Dear Parents,

The E.T.M.S. teachers are excited to announce a summer literacy program. Your child will take part in reading and writing activities that will strengthen his or her skills. In order to participate, have your child complete these steps.

Steps to Complete Summer Reading Choose a book from Summer Reading Books. Make sure it

is appropriate for your reading level. Complete the organizers in the Summer Reading for 6th

Grade English Language Arts packet as you read your book.

Use the organizers and any relevant information from your book to write your paragraphs on the pages provided in the Summer Reading for 6th Grade English Language Arts packet.

Please be aware that this assignment is required. It will count as a grade toward the first marking period in ELA class. Bring the completed packet to your ELA teacher by Friday, September 13th.

HAPPY READING!!!

Sincerely, The English Language Arts Teachers of E.T.M.S.

Summer Reading Books

Book Summary (Provided by Amazon) The One and Only Ivan

By Katherine Applegate

Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all. Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line. Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home – and his own art – through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.

The Lemonade War By Jacqueline Davies

Fourth-grader Evan Treski is people-smart. He’s good at talking with people, even grownups. His younger sister, Jessie, on the other hand, is math-smart, but not especially good with people. So when the siblings’ lemonade stand war begins, there really is no telling who will win—or even if their fight will ever end. Brimming with savvy marketing tips for making money at any business, definitions of business terms, charts, diagrams, and even math problems, this fresh, funny, emotionally charged novel subtly explores how arguments can escalate beyond anyone’s intent.

The Night I Became a Hero

By A. R. Marshall

Then it happened: the book flashed bright. “What was that?” Grandpa didn’t say a word, he just winked and kept reading. This summer, story time with grandpa will change everything. Inside a glowing book, Space Spy Drift Elwick must defeat intergalactic pirates and save Earth. Riles, Sissie, and Finn want to help, but how? The art of Story Keeping is the answer. Story Keepers protect stories and save happy endings. Will they find a way before it’s too late?

How to Steal a Dog By Barbara O’Connor

Georgina Hayes is desperate. Ever since her father left and they were evicted from their apartment, her family has been living in their car. With her mama juggling two jobs and trying to make enough money to find a place to live, Georgina is stuck looking after her younger brother, Toby. She has her heart set on improving their situation. When Georgina spots a missing-dog poster with a reward of five hundred dollars, the solution to all her problems suddenly seems within reach. All she has to do is "borrow" the right dog and its owners are sure to offer a reward. What happens next is the last thing she expected.

Summer Reading Books

Book Summary (Provided by Amazon) The Boy Who

Saved Baseball By John H. Ritter

Tom Gallagher is in a tight spot. The fate of the Dillontown team rests on the outcome of one baseball game, winner take all. If Tom's team loses, they lose their field too. But how can they possibly win? Just when everything seems hopeless, a mysterious boy named Cruz de la Cruz rides into town and claims to know the secret of hitting as well as the secrets of Dante Del Gato, Dillontown's greatest hitter ever. Since he walked away from the game years ago, Del Gato hasn't spoken a word to anyone. Now, he might be Tom's only hope for saving his hometown.

Counting by 7s By Holly Goldberg Sloan

Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life…until now. Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief.

Fish in a Tree By Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike.

The Fourteenth Goldfish

By Jennifer L. Holm

Eleven-year-old Ellie has never liked change. She misses fifth grade. She misses her old best friend. She even misses her dearly departed goldfish. Then one day a strange boy shows up. He’s bossy, he’s cranky, and weirdly enough…he looks a lot like Ellie’s grandfather, a scientist who’s always been slightly obsessed with immortality. Could this pimply boy really be Grandpa Melvin? Has he finally found the secret to eternal youth?

Good Dog By Dan Gemeinhart

Brodie was a good dog, and good dogs go to heaven. However, Brodie can't move on - not just yet. As wonderful as his glimpse of the afterlife is, he can't forget the boy he left behind. He can’t forget the boy he loved, and who loved him in return. The boy who's still in danger. So Brodie breaks the rules of heaven. He returns to Earth as a spirit. With the help of two other lost souls - lovable pitbull Tuck and surly housecat Patsy - he is determined to find his boy and to save him. This could cost him paradise and his eternal soul.

