Geography is the study of Earth as the some of people.

                    Yi-Fu Tuan, 1991

Please click the link below to access my webpage and click on Staff Info.

Mrs. Thomas' webpage

      

Happy Summer Vacation!

**BELOW ARE SUPPLIY LISTS /THE JOURNAL PROMPTS AND READING LISTS FOR THE SUMMER 2010

Journal Writing for Students Entering Grades 6, 7 and 8- Summer 2010

 

Keep a summer journal on your computer or in a marble notebook. Your completed prompts will be due to your homeroom teacher on the first day of school in August.

 

Please respond using complete sentences to 5 of the following prompts. Be sure to restate the prompt in your response:

 

• Create a survey of ten questions that you would ask a new student in your class, so you can get to know them better. Consider favorites, hobbies, sports… Then answer your own questions yourself.

 

• Often interesting or important novels are depicted in film. More often than not, changes are made to the original story in an effort to “tell the story” within a two hour window. Literary license is used for this purpose usually with the consent and aid of the author.

 

           Comment on the differences and similarities between a novel that you have read this summer and the film   of      the same name. Include your feelings on whether the differences have hurt or enhanced the message of the     story. Do you feel the original story has been compromised in an effort to sensationalize the theme, or was it well done and true to the integrity of the original piece?

 

          Remember to state your position and use details from the story and film to support your opinion.

 

 

• What town do you live in? How long have you live here? Describe your town and what you like best about it. What is fun to do, to see, to attend? If you could change one thing about this town what would you change and why?

 

• Consider one of the books you are reading this summer. Give a one paragraph summary of the plot. Next create a new character from your imagination that will fit into this story. Explain this character and his/her relationship to the other main characters. How will this character change the story? Include details from the book to help your character fit in. Will this addition change the ending? How? Draw a picture of how your new character will look.

 

• For many, summer is a time for day camps or overnights camps, and relaxing with friends and family. For some, however, summer presents an opportunity to participate in a service project or volunteer in the community. If you've spent a part of your summer volunteering or working on a service project, please share your experience. How did volunteering impact your summer? What were some of the unexpected benefits of volunteering? Would you encourage your friends to do volunteer during the summer months?

 

• Describe your dream job for the future. Where do you imagine yourself after college? Make a plan for yourself that describes the steps you will need to take to attain this job starting with this coming school year. Consider: schooling, course of study, part-time jobs, hobbies/sports, friends, financial needs, time spent, dedication…

 

• If your summer vacation includes travel to a part of the country or a part of the world you have never been to before, share your experience. Discuss how the place(s) you have visited is/are similar to your home environment. What sights reminded you of home? Discuss how the people, climate, customs, and topography of this place(s) differ from those at home. What did you miss the most while you were traveling? What part of your experiences do you wish you could replicate at home?

 

• Choose an historic time period that is of interest to you and that you know something about, where you might have liked to live. Write a journal entry

            [3 paragraphs] discussing your new community, major events of the time period,

            and your reaction to these events.

 

• Many students travel with their families over the summer. If you travel or visit to a place where English is not the main language discuss the ways that the language difference affected your visit. Did you or a parent know the native language where you visited? Did you or a family member make attempts to communicate in the native language? How were you able to get around where you were visiting? Did you find that people were willing to speak in English to help you? Did your trip give you new insights into the reasons why people learn and speak more than one language? Please discuss.

 

• In light of the recent disasters involving oil and energy needs, the United States is exploring the pros and cons of using alternative energy to reduce our dependency. Pick an alternative energy source and research how it is constructed. What are the pros and cons of constructing this alternative source? What are the benefits once it is up and running?

Summer Reading List for Students entering Grades 6, 7, 8

Requirements:

In addition to journal writing and math practice, Students will read 40 minutes per day/ 5 days per week.

 

Required reading for:

Grade 6:

Number the Stars by Lois Lowery.  In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.

 

Grade 7:

The Secret of Sarah Revere by Ann Rinaldi. The spunky daughter of Paul Revere tells the story of her father's rides and the intelligence network of the Patriot community prior to the American Revolution.

 

Grade 8:

Peak by Roland Smith. The emotional, tension-filled story of a fourteen-year-old boy's attempt to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.

 

Students are required to choose one additional book from the list below.

 

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. Dozens of children respond to this peculiar ad in the newspaper and are then put through a series of mind-bending tests, which readers take along with them.  

 

Edward’s Eyes by Patricia McLaughlin. Jake is a part of an extraordinary family. He has a life filled with art, music, and long summer nights on the Cape. He has hours and days and months of baseball.  

 

The Man who was Poe by Avi. In Providence, R.I., in 1848, Edgar Allan Poe reluctantly investigates the problems of eleven-year-old Edmund, whose family has mysteriously disappeared.

 

Everest  by Gordon Korman. Four kids are prepared to go into thin air in order to become the youngest person ever to climb Everest. But they are not prepared for the challenges that await them.

 

Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery by Peter Abrahams. Like her idol Sherlock Holmes, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her home town of Echo Falls.

