June 12, 2018

Dear Rising Seventh Graders and Parents, 

We hope you are looking forward to a wonderful summer and an awesome seventh-grade year. We look forward to meeting the rising seventh grade and feel very blessed that they will be with us here at St. Dorothy’s School. 

The summer work for incoming seventh graders can be found below.  Work is required in Reading and Math.

The math assignment is designed to reinforce the skills learned throughout the school year, and prepare students for the math in seventh grade. 

Summer reading is designed to maintain student reading level, improve comprehension, and enhance vocabulary. It is essential to ensure that students’ literacy skills remain strong. Below you will find the two assigned novels and one coordinating assignment. The assignment has multiple parts, please read the directions carefully. The assignment should be typed and printed at home in MLA format. All assignments, including math, are due the first Friday of the school year.  If you have any questions throughout the summer, please do not hesitate to contact one of the teachers.

In the past I gave a summer assignment for science but this summer I would like for our rising 7th and 8th graders to get outside and play, and to use their summer to recharge and enjoy the world around them.

Mrs. Cardone   ccardone@stdots.org
Mr. Braun    sbraun@stdots.org
Mrs. Callahan    jcallahan@stdots.org 

1. MUST READ: Holes by Louis Sachar.
2. Read ONE of the novels on the list below. 
   • Buried Onions by Gary Soto
   • My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
   • Slam! by Walter Dean Myers
   • Bat 6 by Virginia Euwer Wolff
   • The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
   • The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
   • Little Women by Mary Louise Alcott 
   • Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick 
   • The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin 
   • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle 
   • Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 
   • Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis 
   • Lupita Manana by Patricia Beatty 
   • Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata 
3. Students need to choose one prompt for each book (two prompts total) posted below.  The students' answers should be in paragraph form and contain two paragraphs (per prompt) of five to eight sentences.  
4. Each student is expected to arrive on the first class day with a total of four paragraphs (Two paragraphs for Fever 1793 and two paragraphs for a book from the choices above) printed and in MLA format. 

• What is the theme of the book? Provide a text example to show how you know this. Include the page number and explain how the example supports the theme.
• What is the point of view of the story? How does this affect the story and what you know is going on. Provide an example that shows your point. Be sure to include the page number.
• What is the main problem(s) that the characters must overcome? How was this problem resolved? Were you happy with the conclusion? Why or Why not? Use evidence from the text to support your reasons. Be sure to include a page number.
• Do you think the characters/people and their problems/relationships are believable and realistic? Why or why not? Use evidence from the text to support your reasons. Be sure to include a page number.
• What were the traits of the main character in the story? How did you know? (dialogue, actions, thoughts, description, reactions from other characters, etc.) Did the character learn anything by the end of the book? What different traits did they have at the end? How do you know? Use evidence from the text to support your reasons. Be sure to include a page number.