Summer Reading Assignment Rising Eighth Graders

St. Joseph School 

Language Arts/Literature. Ms. Logerfo

Grade 8 Summer Reading Assignment 2021

1.  Choose a book that interests you. Choices include fiction (F), historical fiction (HF) and non-fiction (NF).  These are listed by author’s last name.

Austen, Jane.  Pride and Prejudice (F)

Brown, Daniel James.  The Boys in the Boat (Young Readers Adaptation): The True Story of an American Team's Epic Journey to Win Gold at the 1936 Olympics  (NF)

Defoe, Daniel.  Robinson Crusoe (F)

Doyle, Arthur Conan.  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (F)

Dumas, Alexandre.  The Count of Monte Cristo (F)

Frank, Anne.  The Diary of a Young Girl  (NF)

Giorello, Joe.  Great Battles for Boys (Choice of: Ancient to Middle Ages, Bunker Hill to WW1, Civil War, WW1, WW2 Europe, WW2 Pacific, Korean War)  (NF)

Greitens, Eric Navy SEAL.  The Warrior’s Heart: Becoming a Man of Compassion and Courage (NF)

Herriot, James.  All Creatures Great and Small (NF)

Heyerdahl, Thor. Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft (NF) 

Ilibagiza, Immaculee.  Left to Tell  (NF)

Keller, Helen.  The Story of My Life (Aziloth Books) 

Pyle, Howard.  Otto of the Silver Hand (F)

Smith, Betty.  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (F)

Stevenson, Robert Louis.  Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (F)

Tolkein, J.R.R. The  Fellowship of the Ring (F)

Tougias, Michael J. and Casey Sherman.  The Finest Hours (True Rescue Series) (NF)

Twain, Mark.  The Prince and the Pauper (F)

Grade 8 Summer Reading Assignment 2021 continued

2. Your assignment is to write entries in a journal. Purchase a black and white composition book and write neatly as this will be your Literature notebook for September. Leave the first page blank. A heading is required for every subsequent page: your name, St. Joseph School, LA/L Summer Reading, title of your book, author, date of entry                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

3. Topic choices for your journal entries are endless.  You can write about the setting, the characters’ personalities, their struggles, their relationships.  You can write about figurative language and the author’s purpose. You can write about events that have happened in the book or are happening or might happen.  You can explain what you don’t understand as you try to make sense of what you are reading. 

You can draw a map and describe a battle or a journey. You can compare people in the book to those in your life and events in the book to those in the world around you. You can tell the author what you think of the book and what you like or dislike about it.  You can write about what the book teaches you about the world you live in and about the way human beings are. 

4.  The one thing you cannot do is write someone else’s version.  If you were planning to look up the book on the internet and copy what someone else wrote - don’t do it! I will know! I can sniff out phony goods like a police dog.. 

5.  You should write a minimum of ten entries in your journal.  You can divide up the number of chapters and write an entry every few chapters. Entries should relate to all parts of the book - not just the beginning chapters.   Every entry should be a well-written paragraph.  Beneath your entry, list new vocabulary words, proper names of people and cities, and other details.  You do not need to write a definition or an explanation for every word and name, but for a few important ones on each page.  List these to remind you as you may want to remember a detail when you are talking about the book in class.

Summer Reading Assignment due September 7, 2021.

Grading rubric attached.

Summer Reading Rubric LA/L 2021

Criteria	5 points	4 points	3 points	2 point	1 point	Points earned
Quality	Entries are “rich” in details, examples, and quotations.  Your thoughts are easy to follow and deeper thinking is evident.	Most entries show detail, examples, or quotations.  Most entries are easy to follow and show deeper thinking	Entries do not use specific details, examples or quotations. Some entries show deeper thinking.	Entries are vague but related to text. Entries do not show evidence of reflection and do not make clear sense to the reader.	Entries are vague and not related to text.  Entries do not show evidence of reflection and do not make clear sense to the reader.	_________
Quantity	You have written more than ten entries	You have written nine entries	You have written eight entries	You have written five to seven entries	You have written fewer than five entries	_________
Neatness	Ten or more pages have  complete headings.   Writing is legible and neat and journal has appearance of the high value you place on reading, writing, and thinking.	Nine pages have complete headings.. Writing is legible and neat and your journal’s appearance suggests you value reading, writing, and thinking..	Eight entries have complete headings..  Writing is neat and legible.	Five to seven entries have complete headings. Journal lacks appearance of your placing a high value on reading, writing and thinking.	Fewer than five entries have complete headings. Journal lacks appearance of your placing a high value on reading, writing and thinking.	_________
Writing conventions - Sentence construction, Spelling, Punctuation, Capitalization	Entries are in logical order, written in  well- structured sentences with fewer than three errors in punctuation spelling, or capitalization.	Entries are in logical order, written in well- structured sentences with fewer than seven errors in punctuation spelling, or capitalization,	Some entries are in logical  order and written in complete sentences.   with ten or fewer errors in punctuation spelling, or capitalization.	Entries have more than ten errors in sentence construction, spelling, capitalization and punctuation.	Errors make it difficult to follow your writing.	_________
Vocabulary, proper names of people, cities other data.  Required: List &#defined.	30 or more vocabulary words/proper nouns/details are listed;  10 or more are defined	Total 15  vocabulary words/proper nouns/details are listed;   7 are defined	Total 10  vocabulary words/proper nouns/details are listed; 5 are defined	Total 5 vocabulary words/proper nouns/details are listed; 4 are defined.	Fewer than 5 vocabulary words/proper nouns/details in total; 3 or fewer are defined.	_________

Quality ______ + Quantity ______+Neatness ______ + Writing conventions _______ + Data_______ = _________

Total Possible Points_____________

Total Points Earned ______________ X 4 = ______________%

 Summer Reading Assignment Rising Seventh Graders

St. Joseph School 

Language Arts/Literature. Ms. Logerfo

Grade 7 Summer Reading Assignment 2021

1.  Choose a book that interests you. Choices include fiction (F), mythology (M), historical fiction (HF) and non-fiction (NF).  These are listed by author’s last name.

