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Summer Reading Grade 6 |
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Summer Reading Program Grade 6
Theme: Change
Reading Motivation Committee Summer Reading Program Mission
Statement
Westfield’s Reading Motivation Committee’s purpose is to
promote reading enjoyment. Reading allows students (and adults) to experience
different worlds and learn life lessons. Readers extend their background knowledge
and vocabulary. Summer is an important time to keep kids reading. Studies have
shown that many students lose ground in the summer months. In fact, there is
a direct correlation between volume of reading at any time and reading progress.
A famous study of fifth graders (Anderson, Wilson, Fielding, 1998) found the
following:
| Standardized Reading Test Percentage
Rank |
Minutes of Reading per Day |
Estimated # of Words Read per Year |
98 |
90.7 |
4,733,000 |
90 |
40.4 |
2,357,000 |
70 |
21.7 |
1,168,000 |
50 |
12.9 |
601,000 |
20 |
3.1 |
134,000 |
10 |
1.6 |
51,000 |
A study by the National Endowment for the Arts (2007) found similar results for twelfth graders.
Westfield supports the creation of community of readers, made up of both adults and children. Help us create life-long readers. Be an active participant in our summer reading program.
Book Choices
Great Gilly Hopkins by Paterson, Katherine
Gilly Hopkins is a determined-to-be-unpleasant 11-year-old foster kid who
the reader can't help but like by the end. Gilly has been in the foster
system all her life, and she dreams of getting back to her (as she imagines)
wonderful mother. (The mother makes these longings worse by writing the
occasional letter.) Gilly is all the more determined to leave after she's
placed in a new foster home with a "gross guardian and a freaky kid."
But she soon learns about illusions--the hard way. This Newbery Honor Book
manages to treat a somewhat grim, and definitely grown-up theme with love
and humor, making it a terrific read for a young reader who's ready to learn
that "happy" and "ending" don't always go together.
Zach's Lie by Smith, Roland
In this contemporary suspense novel, Jack's father, a pilot, has been arrested
for drug trafficking. When the cartel thugs come to their house to terrorize
the teen, his mother, and his sister, they become candidates for the Witness
Security Program and must change their identities. Although the family is
told not to bring anything to Nevada that would link them to their former
lives, Jack, now Zach, cannot leave his diary behind. With the villains
searching for them, there can be no slipups, but the young protagonist soon
learns that, in the small town of Elko, "Everyone knows Everything
about Everybody." The diary and Zach's vulnerability are well-developed
devices, but the plot soon becomes compromised by some unbelievable twists
and turns. Zach is befriended by the school custodian, Sam, who acts as
the principal's assistant, handling disciplinary cases with counseling and
boxing therapy. Sam introduces Zach to the Basque people, sheep tenders
in the hills outside town, who conveniently provide a hiding place for Zach
when the bad guys arrive. In the biggest stretch of all, Sam outwits the
thugs with talents he acquired as a KGB agent. Other details and characters
merely set up the chain of events, which is unfortunate because individual
chapters are often exciting, and there is a great potential to satisfy suspense
fans.
Firefly Animal Rescue Series: (Choose 1)