Summer Learning Activities for CAST Students entering 8th grade 2015-2016

Dear Parents and Students, The days of summer go by fast and the first day of school will be here before you know it. This Summer Learning Activity packet will help your child keep an inquisitive mind over the summer and be ready to get back to school in August! There are 3 activities included to complete. This packet will be due when we return to school. You can turn it to any of your teachers the first week of school, or your first block teacher on Monday August 31, 2015. They will count as your first assignments for Math, Science, Social Studies and Language Arts. In addition, we encourage you to read daily over the summer. Your local libraries are full of books to choose from in a variety of interests. We have included a list to choose from as well. Have a fun summer! See you in next year! Student Name: ______________________________________________________________________

Mathematics  in  your  World!  Name:  __________________________________    Find  a  situation  where  you  find  yourself  asking  mathematical  questions  where  you  could  use  the  math  you  learned  in  7th  grade  to  solve  it.    Take  time  to  observe  all  you  can  about  the  situation  and  describe  it  below.    Or,  if  you  prefer,  you  can  complete  the  questions  in  a  Word  document  on  your  computer.    Step  1:  Describe  the  situation  in  detail.  Include  enough  specifics  so  another  person  could  visualize  the  situation  Include  all  details  you  can  determine.      _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________      Step  2:  What  is  your  mathematical  question  about  the  situation?    It’s  OK  to  have  more  than  one  question.    List  everything  you  are  curious  of  about  the  situation.    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    Step  3:  List  below  all  the  specifics  you  would  need  to  know  in  order  to  answer  the  question.    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________          

Step  4:  Write  an  action  plan  of  steps  you  would  need  to  do  to  solve  this  problem.    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________      Step  5:  Provide  a  visual  representation  of  your  situation  on  another  paper.    Provide  a  photograph  or  a  detailed  drawing  including  color,  measurements  and  labels.      Step  6:  Go  ahead  and  solve  the  problem.                                  Step  7:  What  type  of  math  did  you  need  to  know  in  order  to  solve  this?  Which  parts  of  the  calculations  did  you  learn  how  to  do  in  7th  grade?    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________      Step  8:  What  math  do  you  hope  to  learn  next  year  that  would  enhance  your  investigation  of  the  situation?    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________  

Observe Your Eco-System

Step 1: Find a 2 foot by 2 foot area somewhere outside. It needs to be a place you will be able to go back and check on

throughout the summer. So, if you are on vacation or staying at someone’s house out of town for a week or more, do it there! If you can, mark the space with a couple of objects so that you are sure to observe the same spot each day. Step 2: On a blank sheet of paper, sketch a layout of the square you are observing. Be sure to include the date and time of your first observation on the paper. Include EVERYTHING you see. If you are having trouble drawing the entire image, take a photo. Step 3: Label the image. Name everything you can. Be sure to pay attention to the tiniest of details: bugs, dirt, plants, animals, leaves, etc. If there is something in that space that you don’t know the name of, research it! Place a star next to those labeled items on your image. Step 4: Return to this spot 7 times over the summer and complete the observation table on the next page. Step 5: After your last observation, write a 200 word essay describing the details from your observations for the week. Information to think about while writing: What caused any changes you observed? What did you learn about the area? How much would this area change at different times of year? What was the weather like when you observed? Were there any surprises?

Name: ___________________________________________ Date Time What has changed? What is the same?

*Available as an E-Book on Mackin (Link on Focus home page or search using Destiny Library Catalog)

Summer Reading 2015 Keep your skills sharp and keep the boredom away by READING this summer! The public library

has special programming for teens in addition to lots of great books. Be sure to check it out!

NOTE: Students are required to read at least 1 book over the summer and be prepared to take

a Reading Counts test when they return to school in August.

