April 24, 2009

Herbert A. AmmonsMiddle School

Summer Reading

Dear Parents,

We are beginning to prepare for the summer months as the close of yet another year approaches. Attached, please find the 2009 Required Summer Reading List for your child. For your convenience, we will provide all current 6^th and 7^th grade students an opportunity to purchase their books at the Summer Reading Book Fair in the Media Center during the week of April 27^th - May 1^st, 2009. The price of each book with tax already included can be found on the back of this letter. Cash is the preferred form of payment, but if you must write out a check make it payable to Herbert Ammons PTSA and include a phone number, child’s name and id # on the check.

While we recommend that students read 5 books during the summer, students are only required to read 2 books over the summer. One book must be from the Humanities options, and one book must be from the Language A options on the 2009 Required Summer Reading List attached.

Humanities requirements for 8^th grade students are a bit different, so please be sure to read the attached memo with more details. In addition, any 8^th grade student in the Language A Gifted Program will have an additional summer reading requirement. See attached memo for more details.

Upon returning to school in the 2009-2010 school year, students will complete a graded activity on the required reading in their Humanities and Language A classes. Furthermore, students will be required to return the “Summer Reading Documentation Form” that is part of this packet at the beginning of next school year with the titles of the books they read over the summer. Please make every effort to keep this form in a safe place – possibly on the refrigerator door - so that it is not lost.

If you have any questions about the Summer Reading Book Fair, please feel free to call me at school or send me an email at nersagarcia@dadeschools.net.

Thank you,

Ms. Garcia

Media Specialist

The Summer Reading Program

for Ammons Middle School Students

During the summer, all students are required to read two (2) books, one from the Language A choices, and one from the Humanities choices. Students are also encouraged to read at least three additional books. The required books are listed below and also on the back of this form:

w For 6th grade: A Step from Heaven, The Maldonado Miracle, Dragonwings, Peter and the Starcatchers

w For 7th grade: A Girl Named Disaster, A Single Shard, Tex, Child of the Owl

w For 8th grade: The King of Mulberry Street, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Ties that Bind Ties that Break, Slam!

(8^th Graders in Gifted LA are required to read 19 Varieties of Gazelle & complete a reader response journal)

These books can be checked out from your neighborhood library or they can be purchased at Ammons during the Summer Reading Book Fair from April 27 – May 1.

There will be a graded activity on the required summer reading in Language A and Humanities classes when school starts in August.

To find additional titles for fun summer reading, you are invited to go to the web site of the Florida Department of Education – Just READ! Summer reading list provided below.

http://www.justreadfamilies.org/Summer2008ReadingList.pdf

This information can also be found on Ammons web site: http://ammons.dadeschools.net.

If you have any questions about the Summer Reading Program, please call Ms. Nersa Garcia, Media Specialist, at 305-971-0158 ext 4115 or email her at: nersagarcia@dadeschools.net.

Summer Reading Documentation Form

Use the form below to document your summer reading. This form must be presented to your Language A teacher and Humanities teachers at the beginning of the year.

Print your last name ________________________, First name ________________

Title	Author	# of pages	Finish Date	Parent Signature
Required choice for Lang. A:
Required choice for Hum.:

KEEP THIS FORM IN A SAFE PLACE IN ORDER TO RETURN IT NEXT SCHOOL YEAR.

Herbert A. Ammons Middle

Required Summer Reading

Incoming Seventh Graders
HUMANITIES (Choose one)
Book Title	Author	Price w/Tax
A Girl Named Disaster	Nancy Farmer	$ 8.50
A Single Shard	Linda Sue Park	$ 7.50
LANGUAGE A (Choose one)
Book Title	Author	Price w/Tax
Child of the Owl	Laurence Yep	$ 7.50
Tex	S.E. Hinton	$ 7.50
Incoming Eighth Graders
HUMANITIES (Choose one)
Book Title	Author	Price w/Tax
The King of Mulberry Street	Donna Jo Napoli	$ 7.00
The Witch of Blackbird Pond	Elizabeth George Spears	$ 7.50
LANGUAGE A (Choose one)
Book Title	Author	Price w/Tax
Slam!	Walter Dean Myers	$ 7.50
Ties that Bind, Ties that Break	Lensey Namioka	$ 7.00
LANGUAGE A - GIFTED (REQUIRED)
19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East	Naomi Shihab Nye	$ 7.50

Humanities Summer Reading Requirements

To: All incoming 8^th Graders

Please be advised of the following requirements regarding the summer read choices for Humanities.

1. You will be required to have one of the books completed by the first day of the 2009-2010 school year.
2. On the first day of class you will be given an assignment worth 2 grades to be completed based on your summer reading.
3. You must have the AR quizzes for both books taken prior to the end of the 4th week. You will receive a grade based on your AR score for each of the AR quizzes in your Humanities class.

HUMANITIES Required Reading
Book Title	Author	Book Level/ AR Points	Price w/Tax
The King of Mulberry Street	Donna Jo Napoli	3.6 / 8.0	$7.00
The Witch of Blackbird Pond	Elizabeth George Spears	5.7 / 9.0	$7.50

Gifted Language A

Summer Reading Requirements

To all Incoming 8^th grade Gifted Language A Students:

During the course of the 2009 summer recess, all students entering into a Gifted Language A Eighth Grade MYP IB Curriculum must read the following novel in addition to the other reading recommendations.

19 VARIETIES OF GAZELLE: POEMS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

by Naomi Shihab Nye

Price with Tax - $7.50

Students are required to keep a journal while reading this particular book of poetry. The reading journal may include personal opinions about the text, questions about the text, illustrations, notes of any sort, or anything else that conveys comprehension and reactions to the text.

Students are required to respond to at least TWENTY poems.

This reading journal must be in the form of a composition book or notebook of some sort. It will be submitted to the Language A teacher on the first day of class; it is worth two grades: content and organization of ideas.

Thank you,

Language A Department