May 5, 2014
Dear Pre AP Parents and Students:
Welcome to our sixth grade Pre Advanced Placement (Pre AP) Language Arts program. We look forward to having you as a part of this program and hope this year is filled with enjoyable and challenging experiences. Pre AP prepares students going into the high school AP program, which provides students the opportunity to earn advanced placement college credit. The expectations of both Pre AP and AP classes are higher than the regular classes.
Goals:
The goals of this class are developing awareness of language and cultivating critical and higher level thinking skills in reading and writing. We will focus on literature and the writing process. Students will be required to accumulate 17% of their yearly Accelerated Reading target points per six-week grading period.
Homework:
All students will be expected to read an Accelerated Reading novel 30 minutes each night. Other types of homework will be occasional and could include completing writing or reading assignments not completed in class. There may also be projects assigned that are completed at home.
Late Work:
Pre AP students are expected to demonstrate self-discipline and organizational skills as well as responsibility. The middle school late work policy in the student handbook will be followed. Turning work in late will result in a grade reduction for that assignment.
Summer Reading:
During the summer, Pre AP students are to choose and read any two novels on the attached reading list. During the first week of school, be prepared to write about, discuss, and take an AR test over the novels. These novels can be ordered through an internet site such as amazon.com or local book stores.
We hope you have a fun-filled summer. We look forward to having you in the Pre AP Language Arts program next year. If you have any questions concerning this program, please call 936-856-1274. The counselor or a Pre AP teacher will be glad to assist you.
Sincerely,
Sixth grade Pre AP teachers
Lynn Lucas Middle School
6th Grade Summer Reading List
Avi. The Seer of Shadows. Harper Collins, 2008. In this intriguing historical ghost story, which is set in New York City in 1872, Horace Carpetine becomes an apprentice to a local society photographer and learns more about deception, ghosts, and photography than he could ever have imagined.
Connor, Leslie. Waiting for Normal. Katherine Tegen, 2008. Addie would like a normal life. Not only does she live in a trailer in Schenectady, New York with her mother, who is not at all responsible or parental, but also she is separated from her kind and loving stepfather and younger half-sisters. Schneider Family Book Award.
Durrant, Lynda. My Last Skirt: The Story of Jennie Hodgers, Union Soldier. Clarion, 2006. Jennie Hodgers, a poor Irish immigrant girl, disguises herself as a boy to survive in the New York City of the 1850s. She escapes from New York to go to Ohio, enlists as a Union soldier in the Civil War, and lives to draw her soldier’s pension.
George, Jessica Day. Dragon Slippers. Bloomsbury, 2007. Creel, a poor but brave and clever orphan, befriends a dragon and selects a pair of remarkable slippers that lead her into the center of a struggle between longtime rivals.
Kelly, Jacqueline. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Holt, 2009. Calpurnia struggles with growing up as she spends more of her free time with her grandfather, an avid naturalist, examining the beauty of nature, while at the same time her mother wants to teach her the responsibilities of a young woman during the turn of the century in Central Texas. Newbery Honor, 2010
Neff, Henry H. The Hound of Rowan. Random House, 2007. After glimpsing a hint of his destiny in a mysterious tapestry, twelve-year-old Max McDaniels becomes a student at Rowan Academy where he trains in "mystics and combat" in
preparation for war with an ancient enemy that has been kidnapping children like him. Series
Levine, Kristin The Lions of Little Rock Painfully shy Marlee lives in Little Rock and makes friends with Liz the year after the ‘Nine” integrated. When schools close, these friends decide they can make a difference.
Palacio, R.J. Wonder Augie, who has a facial anomaly, must navigate mainstream school for the first time, making friends, dealing with bullies, and learning just how much he is needed. Podehl and Rudd share perspectives from Augie’s teen sister and his friends in interspersed chapters. Steele’s strong characterization of Augie evokes his unique physiology as well as his immense heart and spirit.
Pfeffer, Susan Beth Life as We Knew It When an asteroid collides with the moon and brings it closer to Earth, life in Northeastern Pennsylvania will never be the same again.