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8th Grade Summer Reading Project5524500114300This year 8th grade at Suncoast Academy will use some of the titles from SUNSHINE STATE YOUNG READERS AWARD BOOKS 2020-2021 6-8 list for our Summer Reading Project. Because we believe it is important that our students don’t fall back on the reading gains they have made over the school year, we encourage parents to support their students by providing reading opportunities throughout the summer break. Although each student will only be assessed on their project for one book, we highly recommend each student choose more books to read before the beginning of the school year. Below are the titles of books (and a short summary) your student can pick from:Charlie Hernandez and the League of Shadows by Ryan Calejo After sprouting horns and feathers, Charlie Hernandez realizes that all those myths his grandmother has told him might just be real. This happens right at the same time that his home burns down and his parents have gone missing. Charlie and his friend Violet embark on a journey discovering that Charlie’s life is linked to the balance between the Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead. Charlie encounters characters from Mexican-American, Guatemalan, and Brazilian myths and he travels through parts of Florida and the mythological world. He is trying to hide all the things changing about himself from his friends while searching for his parents, code switching his language between monsters, translating for Violet, and trying desperately to find and save his parents.Spark by Sarah Beth Durst Twelve year old Mina lives on her family’s farm in Alorria, a land where there’s never extreme weather like tornadoes, hurricanes and thunder-storms. Weather is controlled by storm beasts, dragon-like creatures with the face of a lizard and the personality of a puppy. The five types of storm beasts are sun, rain, wind, snow, and lightning. Mina is so quiet, everyone assumes her storm beast will be a sun, rain, or snow beast when it finally hatches. When Pixit hatches, he’s a lightning beast which “must be a mistake,” since lightning guardians are loud and brave. However, Mina stands her ground and won’t even consider giving up her beast. Though quiet and sometimes self-doubting, Mina discovers her inner strength when she leaves home to start Lightning School. Learning how to fly into storms and grab lightning with their hands is incredibly exciting. When she discovers that Alorria’s perfectly balanced weather comes at a horrific cost to the people on the other side of the mountains, she’s horrified. Though Mina has never been one to speak up, lives are at stake and she’s determined to get her fellow students to rise up against powers that be.Game Changer by Tommy Greenwald An accident at the end of preseason football practice leaves 13-year-old Teddy Youngblood with a brain injury and in a coma...or was it an accident? Rumors swirl as Teddy, the team, and the town try to recover, and while Teddy is unable to share what he knows, there are plenty of others who just aren’t willing to. What really happened at the Rookie Rumble? Will anyone find the cour-age to tell the truth?Lifeboat 12 by Susan Hood It's 1940, the beginning of the Blitz, and 13-year-old Kenneth Sparks is selected to go to Canada as part of a program to send ninety British children to the safety of the U.K.'s overseas dominions. Life aboard the luxury ship is grand-- rich food, new toys, soft beds, and new friends distract them from the constant reminder that war is happening all around them. When his ship is torpedoed, Kenneth, five other boys from the program, and about 40 adults make it aboard Lifeboat 12, one of the only lifeboats remaining after the evening's gale-force winds. Will they run out of supplies? Will they survive long enough to be found?Deep Water by Watt Key If it doesn’t feel right, don’t go down is what Julie’s Dad has told her ever since she learned to dive. But when they have booked a dive trip for four times the going rate, she is forced to take over for him. What should have been a normal dive turns into a living nightmare for Julie along with Hank & Shane Jordan, their clients. The Jordans, a father and son team of reckless divers, make mistakes on the seafloor that goes from bad to worse. The dive boat has vanished, Hank has bends, and they are lost and drifting toward blue water where large predators lurk. Sharks, jellyfish, hypothermia and exhaustion - and Mother Nature at her worst challenge Julie and Shane to overcome their fears and take on each challenge. Deep Water is a fast-paced action based story with plenty of suspense and dangers.Inkling by Kenneth Oppel When ink from Ethan's father's sketchbook comes to life and jumps off the page, Ethan, his sister Sarah, and his father find that Inkling helps each of them in unique ways as they deal with grief and struggle to move forward following the death of Ethan's mother.Project AssessmentStudents pick one book from the choices above. After reading the book, students then pick one of the project choices below as a way to share their reading experience. Choose a project based upon the student’s strengths, interests, and learning preferences. Please include the project number, and name with the final work. If the project requires the student to send a recording, be sure to format it in WMV (Windows Media). Any typewritten work should be done in single-space, Times New Roman font 12. Make sure to have the project