Book Summary (Provided by Amazon) Last Man Out By Mike Lupica

When the Brighton Bears suit up on game day, 12-year-old Tommy Gallagher is the toughest kid on the football field - the bravest. After all, his father Patrick is a Boston firefighter - one of Boston's bravest. Tommy's dad taught him everything he knows about football and life. Yet even Tommy isn't strong enough for what happens when the sirens ring and, for the first time, they're racing away from the fire. "First man in; last man out" had always been his dad's motto…yet he never said anything about leaving in an ambulance. Now Tommy's biggest battle has nothing to do with football. The kid who always had such respect for risk on the gridiron finds himself drawn to it off the field.

The Magician’s Elephant

By Kate DiCamillo

When a fortuneteller's tent appears in the market square of the city of Baltese, orphan Peter Augustus Duchene knows the questions that he needs to ask: Does his sister still live? If so, how can he find her? The fortuneteller's mysterious answer: An elephant will lead him there! This sets off a chain of events so remarkable, so impossible, that you will hardly dare to believe it’s true.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

By Kate DiCamillo

Once, in a house on Egypt Street, there lived a china rabbit named Edward Tulane. The rabbit was very pleased with himself, and for good reason. He was owned by a girl named Abilene, who adored him completely. Then, one day, he was lost. Kate DiCamillo takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the depths of the ocean to the net of a fisherman, from the bedside of an ailing child to the bustling streets of Memphis. Along the way, we are shown a miracle. Even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again.

Mockingbird By Kathryn Erskine

Caitlin has Asperger's. The world according to her is black and white, and anything in between is confusing. Before, when things got confusing, Caitlin went to her older brother Devon for help. However, Devon was killed in a school shooting, and Caitlin's dad is so distraught that he is just not helpful. Caitlin wants everything to go back to the way things were, but she doesn't know how to do that. Then she comes across the word closure, and she realizes this is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that the world may not be so black and white after all.

A Night Divided By Jennifer A. Nielsen

With the rise of the Berlin Wall, Gerta finds her family suddenly divided. She, her mother, and her brother Fritz live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, who had gone west in search of work, cannot return home. Gerta knows it is dangerous to watch the wall, yet she can't help herself. She sees the East German soldiers with their guns trained on their own citizens. She, her family, her neighbors and her friends are prisoners in their own city.

Book Summary (Provided by Amazon)

Out of My Mind By Sharon M. Draper

Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom—the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged, because she cannot tell them otherwise. However, Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy, and she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow.

Scar Island By Dan Gemeinhart

Jonathan Grisby is the newest arrival at the Slabhenge Reformatory School for Troubled Boys - an ancient, crumbling fortress of gray stone rising up from the ocean. It is dark, damp, and dismal, and it is just the place Jonathan figures he deserves. Jonathan has done something terrible, and he's willing to accept whatever punishment he has coming. Just as he's getting used to his new situation, however, a freak accident leaves the troubled boys of Slabhenge without any adult supervision. Suddenly the kids are free, with an entire island to themselves, but freedom brings unexpected danger. If Jonathan can't come to terms with the sins of his past and lead his new friends to safety...then every boy on the island is doomed.

Short By Holly Goldberg Sloan

Julia is very short for her age, but by the end of the summer run of The Wizard of Oz, she’ll realize how big she is inside, where it counts. She hasn’t ever thought of herself as a performer, but when the wonderful director of Oz casts her as a Munchkin, she begins to see herself in a new way. As Julia becomes friendly with the poised and wise Olive—one of the adults with dwarfism who’ve joined the production’s motley crew of Munchkins—and with her deeply artistic neighbor, Mrs. Chang, Julia’s own sense of self as an artist grows. Soon, she doesn’t want to fade into the background—and it’s a good thing, because her director has more big plans for Julia!

Small as an Elephant By Jennifer Richard Jacobson

Jack’s mom is gone, leaving him all alone on a campsite in Maine. Can he find his way back to Boston before the authorities realize what happened? Ever since Jack can remember, his mom has been unpredictable, sometimes loving and fun, other times caught in a whirlwind of energy and "spinning" wildly until it’s over. However, Jack never thought his mom would take off during the night and leave him at a campground in Acadia National Park, with no way to reach her and barely enough money for food. Any other kid would report his mom gone, but Jack knows by now that he needs to figure things out for himself - starting with how to get from the backwoods of Maine to his home in Boston before DSS catches on. With nothing but a small toy elephant to keep him company, Jack begins the long journey south, a journey that will test his wits and his loyalties - and his trust that he may be part of a larger herd after all.

