Idea Transcript
Garrison Forest School
2017
9th Grade English I Summer Reading & Math Skills-Development Dear Member of the Class of 2021, Welcome to English I! We are looking forward to working with you, and the first thing that we will be working on will be summer reading. The notes below will give you some tips about completing the assigned texts. Enjoy the Stories! ~The English Department~
I. Marking Your Text – Read with pen or pencil in hand. Try to read 20-25 pages in a sitting, as this will be comparable to your homework assignments in the coming year. 1. What? - Mark passages that you need to ask about. 2. Wow! - Mark passages that strike you as meaningful, important, or that you just really like. 3. Words – Be sure to look up the new words that you need to look up to be able to fully understand what you are reading. 4. Summarize - List key ideas at the end of each chapter. (These lists will help to jog your memory in September.)
II. Note taking Tips – You may decide where you would like to take your notes. You may wish to try some combination of the following: ● ● ● ● ● ●
In the margin On tops of pages At the beginning or end of each chapter On sticky notes On a separate piece of paper or document In a journal
III. Assignments - When we return to school in the fall, you will be doing some writing based on the summer reading texts. You will also take a test, but only after we have discussed the books together in class.
2017 Required Summer Reading (3 texts) All Upper-School Read (grades 9-12) We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi The highly acclaimed, provocative New York Times bestseller—a personal, eloquently-argued essay, adapted from the much-admired TEDx talk of the same name—from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award-winning author of Americanah. Here she offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman now—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists. Required 9th Grade texts:
Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project by Jack Meyer During World War II, Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker, organized a rescue network of fellow social workers to save 2,500 Jewish children from certain death in the Warsaw ghetto. Incredibly, after the war her heroism, like that of many others, was suppressed by communist Poland and remained virtually unknown for 60 years. Unknown, that is, until three high school girls from an economically depressed, rural school district in southeast Kansas stumbled upon a tantalizing reference to Sendler's rescues, which they fashioned into a history project, a play they called Life in a Jar. Their innocent drama was first seen in Kansas, then the Midwest, then New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, and finally Poland, where they elevated Irena Sendler to a national hero, championing her legacy of tolerance and respect for all people. Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project is a Holocaust history and more. It is the inspirational story of Protestant students from Kansas, each carrying her own painful burden, each called in her own complex way to the history of a Catholic woman who knocked on Jewish doors in the Warsaw ghetto and, in Sendler's own words, "tried to talk the mothers out of their children." Inspired by Irena Sendler, they are living examples of the power of one person to change the world and models for young people everywhere.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live. With a forward by Markus Zusak, interviews with Sherman Alexie and Ellen Forney, and four-color interior art throughout, this edition is perfect for fans and collectors alike. *All summaries excerpted from amazon.com
View the Upper School Suggested Reading List for additional reading selections.