Academics

Summer is a time for students to refresh and recharge. Summer is also a time to prepare for the coming school year. Selwyn summer reading, math and other assigned work helps each class start on the same footing, providing a unifying start to the new school year.

Lower School Summer Projects & Materials

Students Entering Kindergarten:
Summer Reading Entering Kindergarten

Students Entering 1st Grade:
Summer Reading Entering Grade 1

Students Entering 2nd Grade:
Summer Reading Entering Grade 2

Students Entering 3rd Grade:
Summer Reading Entering Grade 3
Summer Math Entering Grade 3

Students Entering 4th Grade:
Summer Math Entering Grade 4
IXL Calendar, Grade 4
Summer Reading Entering Grade 4
Book Report Entering Grade 4

Students Entering 5th Grade:
Summer Math Entering Grade 5
IXL Calendar, Grade 5
Summer Reading Entering Grade 5
Book Report Entering Grade 5

Students Entering 6th Grade:
Summer Math Entering Grade 6
IXL Calendar, Grade 6
Summer Reading Entering Grade 6
Book Report Entering Grade 6

Middle School Academy and Upper School Reading List

7^th grade: 

Read Perrault’s Fairy Tales – Translated by A. E. Johnson and illustrated by Gustave Dore.

After reading the entire book, choose one fairy tale, and write a 2-3 paragraph summary of the tale including the following information:

• Who are the main characters? Describe them.
• What happens in the story?
• Explain the moral of the story in your own words.

All papers are due the first day of school, and all papers will be presented in class the first week of school.

8^th grade: 

Read Hamlet’s Blackberry by William Powers. 

In Hamlet’s Blackberry, seven different “philosophers of screens” are featured in chapters 5-11.  Those seven philosophers are: Plato, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Johann Gutenberg, William Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin, Henry David Thoreau, and Marshall McLuhan.

After reading the entire book, choose one of the philosophers, and write a paper (4 paragraph minimum) including the following information:

• Who did you choose?
• Where did this person live, and during which time period were they alive?
• What is this person’s contribution to society? What was their profession?
• Why is the person you chose considered a philosopher of screen?
• How does this relate to our dependence on technology today?

All papers are due the first day of school, and all papers will be presented in class the first week of school.

9^th grade: Ideas That Changed the World by Felipe Fernández-Armesto

 A Thousand Tables: A History of Food, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

10^th grade: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, Jack Weatherford

Chemistry students: The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean, with this assignment

11^th grade: The Americas: A Hemispheric History by Felipe Fernández-Armesto

12^th grade:  How to Read Literature Like a Professor:  A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster and Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya