St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School
Summer Reading 2015
RISING EIGHTH GRADE
Summer Reading: You must read the required book and two books of your choice
from the choice list and complete an assignment from the assignment choice board
given on page 2. Please pay attention to the grading rubric included on page 3. The
completed assignment is due on the first full day of class when you return to school
in August. You will also complete AR quizzes on your books when you return.
Required Reading:
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch…AR Book Level: 6.3, Point value 7
Pick 2 titles to read from the following:
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne- Unabridged (AR 9.6, 12 points)
Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne –Unabridged (AR 9.9, 17
points)
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (AR 5.3, 3 points)
Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens- Unabridged (AR 9.7, 27 points)
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells –Unabridged (AR 7.4 6points)
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (AR 6.6, 10 points)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett – Unabridged (AR 6.3; 13
points)
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas-Unabridged (AR 11; 42 points)
The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Greene –Unabridged
(AR8.1,11points)
Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements (AR 4.9, 9 points)
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank Gilbreth (AR 6.0, 10 points)
Hotel at the Corner of Bitter & Sweet by Jamie Ford (AR 5.7; 15 points)
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St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School
Summer Reading 2015
Middle School Choice Board-2014
Complete one of the following Choice Board Assignments
1.
2.
3.
4.
Create a “soundtrack” for
your novel choice.
Burn a CD of 5 songs you
believe symbolize the book in
terms of characters, themes,
setting, mood, tone, etc.
Create a CD jacket with a list of
the songs.
Choose a quote from the book
that inspired each song and give
an explanation of how that song
connected to the quote from
your novel. Include the title,
artist, quote, and explanation for
each song.
Please remember that your
audience is a teacher, so do not
include songs that contain
offensive language.
Pretend you are helping to make this
book into a movie.
1. Create or draw a scene from the
climax of the story (where the story
makes a big change). Be sure to
dress them and give them props that
describes or symbolizes what they
do in the story
2. For each person in the scene give a
summary of what they have done in
the book to this point to influence or
be influenced by the climax of the
story.
2
Make a colorfully
Rewrite your novel as a
illustrated timeline of
children’s book with
events in your book.
illustrations.
1. Make sure your timeline includes
1. Make sure your children’s
8-10 labeled events.
book is neat, creative and
2. Each event should include a small
thorough (meaning, be sure to
picture, drawing or clipping
cover the major elements of
illustrating the event, the date, a
the plot).
quote from the book describing
2.
On the back of each page of
that event, and an explanation of
your children’s book, relate
how that event was important in
your story to the
the novel.
corresponding part of the
3. Include the illustration, date,
novel by including a quote
quote and explanation for every
from the novel that relates to
event.
the part in the children’s story.
3. You will need a minimum of
10 pages.
4. Each page should include a
colorful illustration, test and a
quote from the novel written
of the back of the page
Imagine that you are the author of
Pretend you are a talk show host
the novel.
and one character from the book
will be on your show.
1. In a 1 page essay describe what
happens to a character 5 years
1. Create a transcript of the
before (a prologue) or 10 years
interview which includes an
after the book takes place (an
introduction of the character to
epilogue).
the audience.
2. Include 5 “how” or “why”
questions that you, the host
would ask the character.
3. Then answer each question in
detail in the character’s voice.
St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School
Summer Reading 2015
Summer Reading Project Grading Rubric
Category
Content Accuracy
How well do you
know your book?
Excellent
Good
Fair
Unsatisfactory
(10 points)
(8 points)
(5 points)
(2 points)
Covers essential
points of novel with
appropriate details
and examples. Book
knowledge is mostly
accurate.
Covers essential
information about
the novel with errors.
Book knowledge is
somewhat accurate
with some errors.
Covers minimal
information about
the novel with
many errors. Book
knowledge is not at
all accurate.
All project requirements
are met and exceeded
All project
requirements are
met.
One project
requirement was not
met.
More than one
project
requirements was
not completely
met.
Makes excellent use of
font, color, graphics,
layout, neatness, etc. to
enhance the project’s
final product.
Makes some use of
font, color, graphics,
layout, neatness, etc.
to enhance the
project’s final
product.
Font, color, graphics,
layout, neatness, etc.
do not always
enhance the project’s
final product.
Font, color,
graphics, layout,
neatness, etc. do
not enhance the
project’s final
product.
Product shows a large
amount of original
thought. Ideas are
creative, innovative, and
show lots of effort.
Product shows some
amount of original
thought. Work
shows new ideas and
effort.
Product shows some
effort with minimal
creative thinking and
ideas.
Product shows
little effort with
minimal creative
thinking and ideas.
No misspellings,
grammatical or
punctuation errors, or
incomplete sentences.
Three or fewer
misspellings,
grammatical or
punctuation errors,
or incomplete
sentences.
Five or fewer
misspellings,
grammatical or
punctuation errors,
or incomplete
sentences.
More than five
errors in spelling,
grammar,
punctuation, or
sentence structure.
Covers novel in-depth
with appropriate details
and examples.
knowledge is excellent.
Project
Expectations
Visual Appeal
Is it interesting to
look at?
Originality
What did you do to
make it unique?
Revised/Edited
Did you check over
your work for
mistakes?
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