Alcott, Louisa May, Little Women (F) 

Anderson, Laurie Halse.  Chains  (HF)

Barret, William.  Lilies of the Field  (F) 

Colum, Padraic. The Children’s Homer (M)

D’Aulaire, Ingri and Edgar Parin. D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths (M)

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes  (F)

Giorello, Joe.  Great Battles for Boys: WW2 Europe  (NF)

Herriot, James.  All Creatures Great and Small   (NF) 

Heyerdahl, Thor.   Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft (NF) 

Kamkwambe, William. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Young Readers Edition (NF) 

Keller, Helen.  The Story of My Life  (NF)

Paulsen, Gary.  Hatchet  (F)

Stevenson, Robert Louis.  Kidnapped  (F)

Wyss, Johann.  The Swiss Family Robinson  (F)

Yousafzai, Malala.  I Am Malala: The Girl who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban: A Memoir by the Youngest Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize  (NF)

2. Your assignment is to write entries in a journal.  Purchase a black and white composition book and write neatly as this will be your Literature notebook for September. Leave the first page blank. A heading is required for every subsequent page: your name, St. Joseph School, LA/L Summer Reading, title of your book, author, date of entry.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

3. Topic choices for your journal entries are endless.  You can write about the setting, the characters’ personalities, their struggles, their relationships.  You can write about figurative language and the author’s purpose. You can write about events that have happened in the book or are happening or might happen.  You can explain what you don’t understand as you try to make sense of what you are reading. 

You can draw a map and describe a battle or a journey. You can compare people in the book to those in your life and events in the book to those in the world around you. You can tell the author what you think of the book and what you like or dislike about it. You can write about what the book teaches you about the world you live in and about the way human beings are. 

4.  The one thing you cannot do is write someone else’s version.  If you were planning to look up the book on the internet and copy what someone else wrote - don’t do it! I will know! I can sniff out phony goods like a police dog.. 

5.  You should write a minimum of ten entries in your journal.  You can divide up the number of chapters and write an entry every few chapters. Entries should relate to all parts of the book - not just the beginning chapters.   Every entry should be a well-written paragraph.  Beneath your entry, list new vocabulary words, proper names of people and cities, and other details.  You do not need to write a definition or an explanation for every word and name, but for a few important ones on each page.  List these to remind you as you may want to remember a detail when you are talking about the book in class.

Summer Reading Assignment due September 7, 2021.

Grading rubric attached.

Summer Reading Rubric LA/L 2021

Criteria	5 points	4 points	3 points	2 point	1 point	Points earned
Quality	Entries are “rich” in details, examples, and quotations.  Your thoughts are easy to follow and deeper thinking is evident.	Most entries show detail, examples, or quotations.  Most entries are easy to follow and show deeper thinking	Entries do not use specific details, examples or quotations. Some entries show deeper thinking.	Entries are vague but related to text. Entries do not show evidence of reflection and do not make clear sense to the reader.	Entries are vague and not related to text.  Entries do not show evidence of reflection and do not make clear sense to the reader.	_________
Quantity	You have written more than ten entries	You have written nine entries	You have written eight entries	You have written five to seven entries	You have written fewer than five entries	_________
Neatness	Ten or more pages have  complete headings.   Writing is legible and neat and journal has appearance of the high value you place on reading, writing, and thinking.	Nine pages have complete headings.. Writing is legible and neat and your journal’s appearance suggests you value reading, writing, and thinking..	Eight entries have complete headings..  Writing is neat and legible.	Five to seven entries have complete headings. Journal lacks appearance of your placing a high value on reading, writing and thinking.	Fewer than five entries have complete headings. Journal lacks appearance of your placing a high value on reading, writing and thinking.	_________
Writing conventions - Sentence construction, Spelling, Punctuation, Capitalization	Entries are in logical order, written in  well- structured sentences with fewer than three errors in punctuation spelling, or capitalization.	Entries are in logical order, written in well- structured sentences with fewer than seven errors in punctuation spelling, or capitalization,	Some entries are in logical  order and written in complete sentences.   with ten or fewer errors in punctuation spelling, or capitalization.	Entries have more than ten errors in sentence construction, spelling, capitalization and punctuation.	Errors make it difficult to follow your writing.	_________
Vocabulary, proper names of people, cities other data.  Required: List &#defined.	30 or more vocabulary words/proper nouns/details are listed;  10 or more are defined	Total 15  vocabulary words/proper nouns/details are listed;   7 are defined	Total 10  vocabulary words/proper nouns/details are listed; 5 are defined	Total 5 vocabulary words/proper nouns/details are listed; 4 are defined.	Fewer than 5 vocabulary words/proper nouns/details in total; 3 or fewer are defined.	_________

Quality ______ + Quantity ______+Neatness ______ + Writing conventions _______ + Data_______ = _________

Total Possible Points_____________

Total Points Earned ______________ X 4 = ______________%