Summer  Learning  Activities  for    CAST  Students  entering  6th  grade  2015-2016      

 Dear  Parents  and  Students,    The  days  of  summer  go  by  fast  and  the  first  day  of  middle  school  will  be  here  before  you  know  it.    This  Summer  Learning  Activity  packet  will  help  your  child  keep  an  inquisitive  mind  over  the  summer  and  be  ready  for  middle  school  in  August!    There  are  3  activities  included  to  complete.    This  packet  will  be  due  when  we  return  to  school.    You  can  turn  it  to  any  of  your  teachers  the  first  week  of  school,  or  your  first  block  teacher  on  Monday  August  31, 2015.  They  will  count  as  your  first  assignments  for  Math,  Science, Social Studies  and  Language  Arts.    In  addition,  we  encourage  you  to  read  daily  over  the  summer.  Your  local  libraries  are  full  of  books  to  choose  from  in  a  variety  of  interests.    We  have  included  a  list  to  choose  from  as  well.    Have  a  fun  summer!    See  you  in  Middle  School!    Student  Name:  ______________________________________________________________________        

Mathematics in the Wild! Name: __________________________________ Find a situation where you find yourself asking mathematical questions. For example: How much does that weigh? How long will it take? Which one should I choose? Will the ball make it in the basket? Take time to observe all you can about the situation and describe it below. Or, if you prefer, you can complete the questions in a Word document on your computer.

Step 1: Sketch and describe the situation, or even take a photo if you can! Include all details

you can determine and include color and labels. _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Step 2: What questions come to mind? List everything you are curious of about the situation. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 3: Pick one of your questions above and put a star next to it. List below all the specifics you would need to know in order to answer the question. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Step 4: Write an action plan of steps you would need to do to solve this problem. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Step 5: Go ahead and solve the problem if you can! If you cannot solve it, explain why you were unable to solve this problem.

Observe Your Eco-System

Step 1: Find a 2 foot by 2 foot area somewhere outside. It needs to be a place you will be able to go back and check on

throughout the summer. So, if you are on vacation or staying at someone’s house out of town for a week or more, do it there! If you can, mark the space with a couple of objects so that you are sure to observe the same spot each day. Step 2: On a blank sheet of paper, sketch a layout of the square you are observing. Be sure to include the date and time of your first observation on the paper. Include EVERYTHING you see. If you are having trouble drawing the entire image, take a photo. Step 3: Label the image. Name everything you can. Be sure to pay attention to the tiniest of details: bugs, dirt, plants, animals, leaves, etc. If there is something in that space that you don’t know the name of, research it! Place a star next to those labeled items on your image. Step 4: Return to this spot 7 times over the summer and complete the observation table on the next page. Step 5: After your last observation, write a 200 word essay describing the details from your observations for the week. Information to think about while writing: What caused any changes you observed? What did you learn about the area? How much would this area change at different times of year? What was the weather like when you observed? Were there any surprises?

Name: ___________________________________________ Date Time What has changed? What is the same?

*Available as an E-Book on Mackin (Link on Focus home page or search using Destiny Library Catalog)

Summer Reading 2015 Keep your skills sharp and keep the boredom away by READING this summer! The public library

has special programming for teens in addition to lots of great books. Be sure to check it out!

NOTE: Students are required to read at least 1 book over the summer and be prepared to take

a Reading Counts test when they return to school in August.

Here are some recommended titles for middle school students:

Battle of the Books 2015-2016

*Counting by 7s- Holly Goldberg Sloan

The Eighth Day- Dianne K. Salerni

Eye of the Storm- Kate Messner

*Jack Strong Takes a Stand- Tommy Greenwald

Jungle of Bones- Ben Mikaelsen

*The Night Gardener- Jonathan Auxier

Project Jackalope- Emily Ecton

*The Secret of Rover-Rachel Wildavsky

Seeing Red Kathryn Erskine

Skink–No Surrender Carl Hiaasen

Stung Bethany Wiggins

Tesla’s Attic Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman

The Testing Joelle Charbonneau

*This Journal Belongs to Ratchet Nancy J. Cavanaugh

*Twerp Mark Goldblatt

Non-Fiction Award Winners

Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business—and

Won! Emily Arnold McCully

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil

Rights Steve Sheinkin

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial

Russia Candace Fleming

Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different Karen Blumenthal

Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice Phillip Hoose

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95,

written by Phillip Hoose

Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles,

America's First Black Paratroopers Tanya Lee Stone

*Available as an E-Book on Mackin (Link on Focus home page or search using Destiny Library Catalog)

Sixth Grade Titles

Charlie Joe Jackson’s

Guide to Not Reading-Tom

Greenwald (Humor)

Cinder-Marissa Meyer

(Science Fiction)

I, Funny-James Patterson

(Humor)

*Lions of Little Rock-Kristin

Levine (Historical Fiction)

The Looking Glass Wars-

Frank Beddor (Fantasy)

The Madman of Piney

Woods-Christopher Paul

Curtis (Historical Fiction)

*Rump: The True Story of

Rumplestiltskin- Liesl

Shurtliff (Humor, Fantasy)

*The Sasquatch Escape-

Suzanne Selfours (Fantasy)

Schooled-Gordon Korman

(Realistic)

*Stranded-Jeff Probst

(Adventure)

*Small as an Elephant-

Jennifer Jacobson

(Adventure)

Wonder-R.J. Palacio

(realistic fiction)

Seventh Grade Titles

Codename Zero-Chris

Rylander (Humorous

Fiction)

Freefall-Roderick Gordon

(Adventure)

From Norvelt to Nowhere-

Jack Gantos (Humorous

Fiction, Mystery)

The Ghost of Graylock-Dan

Poblocki (Mystery)

H.I.V.E Series-Mark

Walden (Science Fiction)

*Homesick, Kate Klise

(Realistic Fiction)

Island of the Unknowns-

Benedict Carey (Mystery)

*Okay for Now, Gary

Schmidt (Historical Fiction)

The Prisoner of Cell 25-

Richard Paul Evans

(Science Fiction)

Rise of the Wolf-Curtis

Jobling (Fantasy)

*Ungifted-Gordon Korman

(Humorous Fiction)

Eighth Grade Titles

Bluford High Series-

Various authors (Realistic

Fiction)

Brown Girl Dreaming-

Jacqueline Woodson

(Biography)

Chains-Laurie Halse

Anderson (Historical

Fiction)

Endangered-Eliot Schrefer

(Adventure)

Far, Far Away-Tom McNeal

(Fantasy, Mystery)

Graceling-Kristin Cashore

(Fantasy)

Legend-Marie Lu

(Dystopia)

Miss Peregrine’s Home for

Peculiar Children-Ransom

Riggs (Mystery, Fantasy)

The Screaming Staircase-

Jonathan Stroud (Mystery)

Variant-Robison Wells

(Science Fiction)

The Walk On-John

Feinstein (Sports Fiction)

Summer Reading Book Review

Name: ____________________________________________________

Book Title: ______________________________________________________

Author: _________________________________

Answer each question with complete sentences!

1. SS - Where and when does the story take place? Describe the major setting throughout the story.

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2. SS - How does the main character change throughout the story?

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3. SS - Why do you think he/she changed in this way?

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4. LA - Describe the main character of the story.

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5. LA - What is the main problem (conflict) this character is facing?

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6. LA - How does he/she solve this problem by the conclusion of the story?

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7. LA - What is the theme of the story? Describe why you think this. Theme is the message about life that the

author wants you to take away from reading the book.

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