ready for the teacher on the first day of the school year. The teacher will ask all students to turn in their written pieces in or share their recorded files DURING THE FIRST WEEK of school. This project will be the first graded work for the school year, so it is very important it is done well and turned in on-time. The choices below are meant to make this experience a positive one rather than a chore, so help your student pick the one that appeals to him/her the most. Write a letter to a character in the book. (500 words minimum)Write a letter to the author inviting him/her to speak to the class about the book, and explain why you feel the author could contribute to the learning experience of your fellow students. (500 words minimum) Write an obituary, eulogy, or epitaph for one of the characters in your book. (500 words minimum) Write and present a TV commercial persuading the audience to read the book. (2-3 minute creative and persuasive recording) As a movie producer, explain why you will or will not make your book into a movie. (5 minute recording) Pretend you are the author, and explain why you choose the title of your book. (500 words minimum)Create a poster for your book. Be sure to include a written explanation for your design.(1 22”-28” poster board)Describe how a character changed during the book. (500 words minimum)Explain what the main character would prefer for Christmas and why. (500 words minimum)You are an architect. Design the perfect home for the main character in this book. Describe (100 words minimum) how the house fits the personality of that person. (you may use computer programs to design this. Ex: Minecraft or draw it yourself)List the protagonist, antagonist, setting, plot, theme, and point of view of the story. Offer explanations for your choices when needed. (500 words minimum)Change one element of the story and explain how the change would affect the story. (500 words minimum)Tell what happened to a certain character and explain why he/she did/did not get what he/she deserved. (500 words minimum)Make a chart showing how two characters are alike and how they are different. (size of a 22”-28” poster board)Write a letter to our principal explaining why every Suncoast Academy student should read your book. (500 words minimum)Describe the author’s tone in the story. A tone can be humorous, admiring, sad, angry, bitter, etc. Cite examples from the book that support your opinion. (500 words minimum)The main character in your book has just been nominated for president of the United States. Explain if you would vote for him/her. (500 words minimum)Put yourself in the place of the main character and describe how his/her life would have been different if you would have lived it. (500 words minimum)Describe what you think happened to the main character after the book ended. (500 words minimum)Imagine that a character from the book visits your school. Write what he/she would tell students about his/her life. How would the character view your school and your life? (500 words minimum)Create a timeline that depicts the major events of the story. (size of a 22”-28” poster board)Choose four quotes from the book and explain why you like/dislike and/or agree/disagree with them. (500 words minimum)Write a seven-day diary for your favorite character. (creative diary format with a total of 500 words minimum)Write a different ending for your book. (500 words minimum) .Design a book jacket for the book you’ve read. Required elements include the title page with an illustration that is different from the book’s original, an About the Author section that would appear on the inside flap of a book jacket, and the back cover that includes book reviews and written text designed to entice the reader to read the book. The written work must be original and not plagiarized from the original book.Draw a comic strip for your book. (10 individual panels minimum)Make a model of three objects which were important in the book you read. On a card attached to each model (100 words each), tell why the object was important in the book.Make a shoebox diorama of a scene from the book you read. Write a paragraph (100 words) explaining the scene and attach it to the diorama.Create a sculpture of a character. Use any combination of soap, wood, clay, sticks, wire, stones, old toy pieces, or any other object. An explanation (100 words minimum) of how this character fits into the book should accompany the sculpture.Prepare an oral presentation for the “culture section” of the local news. Give a brief summary of the plot and describe the personality of one of the main characters. (5 minute recording)Construct puppets and present a show of one or more interesting parts of the book. (3-5 minute recording of your own puppet show)Dress as one of the characters and act out a characterization. (3-5 minute recording)Read the same book as one of your friends. The two of you make a video of MASTERPIECE BOOK REVIEW, a program which reviews books and interviews authors. (5-7 minute recording)If the story of your book takes place in another country, prepare a travel brochure using pictures you have found (remember to cite where you found them) or drawn. Include at least 5 explanations on how this brochure relates to the setting and/or the plot of the book. Write and record an original song that tells the story of the book.Be a TV or radio reporter, and record a report of a scene from the book as if it is happening "live". ................
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