Herbert A. Ammons

Middle School Summer Reading

April 25, 2008

Dear Parents,

We are beginning to prepare for the summer months as the close of yet another year approaches. Attached, please find the 2008 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 28^th - May 2^nd, 2008. 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.

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 2008 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 2008-2009 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 or send me an email at nersagarcia@dadeschools.net.

Thank you,

Ms. Garcia

Media Specialist

Herbert A. Ammons Middle

Required Summer Reading

2008 Book Fair Price List

Incoming Sixth Graders
	HUMANITIES (Choose one)
		Book Title	Author	Price w/Tax
		A Step from Heaven	An Na	$ 8.55
		The Maldonado Miracle	Theodore Taylor	$ 7.50
	LANGUAGE A (Choose one)
		Book Title	Author	Price w/Tax
		Dragonwings	Laurence Yep	$ 7.50
		Peter and the Starcatchers	Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson	$ $8.55

Incoming Seventh Graders
	HUMANITIES (Choose one)
		Book Title	Author	Price w/Tax
		A Girl Named Disaster	Nancy Farmer	$ 7.50
		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	$ 6.95

Incoming Eighth Graders
	HUMANITIES (Choose one)
		Book Title	Author	Price w/Tax
		The King of Mulberry Street	Donna Jo Napoli	$ 6.95
		The Witch of Blackbird Pond	Elizabeth George Spears	$ 7.50
	LANGUAGE A (Choose one)
		Book Title	Author	Price w/Tax
		Slam!	Walter Dean Myers	NOT AVAILABLE at Book Fair this yr.
		Ties that Bind, Ties that Break	Lensey Namioka	$ 6.95

	LANGUAGE A - GIFTED (REQUIRED)
		19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East	Naomi Shihab Nye	$ 7.50

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 the cover letter:

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)

*Slam! Will not be available at the Book Fair this year, but it is still one of the Reading Choices for Language A.

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 26 – May 2.

There will be a graded activity on the required summer reading in Language A and Humanities classes when school starts August 18^th.

To find additional titles for fun summer reading, you are invited to go to the web site of the American Library Association given below.

http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/alscresources/booklists/MiddleSchoolReads.htm

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.

Humanities Summer Reading Requirements

To: All incoming 8^th Graders

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

You will be required to have one of the books completed by the first day of the 2008-2009 school year.
On the first day of class you will be given an assignment worth 2 grades to be completed based on your summer reading.
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	$6.95
The Witch of Blackbird Pond	Elizabeth George Spears	5.7/9.0	$7.50

Advanced/ Gifted Language A

Summer Reading Requirements

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

During the course of the 2008 summer recess, all students entering into an Advanced/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

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

Your personal reading journal may be in the form of a traditional composition book, or any other creative format you may want to use for this book. You will be turning in your journal on the first day of class for a grade.

Thank you,

Language A Department