June 3, 2009

Dear Parents of Rising Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Graders,

This letter of instruction should help you and your child understand the expectations for your child's summer reading assignment.  Below you will find the guidelines that each middle school student should follow. 

The student is required to maintain a double entry response journal for each book.  Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to use a spiral notebook or composition book; one notebook should accommodate both novels' journal entries.  If your child prefers typing, he/she should type the selected passage from the book first, then designate the response to that passage.

In the response journal, the student will cite eight meaningful passages from each book, as evenly spaced throughout the book as possible.  The student may want to fold the page he/she is working on in half vertically, creating a line to mark the middle of the page.  On a left-hand side of the page, the student will write an excerpt directly from the book and note the page number in the text.  On the right hand side of the page, he or she will write a personal response to that passage.  This response may be in varied forms: the student may explain how the selected passage makes him/her feel, tell how the passage relates to an event in the reader's life, explain the significance of the passage as it relates to the novel as a whole, or predict how the passage relates to the remainder of the novel.  These are examples; the term "response" means that the student should respond or react to the book passage in some way.

For our sixth and seventh graders, the response journal should total between 300 to 400 words per book.  For our eighth graders, the response journal should total around 400 words per book. This total does not reflect the quotations from the novel, but it does include all eight of the student’s personal responses. Please remind students who are hand writing that they don't need to count every word, but they should be able to reasonably estimate based on their average words per line.

We hope that students will read the novels for enjoyment.  Some may decide to note and respond as they read, but if they decide to do the responses after they finish the whole book, it might be a good idea to use post-it notes so they can easily come back to important passages. 

The journal will be used as the tool of assessment for the students' reading comprehension and completion of the task.  Students will turn in their journals during the first week of school.  The grade that they receive for their efforts will count as their first grade of the marking period.  During the first weeks of school, students will be involved in other learning activities that will provide opportunities for discussion and greater understanding of the novels. 

Please encourage your child to begin reading and to maintain his or her journal.  It is our desire that this project will begin each student's school year with a challenging yet rewarding reading experience.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mrs. Embry at membry@covenantday.org.

 
Loving your child,