The War That Saved My Life

By Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Ten-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute. She sneaks out to join him. So begins a new adventure for Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. In the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime, or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?

Summer Reading for

6th Grade English Language Arts

Name

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Title of Book

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Author

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Steps to Complete Summer Reading

1. Choose a book from Summer Reading Books.

2. Complete the graphic organizers as you read the book.

3. Write your paragraphs when you are finished.

4. Bring this packet to your ELA teacher on the first day of school or by Friday, September 13th.

Summarizing Your Book

When you tell someone about your day, you include the important people, places, and events but leave out the little details. Similarly, a summary of a story is a brief retelling. It includes only the main characters, setting, conflict, and important events.

When reading a story, you might have personal opinions, or feelings, about it. You might also make judgments about the story – whether it’s believable, well-written, and so on. Although it’s fine to have opinions and make judgments, don’t include them in a summary. A summary is supposed to be objective, or tell only the facts.

Directions: Complete the graphic organizer as you read your book. If you are familiar with the five stages of plot, you can use them, or you can use the beginning, middle, and end column to guide your work.

Plot Notes

Beg

inn

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Exposition

Introduces the setting and the characters

Sets up or hints at the conflict (problem)

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Mid

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Rising Action

Shows how the conflict becomes more difficult

Builds suspense

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Climax

Is the most exciting part and a turning point

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Falling Action

Eases the tension

Shows how the main character resolves the conflict

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End

Resolution

Reveals how everything turns out

Sometimes ends with a surprise twist

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Main Character

What makes the characters in a story seem real? It’s all in the details. Authors can describe the characters’ attitudes, or how they think, act, and feel. They can also describe the characters’ motivations, or the reasons for their actions.

Often, a character’s attitude and motivation change during a story. As the story unfolds, readers learn more about a character based on how that person responds to events.

Directions: Complete the graphic organizer as you read to show how your character changes throughout the book.

Beginning of Book

What the Main Character Does Why He/She Does It What This Shows About Him/Her

Example: Benny takes an ice cream cone from Lisa.

Example: He might think it is funny. Example: He is not always kind; he likes to play jokes.

Middle of Book

What the Main Character Does Why He/She Does It What This Shows About Him/Her

End of Book

What the Main Character Does Why He/She Does It What This Shows About Him/Her

Name of Main Character: _____________________________________________

childhood courage death faith family freedom friendship self-reliance

success growing up hate hope identity independence justice love trust

truth loyalty nature patience patriotism prejudice race relations

self-improvement unhappiness violence war

Determining Theme

“Winning isn’t everything.” “Follow your heart.” You’ve probably learned lessons like these at one time or another. Your own experience is usually the best teacher, but literature can also communicate important truths, or themes. A theme is a message about life or human nature that a writer wants readers to understand.

To determine a theme in your book, you must first decide on a topic. A topic is one or two words that sum up what the book is about.

Directions: Circle the topics that are related to your book.

Common Topics Found in Books

Directions: Select two topics from the box and name a theme that relates to each. If you choose the topic of friendship, for example, you might use the theme, “Treat others as you wish to be treated.” Using specific details from the text, explain how your book teaches these themes.

Topic Theme Details From Book

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*Use at least four sentences.

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Paragraph #1

Be sure to

include the title and author

use details from the graphic organizer, Summarize Your Book

use any relevant details from your book

include at least 10 sentences

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Summarize your book.

Paragraph #2

Be sure to

include the name of the main character

provide details from the beginning, middle, and end of the book

use details from the graphic organizer, Main Character

include at least 10 sentences

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Describe how the main character changes throughout the book.

Paragraph #3

Be sure to

name the theme

explain how the book teaches this theme

use details from the graphic organizer, Determining Theme

use any relevant details from your book

include at least 10 sentences

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Explain a theme that is taught through your book.