Here are some recommended titles for middle school students:

Battle of the Books 2015-2016

*Counting by 7s- Holly Goldberg Sloan

The Eighth Day- Dianne K. Salerni

Eye of the Storm- Kate Messner

*Jack Strong Takes a Stand- Tommy Greenwald

Jungle of Bones- Ben Mikaelsen

*The Night Gardener- Jonathan Auxier

Project Jackalope- Emily Ecton

*The Secret of Rover-Rachel Wildavsky

Seeing Red Kathryn Erskine

Skink–No Surrender Carl Hiaasen

Stung Bethany Wiggins

Tesla’s Attic Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman

The Testing Joelle Charbonneau

*This Journal Belongs to Ratchet Nancy J. Cavanaugh

*Twerp Mark Goldblatt

Non-Fiction Award Winners

Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business—and

Won! Emily Arnold McCully

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil

Rights Steve Sheinkin

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial

Russia Candace Fleming

Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different Karen Blumenthal

Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice Phillip Hoose

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95,

written by Phillip Hoose

Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles,

America's First Black Paratroopers Tanya Lee Stone

*Available as an E-Book on Mackin (Link on Focus home page or search using Destiny Library Catalog)

Sixth Grade Titles

Charlie Joe Jackson’s

Guide to Not Reading-Tom

Greenwald (Humor)

Cinder-Marissa Meyer

(Science Fiction)

I, Funny-James Patterson

(Humor)

*Lions of Little Rock-Kristin

Levine (Historical Fiction)

The Looking Glass Wars-

Frank Beddor (Fantasy)

The Madman of Piney

Woods-Christopher Paul

Curtis (Historical Fiction)

*Rump: The True Story of

Rumplestiltskin- Liesl

Shurtliff (Humor, Fantasy)

*The Sasquatch Escape-

Suzanne Selfours (Fantasy)

Schooled-Gordon Korman

(Realistic)

*Stranded-Jeff Probst

(Adventure)

*Small as an Elephant-

Jennifer Jacobson

(Adventure)

Wonder-R.J. Palacio

(realistic fiction)

Seventh Grade Titles

Codename Zero-Chris

Rylander (Humorous

Fiction)

Freefall-Roderick Gordon

(Adventure)

From Norvelt to Nowhere-

Jack Gantos (Humorous

Fiction, Mystery)

The Ghost of Graylock-Dan

Poblocki (Mystery)

H.I.V.E Series-Mark

Walden (Science Fiction)

*Homesick, Kate Klise

(Realistic Fiction)

Island of the Unknowns-

Benedict Carey (Mystery)

*Okay for Now, Gary

Schmidt (Historical Fiction)

The Prisoner of Cell 25-

Richard Paul Evans

(Science Fiction)

Rise of the Wolf-Curtis

Jobling (Fantasy)

*Ungifted-Gordon Korman

(Humorous Fiction)

Eighth Grade Titles

Bluford High Series-

Various authors (Realistic

Fiction)

Brown Girl Dreaming-

Jacqueline Woodson

(Biography)

Chains-Laurie Halse

Anderson (Historical

Fiction)

Endangered-Eliot Schrefer

(Adventure)

Far, Far Away-Tom McNeal

(Fantasy, Mystery)

Graceling-Kristin Cashore

(Fantasy)

Legend-Marie Lu

(Dystopia)

Miss Peregrine’s Home for

Peculiar Children-Ransom

Riggs (Mystery, Fantasy)

The Screaming Staircase-

Jonathan Stroud (Mystery)

Variant-Robison Wells

(Science Fiction)

The Walk On-John

Feinstein (Sports Fiction)

Summer Reading Book Review

Name: ____________________________________________________

Book Title: ______________________________________________________

Author: _________________________________

Answer each question with complete sentences!

1. SS - Where and when does the story take place? Describe the major setting throughout the story.

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2. SS - How does the main character change throughout the story?

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3. SS - Why do you think he/she changed in this way?

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4. LA - Describe the main character of the story.

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5. LA - What is the main problem (conflict) this character is facing?

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6. LA - How does he/she solve this problem by the conclusion of the story?

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7. LA - What is the theme of the story? Describe why you think this. Theme is the message about life that the

author wants you to take away from reading the book.

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