 

Confessions of a Closet Catholic by Sarah Darer Littman. To be more like her best friend, eleven-year-old Justine decides to give up Judaism to become Catholic, but after her beloved, religious grandmother dies. 

 

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. It s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

 

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. Leo Borlock follows the unspoken rule at Mica Area High School: don't stand out--under any circumstances! Then Stargirl arrives at Mica High and everything changes--for Leo .

Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time by Arthur Levine. Stanford Wong is having a bad summer. If he flunks his summer-school English class, he won't pass sixth grade. If that happens, he won't start on the A-team.

 

Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. Abandoned by their mother, four children begin a search for a home and an identity.  

 

Stuck In Neutral by Terry Trueman. Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy and cannot function, relates his perceptions of his life, his family, and his condition. [May contain some obsenities]

 

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson. Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers?

 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

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.

             

Nothing But the Truth by Avi

In this thought-provoking examination of freedom, patriotism, and respect, ninth-grader, Philip Malloy, is kept from joining the track team by his failing grades in English class. Convinced that the teacher just doesn't like him, Philip concocts a plan to get transferred out of her class. Breaking the school's policy of silence during the national anthem, he hums along, and ends up in a crisis at the center of the nation's attention.

 

Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantos

In this sequel to Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, Joey is off to spend the summer with his father, who his mother has warned him is just like Joey, "only bigger." Carter Pigza is eager to make past wrongs up to Joey, to teach him how to be a winner and how to take control of his life. And Joey is eager to do whatever his dad says, even if he suspects it will do him more harm than good. A Newbery Honor Book.

 

Percy Jackson & the Olypians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school...again. No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to stay out of trouble. But can he really be expected to stand by and watch while a bully picks on his scrawny best friend? Or not defend himself against his pre-algebra teacher when she turns into a monster and tries to kill him? Of course, no one believes Percy about the monster incident; he’s not even sure he believes himself.

Until the Minotaur chases him to summer camp.

Suddenly, mythical creatures seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology textbook and into his life. The gods of Mount Olympus, he’s coming to realize, are very much alive in the twenty-first century. And worse, he’s angered a few of them: Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

 

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.

 

**Summaries used for this reading list were taken from http://barnesandnoble.com.

7th Grade Supplies

Homeroom supplies

• 2 boxes of tissues
• 2 rolls paper towels
• 2 containers of wipes (antibacterial)
• 1 package loose leaf paper (NOT college rule) to be kept in classroom.

Student Supplies:

• 6 pens (blue or black) (NO click pens or gel pens)
• 12 pencils w/erasers (NO mechanical  pencils)
• 1 highlighter
• 1 plastic container for art supplies 9 1/2 ” or smaller (should fit on top shelf of locker)
• 1 pair of scissors (kept in art box)
• 4 glue sticks(kept in art box)
• 1 highlighter marker(kept in art box)
• 1 box 24 crayons(kept in art box)
• 1 package color markers(kept in art box)
• 1 package color pencils(kept in art box)
• 1 zipper pouch for pens and pencils
• 1 smock or old shirt (Art)
• All students need a working Jump Drive (data storage for computer)
• NO WHITEOUT
• School Issued Assignment Pad $ TBA
• All text books must be covered. Cloth covers are available for sale in the school office size EX-Large $3.00.
• Jump drive- can be purchased through school with school logo and student’s name on drive.

Subject Area Supplies:

Faith

• 2 marble bound notebooks

Geography

• 1 subject notebook for notes

Health

• 1 subject notebook for notes

Homeroom supplies

• 2 boxes of tissues
• 2 rolls paper towels
• 2 containers of wipes (antibacterial)
• 1 package loose leaf paper (NOT college rule) to be kept in classroom.

Language Arts/ Literature supplies

• 2 marble bound composition books
• 2 durable 2 pocket folders

• Ballpoint pens ( blue or black ink)
• 2 packages loose leaf paper (NOT college rule)

Math supplies

• 1 - journal - can be marble or spiral bound
• 1 - graphing journal
• 1 - 1 1/2 “ soft cover 3 ring binder
• 2 - packages loose leaf paper (NOT college rule)
• 1 - holed zippered pencil pouch (for Math only) to be clipped into math binder
• 12 - pencils for math only, kept in the math zipper pouch.
• 1- Red correcting pen/pencil kept in math zipper pouch.

Science supplies

• 1 marble bound notebook to be replaced when filled.
• 1 - plastic 2-pocket folder to hold handouts, quizzes and tests
• To be given to the science teacher on first day of school - will be used in classroom throughout the year:
  • 1 package of looseleaf
  • 1 package of white, lined 3 x 5 cards
  • 1 package of #2 pencils

Social Studies

• 1 - three subject notebook with pockets
• 1 - highlighter

Spanish supplies

• 1 - 3-ring binder, 11/2”  size for workbook, paper and folder
• 1 - plastic 2-pocket folder to hold handouts, quizzes and tests
• 1 - package loose leaf paper (NOT college rule) or 3 hole punch journal kept in binder