June 2022
Dear Students,
As summer quickly approaches, it is necessary to make you aware of your summer reading requirement. Summer reading helps one practice and maintain reading skills while promoting a broader literary perspective. Therefore, all incoming students will be required to read:
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.
Required summer reading novels will be available to pick up during CAP presentations on the 2nd of June or after that date from room A104. Students will sign their names to acknowledge receipt when collecting the text. If you are unable to collect a copy then we recommend you purchase one from your local English book retailer.
We recommend that students consider the guiding questions when reading the novel. These questions will help broaden and deepen understanding. It is our expectation that, at the start of the school year, all students will come prepared to discuss the work in class.
Have a wonderful summer and happy reading!
Yours faithfully,
Upper School English Department
Summer Reading Guiding Questions for Grade 9 English
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
When you return to school in September classes will explore the concepts of home and identity, specifically:
What makes a place feel like a home?
How does our relationship with our environment influence our sense of identity?
Below, you will see three different types of questions you can respond to. These questions are only intended to guide your thinking when you read or to act as extension tasks to develop your thinking after you’ve finished.
1. Initial Understanding. What are your thoughts and questions about the story? You might reflect upon the characters, their problems, the title, or other ideas in the story. As much as possible, make your questions meaningful and provocative.
2. Interpretation. Choose two vignettes from the book that you think indicates an important change in the main character from the beginning of the story to the end. What do you think causes this change, and how do the passages show this change?
3. Connection. Choose one vignette from the novel that made an impact on you. What impact did it make? How did it connect with your own experience? What authorial choices help Cisneros achieve this effect? Give two examples from the text that support your observation.
June 2022
Dear students,
As summer quickly approaches, the English Department would like to make you aware of your summer reading requirement. Summer reading helps you practice and improve your reading strategies, while mitigating summer learning loss.
Therefore, all incoming grade 10 American Literature students (all grade 10 students) will be required to read the novella, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck.
Copies of the book should be distributed to students in their 9th Grade English classes or can be collected from room A104
Students can aid comprehension by tracking a key concept/motif as they read by creating a process page.
A process page is a visual map you develop as you read the text. You may choose to map or track one of the topics below, and add to your process page when you read a passage that seems relevant or meaningful to you. See process page examples to guide you.
Dreams
Loneliness
Companionship
Power Imbalances
Moments of Hope/Coping
Compassion vs. Lack of Compassion
In addition, students should pay particular attention to the first three pages of the first chapter in order to compare them to the first three pages of the last chapter.
Have a wonderful summer and happy reading!
Yours faithfully,
Upper School English Department
*** LINK to Sample Process Pages HERE.
June 2022
Dear students,
As summer quickly approaches, the English Department would like to make you aware of your summer reading requirement. Summer reading helps you practice and improve your reading strategies, while mitigating summer learning loss.
Therefore, all incoming grade 11 English students will be required to read The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien.
Copies of the book should be distributed to students in their American Literature classes.
Students can aid comprehension as they read by tracking a key concept/motif by creating a process page. This process page is not assessed but will be very useful during further discussions of the novel in class.
Here are some ideas of what a student may choose to track:
Mortality and Death
Social Obligation
Morality
Storytelling and Memory
Shame and Guilt
Power Imbalances
Courage vs. Cowardice
Connection vs. Loneliness
Compassion vs. Lack of Compassion
Story Truth vs. Happening Truth
Start reading right away, so that you have sufficient time to complete the summer reading requirement.
Have a wonderful summer and happy reading!
Yours faithfully,
The English Department
*** Sample Process Page, click HERE.
NO REQUIRED READING! Please read for pleasure over the summer.