Welcome to 8 th Grade!! Summer Project Grade 8 Mrs. Zdanowicz, Language Arts Mr. Jackson, Social Studies Interdisciplinary Unit #1 This year s summer project will introduce you to the first unit of your eighth grade academic year, Clash of Ideals, Values, and Beliefs: The Civil War and Reconstruction. This project is based on the reading of your summer book, The Glory Field, by Walter Dean Meyers. The Glory Field maps the story of one African American family, beginning with Muhammad Bilal in 1753, who was forced into slavery, and ends with Malcolm Lewis, a budding musician in Harlem, New York, in 1994. In your Social Studies and Language Arts classes this year, we will have interdisciplinary units which will focus on the time periods from the Civil War era to the present time. The characters and the stories in your summer reading mirror the time periods we will discuss throughout the year. Turn the page for step-by-step instructions to guide you through your reading and writing assignment for the summer. Your project is due on the first day of school (after Camp Mason). Step One:
Make sure your name is written on the inside cover of your book. All books are numbered and are the property of Renaissance Middle School. If you do not return your book, you will have to pay for it! Step Two: All students must read the entire book The Glory Field. All students must complete a Sequence of Events paper. Step Three: This section requires you to think of the first letter of your last name! After you figure that out, look for the section that corresponds to that letter, and there you will find the assignment for your essay. That worksheet is titled Essay Assignment in this packet. Note: Since my last name is Zdanowicz, which begins with the letter Z, my research paper will focus on the characters Malcolm and Shep from the story. My essay will also focus on Effects of Integration. My research will help me to understand my character s struggles better as I research and write my essay, and it will also have me prepared for the classroom discussion in September. Step Four: Before you write your essay, you must review the worksheet titled MLA Guidelines! We will not accept your essay if you do not follow MLA Guidelines! Then, summarize your assigned Chapters in 3-4 paragraphs. Step Five: Choose one of the topics indicated for your chapters and research that topic. For example, group I-L has a choice of researching the KKK, Reconstruction, Lynching, etc. You should research the KKK or Reconstruction, or Lynching, not all three! Then, write a 3-5-paragraph summary of your research. Copying and pasting material from an Internet resource is considered plagiarism (as well as writing word for word from any resource such as articles, magazines, web pages, and books) and will not be tolerated! Step Six: Write a one paragraph hypothesis about how the events you researched may have affected the main characters in your assigned chapters. Step Seven: Find a visual that represents your topic, and staple it behind your essay so that it is the last page of your report.
Step Eight: Put your work in a folder! Step Nine: Refer to the checklist to make sure you bring in everything you need to succeed this September!
MLA FORMAT We don t expect you to know everything there is to know about MLA format, but the following are expected in your paper: Twelve point font, Times New Roman Double-spaced throughout that means you should have two spaces throughout the whole paper! This paper is doublespaced. (Except the line below) There are 4 spaces about this sentence because I hit enter twice. THIS IS INCORRECT! A heading: Your name Language Arts/Social Studies Date: like this 23 June 2012 This heading should be in the upper left hand corner of the first page of your essay. A Works Cited page: Visit: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/
My Summer Assignment 2012 Checklist Step One: My name is in the book! Step Two: I read the book and finished the Sequence of Events assignment. (1 st assignment) Step Three: I know my character and research focus! Step Four: The first 3-4 paragraphs of my essay are in MLA format! These paragraphs discuss my character Step Five: The next three to four paragraphs of my essay discuss the era in which my character lived. Step Six: The last paragraph of my essay is my hypothesis. (2 nd assignment consisting of 7-9 paragraphs) Step Seven: I attached a visual as the last page of my paper. Step Eight: My work is in a folder. Step Nine: I m finished!
Tracking a Sequence of Events: On a separate piece of paper, list the key events of each section of The Glory Field in the order in which they occur. Listed below is a guide to help you as you write. The first important events for each section have been completed for you. You are responsible for writing a list of four additional main ideas, so your charts have a total of FIVE main events. (Including idea #1, which was given to you.) The Glory Field presents the experiences of each character from a different generation of the Lewis family. Creating a sequence chain is one way to chart main ideas as you read. Section One: Muhammad Bilal is captured in July 1753, off the coast of Sierra Leone. How did this section end? Section Two: Lizzy works in the fields on the Sabbath in March, 1864, on the Live Oaks Plantation. How did things end? Section Three: Elijah farms the land now owned by his grandparents, in April 1900, on Curry Island, South Carolina. Taxes are due. How did the section end?
Section Four: Luvenia receives a letter in May of 1930, in Chicago, Illinois. The letter is from her father, asking her to return to South Carolina with the rest of the family. How did this section end? Section Five: Tommy scored the winning basket in the Delaney High School game in January of 1964 in Johnson City, South Carolina. How did this section end? Section Six: Malcolm receives a phone call from Aunt Luvenia telling him that she is coming to visit in August of 1994. The setting is Harlem, New York. How did this section end?
Essay Assignment: Please focus on the section with your first initial of your last name. Section One: A-C focus is Muhammad. Your context can be one of the following: The Slave Trade, or the Slave Voyage, or Plantation Life and Economy. Section Two: D-H focus is Lizzy. Your context focus can be one of the following: Runaway Slaves, or The Underground Railroad, or Black Soldiers in the Civil War. Section Three: I-L focus is on Elijah. Your context focus can be one of the following: KKK, or Reconstruction, or Lynching, or Jim Crow Laws, or Plessy vs. Ferguson.
Section Four: M-P focus is Luvenia. Your context focus can be one of the following: The Northern Migration of Southern African Americans, or The Harlem Renaissance. Section Five: Q-T focus is Tommy. Your context focus can be one of the following: Brown vs. Topeka, or Desegregation of Sports and Colleges, or Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. Section Six: U-Z focus will be both Malcolm and Shep. Your context focus is Effects of Integration.
Rubric for Summer Project Criteria Points Possible Points Earned Sequence of events worksheet The essay is in MLA format, and I have a works cited page. 10 20 Section Summary (essay) 20 Context Focus (essay) 20 Hypothesis (essay) 10 Visual 10 Work is in a folder 10 **Hand in rubric with your project!** Total:
Summer Assignment Math Mr. Stulbaum Welcome to Algebra! I am excited to have you begin the wonderful journey into the joys and challenges of high school math. Your summer assignment is online at www.mobymax.com. You should have received a letter with your own personal password in the summer packets that we distributed. If you are new to Renaissance or if you have misplaced the letter, please email me and I ll help you get started: mstulbaum@montclair.k12.nj.us.