Identify the problem or information presented in your book. Write to explain
how you would have responded if you were in the same situation and why.
 Write an advice column (Dear Abby) giving the author of the book advice on how
they should handle the problems/dilemmas in the text.
 Write an editorial column stating your position regarding the reasons and
evidence the author has provided on the idea(s), concept(s) or event(s)
presented.
 As a literary agent, write a letter to the publishing company designed to
persuade them to publish this book.
 Create a Top Ten List in which you write and illustrate events or ideas you have
learned from the book.
 After reading the book(s) write your own test. The test may be a combination
of matching, multiple choice, multi-select items, drag and drop, short answer,
and essay questions.
 Use the internet to locate a postal, or email address of your favorite author.
 Write an opinion letter referencing one of their books. Use evidence from the
text to state your opinion.
Summer Reading Lists for Grades 6-8
Select one or more books to read and complete the required Reading assignment.
Title
Author
Genre
All the Lovely Bad Ones
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream
Animals Anonymous
The Animal Book : A Collection of the Fastest,
Fiercest, Toughest, Cleverest, Shyest--and
Most Surprising---Animals on Earth
Anything But Typical
Barack Obama: The Politics of Hope
The Biography of Chocolate
Blue Lipstick
Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most
Dangerous Weapon
Breaking Through
Mary Downing Hahn
Tonya Lee Stone
Rich Michelson
Fiction
Biography
Poetry
Steve Jenkins
Nonfiction
Nora Raleigh Baskins
William Davis
Adrianna Morganelli
John Grandits
Steve Sheinkin
Fiction
Biography
Nonfiction
Poetry
Nonfiction
Francisco Jimenez
Chasing Cheetahs: The race to Save Africa's Fastest
Cat
Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know
About Fast Food
Children of the River
Sy Montgomery
Multicultural
Fiction
Nonfiction
Eric Schlosser
Nonfiction
Linda Crew
Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery
from Your Own Backyard
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Loree Burns
Multicultural
Fiction
Nonfiction
Code Orange
Code Talker
Caroline Cooney
Joseph Bruchac
Countdown
Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple
Nickles, America's First Black
Paratroopers
Cover-up: Mystery at the Super Bowl
Double Dutch
Ben Mikaelson
Tanya Lee Stone
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
Eat This Not That for Kids
Eye to Eye: How Animals See the world
Flipped
Flush
For the Birds: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson
Jordan Sonnenblick
David Zinczenko
Steve Jenkins
Wendelin Van Draanen
Carl Hiaasen
Peggy Thomas
Phillip Hoose
John Feinstein
Sharon Draper
Multicultural
Biography
Fiction
Multicultural
Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Sports Fiction
Multicultural
Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
Realistic Fiction
Fiction
Biography
Title
Author
Genre
Found
Gossamer
Gross Universe
Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men who Changed America
Margaret Haddix
Lois Lowry
Jeff Szpirglas
Andrea Davis Pinkney
Heart and soul: The Story of America and African
Americans
Homeless Bird
Kadir Nelson
Fiction
Fantasy
Nonfiction
Collective
Biography
Nonfiction
Honeybee: Poems and Short Prose
Hurt Go Happy
Hush
Naomi Shihab Nye
Ginny Rorby
Jacqueline Woodson
Jackie's Wild Seattle
Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow
Kidnapped in Key West
Kingdom Keepers
Last Newspaper Boy
Life As We Knew It
March: Book One
Money Hungry
Will Hobbs
James Rollins
Edwina Raffa
Ridley Pearson
Sue Corbett
Susan Beth Pfeffer
John Lewis
Sharon Flake
Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great
Wurvivor B95
The Mouse Rap
Phillip Hoose
Mysterious Benedict Society
Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great
Whites of California's Farallon Islands
Never Mind! A Twin Novel
Paperboy
Trenton Lee Stewart
Katherine Roy
Multicultural
Fiction
Fantasy
Nonfiction
Avi
Vince Vawter
Dave Barry
Humorous Fiction
Fiction
Fantasy
Peter and the Starcatchers
Phineas Gage
Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes
John Fleishman
Juan Felipe Herrera
Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party: A Novel
Compestine Ying Chang
El Rey de Las Octavas
Romiette and Julio
Emma Romeu
Sharon Draper
Savvy
Schooled
Silent Bone
Ingrid Law
Gordan Korman
E.L. Konisburg
Nonfiction
Collective
Biography
Multicultural
Fiction
Biography
Multicultural
Fiction
Fantasy
Humorous Fiction
Realistic Fiction
Gloria Whelan
Walter Dean Myers
Multicultural
Fiction
Poetry
Fiction
Multicultural
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Science Fiction
Nonfiction
Multicultural
Fiction
Nonfiction
Title
Author
Genre
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Steve Jobs: The Man who Thought Different
Summer Ball
Tangerine
Thunderbirds: Nature's Flying Predators
Tunnels
Under the Same Sky
What Are You Afraid Of? Stories About Phobias
Wonder
The Wright 3
The Year I Was Grounded
Ann Bradshares
Karen Blumental
Mike Lupica
Edward Bloor
Jim Arnosky
Roderick Gordon
Cynthia de Felice
Donald Gallo
R. J. Palacio
Blue Balliett
William H. New
Fiction
Biography
Sports Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Fiction
Adventure Fiction
Poetry