Recommended Reading for Incoming 6 th Graders 6 th graders are assigned to read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin over the summer. Please make sure that you are purchasing and reading the Young Readers Edition. While reading, students should highlight new vocabulary (at least 20) they find in the novel. When students return to school in August, they will complete a written assignment and have class discussions about the novel. There are no summer projects assigned for this required book. In addition to reading Three Cups of Tea, please choose one book from the list below or a book of your choice. If you choose your own book, you may use www.lexile.com as a resource to check reading levels. Underlined titles represent a single book title. Italicized recommendations represent series, so there are numerous titles to choose from. All books should be available at your public library or bookstore. For prizes, coupons, and extra fun events all summer long, sign up for a summer reading program at your public library! Questions? Please email Ms. Kee (rkee@holyfamilycs.org) for any questions regarding summer reading. A Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L'Engle Any series by Rick Riordan Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk ***Lectio 2018-19 Selection*** The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya ***Lectio 2018-19 Selection*** Fablehaven or Five Kingdoms series by Brandon Mull The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Perez. ***Lectio 2018-19 Selection*** The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi ***Lectio 2018-19 Selection*** Guys Read series by Jon Scieszka Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai Jinx series by Sage Blackwood The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
The Luck Uglies series by Paul Durham The Matchstick Castle by Keir Graff ***Lectio 2018-19 Selection*** My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder ***Lectio 2018-19 Selection*** Patina by Jason Reynolds ***Lectio 2018-19*** The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster Ranger s Apprentice series by John Flanagan Refugee by Alan Gratz ***Lectio 2018-2019*** Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart The Serpent s Secret by Sayantani DasGupta *** Lectio 2018-2019 Selection*** Seven Wonders series by Peter Lerangis The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers by Arigon Starr ***Lectio 2018-2019 Selection*** Tumble and Blue by Cassie Beasley ***Lectio 2018-2019 Selection*** The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Wishtree by Katherine Applegate ***Lectio 2018-2019 Selection*** Young Bond series by Charlie Higson
Projects for Incoming 6 th Graders Summer Reading 2018 Choose 1 project to do for your self-selected book. All written work should be typed. Make sure your name can be easily found somewhere on your project. Turn in your project to your ELA teacher on the first day of school. Questions? Please email Ms. Kee (the librarian) at rkee@holyfamilycs.org. Create a BOOK TRAILER for your book. Just like a movie trailer gets you excited for a new movie, a book trailer can get your friends excited about a new book! Just don t give away the ending! Video tape yourself talking about the book. Hold up the book, pictures of the book s pictures (if there are any), pictures that represent things happening in the book, etc. You can even use props. Anything that grabs people s attention! Turn in your written script and video. o A quick summary o Your favorite thing about the book o Exciting parts of the story o A conclusion that tells the audience why they should read the book Film a VIDEO about your book. Your video should be between 3-5 minutes long. Make sure you practice before you film your final video. Be proud of what you turn in. Use your imagination for the video. You can: o Act out one of the scenes (Use your family or friends as the other actors You should be the main one though.) o Video a commercial for the book. Your goal is to convince your friends to check out the book! Explain why you liked it and tell a little bit about the story, but don t give away the ending. o Perform a monologue as one of the characters. Dressing up / having props is highly encouraged! You can either perform a passage from the actual book or make up your own speech based on how you think the character would respond to something that happens in the book. o Other ideas? Be creative!
Film a PUPPET SHOW about your book. Write and perform a scene from the book, using puppets. You can use puppets that you already have or make your own. Think creatively almost anything can be a puppet! Socks, popsicle sticks, paper, spoons, etc. Should be 3-5 minutes long. Turn in written script and video of puppet show. o A narrator that explains the setting and a conclusion (the lesson learned, future happenings in the book, etc.) o Dialogue between the characters Act out a TALK SHOW INTERVIEW with the main character. Video yourself and a friend acting out the interview script. Your interview should have at least 10 questions and answers. The character s answers should be based off of the book and your imagination about how he or she would act. Turn in a written script and the video. Act out a TALK SHOW INTERVIEW with the author. Video yourself and a friend acting out the interview script. Your interview should have at least 10 questions and answers. Your answers should be based off of online research. Start with the author s website to see if they have a biography or information about the book you read. Turn in a written script and the video.
Turn your book into a Hollywood MOVIE. Use www.storyboardthat.com to create a digital storyboard of how you would film your video. Each film shot gets its own square where you put in pictures of the scenery, characters, speech bubbles, etc. o You ll need to create an account, but it is free to create up to 2 storyboards per week. o Once you save your storyboard, you can print it out. This is what you ll turn in to your teacher for a grade. If you prefer, you may choose to draw out a storyboard on paper. Also include a written-out plan for the following elements: o Plot o Casting o Costumes o Special Effects Turn a summary of your book into a GRAPHIC NOVEL. Graphic novels are book-length comics. They tell the story mainly through the comic pictures, with very few words. Since a graphic novel based on the whole, detailed book would be too long, you only need to use a summary of the story. Turn in your graphic novel in book format Staple the pages together or tie them with string. However you choose is fine, as long as we can flip through it to read the story! Graphic novel should be at least 4 pages long. o Comic-style illustrations o Speech bubbles and captions to help your comics make sense. Turn your book into a PICTURE BOOK that would be good for little kids. This will only work if you read a book that would still be appropriate for young readers. You can leave out certain parts if they re too grown-up, but make sure you pick a story that would make sense for little children. Turn in your picture book in book format Staple the pages together or tie them with string. However you choose is fine, as long as we can flip through it to read the story! o The story Picture books are 32 pages long and have 1-3 sentences on each page. o Illustrations You ll need pictures on every page. You can draw them by hand, make a collage with magazine pictures, create it on the computer with clip art, or anything that your imagination creates!
Write an ALTERNATE ENDING for the book. Change the ending to something you like better! Make sure it s really different from what the author wrote. Write at least 3 pages. Remember, you re writing a band new chapter, so include lots of exciting details! o Dialogue (talking characters) o Exciting action or a problem that the characters need to fix o A solution to that action or problem Write a SEQUEL summary for the book. Think the story should have continued after the book was over? Now s your chance to imagine a sequel! Write a summary of the sequel. o How the sequel starts out o Information about the old and new characters o Setting o Plot summary, including exciting action or a problem that the characters need to fix o How the book will end Write a professional REVIEW about your book. Convince your friends to read the book, but be honest about the things that weren t so great about the book. o A short summary (3-4 sentences) o 2 good things about the book o 1 bad thing about the book o Talk about the characters Are they realistic? Did you like them? Did they make good choices? o Discuss plot Was it exciting? Boring? Did you guess the ending before it happened? Make a BOOK JACKET for your book. A book jacket is the paper cover that goes on the outside of the book. o Colorful illustrations o An exciting summary that gets your friends excited to read the book o A short (2-3 sentences) biography about the author Find the author s website online to learn about them first! o Write a review of the book explain what you liked best and why you would recommend it to friends.