7th Grade Author Study
We choose the books we read in many different ways. One strategy we use is to read books by our favorite author. Studying authors creates a lifelong enthusiasm for reading and teaches important strategies. Mrs. McKinstrie's and Mrs. Hilliard's language arts classes have been doing an extensive author study of famous African American authors and poets. The experience of reading an author's body of work provides a context for applying high-level thinking strategies for comparing and contrasting, making judgments, and evaluating. The study was done to give insight into the writer's craft, and to braoden the reading and writing experiences of the students. Studying a favorite author gives students lifelong strategies for selecting quality literature.
Students are now making powerful connections to authors. Many are determined to grow up and become authors and poets. The students were required to write letters to the authors communicating their excitement, suggestions, and request for advice.
The Call of the Wild
Mrs. Matese's eighth grade class read a book called The Call of the Wild by: Jack London. The Call of the Wild tells the story of Buck, a dog stolen from his home in California to be used as a sled dog in the Alaskan gold rush. He is content with his domestic life at the home of Judge Miller but finds himseelf vulnerable to both human and canine cruelty as he is passed from owner to owner. Meanwhile, his exposure to the artic wilderness kindles dormant primitive instincts in Buck, and he finds himself yearning to join the free-roaming wolves.
Buck is a good sled dog and shows himself to be a good leader after he kills his archrival, Spitz, in a fight. He works proudly and steadily until his team is thoroughly exhausted and sold to a family of incompetent miners. They do not know how to treat the dogs and eventually starve them. A kind man named John Thornton rescues Buck, and the two develop a strong, true affection for one another.
Buck still hears the call of the wild, however, and longs to answer it. He follows a wolf through the forest but he turns back to return to his camp. He develops stronger hunting skills, returning to the camp only every few days. When his master is killed, however, his last bonds to mankind are severed and he joins the wolves for good.
The class was required to create a diorama depicting their favorite scene in the story. The dioramas are on display in the library.
Celebration of Books
We would like to take this time to say Thank You to all those who have donated books to the library through the Celebration of Books program. There was an overwhelming response to this project. We had 20 students and staff members donate books to the library. You still can participate. There are forms in the library if you would like to be a donator. Please see Mrs. Henson or Ms. Roberts for the forms. This month we are celebrating Kristin Dukes, Matthew DuPertuis and Anne Compton's birthday. Thank you for your donation and Happy Birthday!!!!
Book Fair Success
The 2000 Scholastic Book Fair was a great success. We earned $1674.00 for our school library.
Middle School Recommended Reading List
FICTION
Alcott - Little Women
Armstrong - Sounder
Avi - Poppy
Avi - Something Upstairs
Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Cleary - Strider
Collier - My Brother Sam is Dead
Cooney - The Face on a Milk Carton, Where is Janie?
Cormier - I Am the Cheese+
Cushman - The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
Cushman - Catherine, Called Birdy
Cushman - The Midwife's Apprentice
Dahl - The Boy
Dahl - Matilda
Danzinger - The CAte Ate My Gymsuit
Drucker - Jacob's Rescue
Farley - The Black Stallion
Forbes - Johnny Tremain
Hansen - Which Way Freedom
Hinton - The Outsiders
Holman - Slake's Limbo
Hunt - The Lottery Rose
Konigsburg - A View from Saturday
L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
London - Call of the Wild
Lowry - The Giver
Lowry - Number the Starts
Meigs - Invincible Louisa
Myers - Fallen Angels
Myers - Hoops
Myers - The Scorpions
Naylor - Shiloh Series
Nixon - any title
O'Brien - Z for Zachariah
O'Dell - The Black Pearl
Paterson - Bridge to Terabithia
Paulsen - Brian's Winter
Paulsen - The Car
Paulsen - Dog Song
Paulsen - Hatchet
Paulsen - Popcorn Days and Buttermilk Nights
Paulsen - The River
Paulsen - Tracker
Paulsen - Voyage of the Frog
Peck - A Day No Pigs Would Die
Reiss - The Upstairs Room
Rylant - The Islander
Sachar - Holes
Snyder - The Egypt Game
Soto - Buried Onions
Speare - Sign of the Beaver
Speare - The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Spinelli - Maniac Magee
Spinelli - Space Station Seventh Grade
Spinelli - The Wringer
Steinbeck - The Red Pony
Taylor - Let the Circle be Unbroken
Taylor - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Taylor - The Cay
Taylor - Timothy of the Cay
Tolkien - The Hobbitt
Twain - Adventures of Huck Finn
Twain - Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Voight - Bad Girls
Voight - Dicey's Song
Wells - The Time Machine
Wisler - Caleb's Choice
NON-FICTION
Canfield - Chicken Soup for a Kid's Soul
Canfield - Chicken Soup for the Teenager Soul
Dahl - Boy: Tales of Childhood
Flipovic - Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo
Paulsen - Woodsong (Biography)
Petry - Harriet Tubman, Conductor on the Underground
Railroad
Reiss - The Upstairs Room
Spinelli - Knots in my Yo-yo String: The Autobiography
of a Kid
White - Ryan White: My Own Story
Zindel - The Pigman and Me
POETRY
Fletcher - Ordinary Things: Poems from a Walk in Early
Spring
Hesse - Out of the Dust
Prelutsky - A Pizza the Size of the Sun
Pyle - Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Silverstein - Where the Sidewalk Ends
DRAMA
Davis - Escape to Freedom
Lawrence - Inherit the Wind
|
|
