Tilden Middle School
Summer Reading
Students Entering Grade 7
2008-2009

Characterization Worksheet
Feelings Worksheet

June 2008

Dear Incoming Seventh Grader,

We look forward to seeing you in our classes next school year.  In order for you to maintain and strengthen your basic language skills, we urge you to read and write as much as you can during your months away from school.

In Montgomery County Public Schools, summer reading has been an encouraged practice in middle and high schools as well as in elementary schools since 1998.  The ability to read is crucial to an individualÕs success in school and on the job.  Reading is a lifelong skill that a person needs in order to succeed as a student and a worker.  Reading is also an essential skill in civic and personal activities.  More important, however, reading opens the world to a person through periodicals, references, essays, and literature.  By reading, individuals have the opportunity to learn about people, times, regions, and ideas that they may never actually encounter in life.  Reading also can bring a lifetime of pleasure and mental sharpness.

Research strongly suggests that reading, like most skills, improves when we practice and decreases when we donÕt engage in it even for a short period of time.  Therefore, consistent with our commitment to prepare all students for success during school and after graduation, we continue, in MCPS, to encourage all students to read during the summer.

Overview of summer reading at Tilden Middle School

To be better prepared for seventh grade English class, please read at least three novels over the summer.  All seventh graders will read one required novel, Freak the Mighty and two novels of their choice.

Visiting your library and discussing your choice(s) with the librarian is one method to use in your search for appropriate books to read.  Bookstores give you the opportunity to examine many books and to locate those, which interest you. We encourage parents to work closely with their children in the summer reading program by guiding their children through the selection process.

We hope that you will read other books as well.  Keep a list of the titles and authors on the sheet attached to this letter.  You will be adding to this list during the new school year to keep track of all the books you will be reading during the 2008-2009 school year.

Expectations

In addition to reading the novels, each student must complete a feelings worksheet and a characterization worksheet for each novel read. We expect a student who transfers to another MCPS school during the summer to contact the new school for information regarding summer reading and to meet the new schoolÕs expectations. We expect a student new to Tilden to complete the summer reading requirements within the first grading period.

Evaluation method and how it will be assessed    

  • All students must read one required novel, Freak the Mighty and two novels of their choice of comparable literary stature.
  • All students must submit a  feelings worksheet and a characterization worksheet for each book they read to their  English teacher the first week of school.
  • The English teacher will assign an in-class writing assignment based on the books read over the summer. This assignment may be linked to a pre-assessment during the first marking period to assess the degree of understanding.  Students will be using their feelings worksheet and characterization worksheet during this writing assignment.

Make sure you do a good job because your work will create the first impression of you as a reader and writer to your seventh grade English teacher.

Sincerely yours,

 

Jennifer Baker, Principal
Regina Rodriguez, English Resource Teacher