Summer is a time for students to refresh and recharge. Summer is also a time to prepare for the coming school year. Assignments in reading, math, and other subjects help each class start on the same footing and provide a unifying beginning to the new school year.
Lower School Summer Projects and Materials
Summer Reading for Students Entering 1st through 4th Grades
The most important thing Selwyn’s Lower School students can do to stay ready for the next grade is to read. This includes reading self-selected books independently, reading aloud to a parent, sibling, or pet, being read to by parents, and listening to audiobooks. Below are some ways to maintain a love of reading over the summer. We strongly encourage students to choose several options from this list.
Reading activity ideas
- Join your local library’s summer reading incentive program. Some bookstores also offer this, for example Recycled Books.
- Keep track of the books you have read with a sticker chart, poster, calendar, or a fun reading tracker app.
- Create a weekly or biweekly Family Book Club where everyone reads the same book and then holds a meeting with treats to discuss it.
- Visit different libraries in your area and make a fun trip out of it. If you are traveling, check out the local libraries there as well.
- Set a reading goal as a family, for example reading 500 pages together by mid-August, and then go somewhere fun to celebrate once the goal is met.
- Create a Reading Challenge to try a book from various genres such as poetry, nonfiction, biography, graphic novel, audiobook, and fantasy.
- Host a Book Character Costume party with friends.
Make a piece of art inspired by a book you love, such as a poster, sketch, diorama, mobile, or collage.
However your family chooses to enjoy reading this summer, please tell us about it. Students can bring any lists, trackers, photos, art, or news to share on the first week of school. We cannot wait to hear about the reading fun you have had!
Math fact practice
Fact fluency in math is also important for all Lower School students. Students entering grades 1 through 3 should practice addition and subtraction facts from 1 to 20. Students entering 4th grade should practice related multiplication and division sets for 1 through 12. Here are some fun ways to get this practice in over the summer.
- Dice games
- Bingo
- One-minute challenges as a family to see if you can beat the clock together
- Flashcards
- Color-by-number pages, which are readily available online
- Card games
- Prodigy, an online math game
- SplashMath, an online math game
Feel free to get creative with this. Practice any way your student prefers, make it a family activity, and have fun with it.
Summer Reading Links
Denton Libraries Challenge
Pizza Hut Book It
Middle School Summer Projects and Materials
Summer Reading for Students Entering 5th through 8th Grades
Students should read the required book for the grade they are entering and also select one school appropriate book of their choice. The required book will be used in Humanities during the first several weeks of school.
Required Summer Activity
Students Entering 5th Grade
The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz
Required book plus one school appropriate student choice book. The required book project is due on the first day of class.
Required Summer Activity
Students Entering 6th Grade
Maroo of the Winter Caves by Ann Turnbull
Required book plus one school appropriate student choice book. The required book project is due on the first day of class.
Required Summer Activity
Students Entering 7th Grade
The Storm Runner by J. C. Cervantes
Required book plus one school appropriate student choice book. The required book project is due on the first day of class.
Required Summer Activity
Students Entering 8th Grade
The Secret in the Tower by Andrew Beattie
Required book plus one school appropriate student choice book. The required book project is due on the first day of class.
Required book project
Students will create a poster or infographic that provides a visual timeline of the main events of the required book. Each visual should have a caption written in complete sentences with proper grammar. Images may be hand drawn, clipped, or cut from a magazine when they are relevant to the event being described. The project should be turned in on the first day of class.
Student choice book and character presentation
Students may select a classic from the suggested list or any other school appropriate book that grabs their interest. This choice book will be used for the oral presentation and for Come to School Dressed as a Character from Summer Reading Day later in the first interim.
Recommended Classics
Suggested Classic Books for Middle School Students
| Book Title | Author |
|---|---|
| 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | Jules Verne |
| Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
| The Alchemist | Paulo Coelho |
| Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll |
| Animal Farm | George Orwell |
| Anne of Green Gables | L.M. Montgomery |
| Around the World in Eighty Days | Jules Verne |
| Beloved | Toni Morrison |
| Black Beauty | Anna Sewell |
| The Black Stallion | Walter Farley |
| The Call of the Wild | Jack London |
| Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court | Mark Twain |
| David Copperfield | Charles Dickens |
| Diary of a Young Girl | Anne Frank |
| Frankenstein | Mary Shelley |
| Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan Swift |
| Handmaid's Tale | Margaret Atwood |
| Hans Brinker, Or the Silver Skates | Mary Mapes Dodge |
| I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Maya Angelou |
| The Hobbit, any book in series | J.R.R. Tolkien |
| The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Victor Hugo |
| Jane Eyre | Charlotte Bronte |
| Johnny Tremain | Esther Forbes |
| Journey to the Center of the Earth | Jules Verne |
| Joy Luck Club | Amy Tan |
| Life of Pi | Yann Martel |
| The Last of the Mohicans | James Fenimore Cooper |
| The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, any book in series | C.S. Lewis |
| Little House on the Prairie, any book in series | Laura Ingalls Wilder |
| The Little Prince | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry |
| Little Women | Louisa May Alcott |
| The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood | Howard Pyle |
| Miracle Worker | William Gibson |
| My Antonia | Willa Cather |
| The Old Man and the Sea | Ernest Hemingway |
| Old Yeller | Fred Gipson |
| The Pearl | John Steinbeck |
| Picture of Dorian Gray | Oscar Wilde |
| Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen |
| The Prince and the Pauper | Mark Twain |
| The Red Badge of Courage | Stephen Crane |
| The Road | Cormac McCarthy |
| Robinson Crusoe | Daniel Defoe |
| The Swiss Family Robinson | Johann Wyss |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | Zora Neale Hurston |
| Things Fall Apart | Chinua Achebe |
| The Three Musketeers | Alexandre Dumas |
| The Time Machine | H.G. Wells |
| Treasure Island | Robert Louis Stevenson |
| The War of the Worlds | H.G. Wells |
| Watership Down | Richard Adams |
| White Fang | Jack London |
| The Wizard of Earthsea | Ursula Le Guin |
| Woman Hollering Creek | Sandra Cisneros |
| Wuthering Heights | Emily Bronte |
Upper School Summer Projects and Materials
Summer Reading for Upper School Students
Upper School students should complete the reading assigned to their specific course before the first day of school. Please confirm your course enrollment if you are unsure which assignment applies to you.
Required Summer Activity
9th & 10th Grade English
Read
The Odyssey by Homer
Required Summer Activity
Ancient Civ Students
Read
The Odyssey By Homer
Required Summer Activity
11th & 12th Grade English
Read
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Required Summer Activity
US History Students
Read
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Frequently Asked Questions
Summer Reading FAQ
All Selwyn students have summer reading or activity expectations. Lower School students entering grades 1 through 4 are encouraged to read widely and practice math facts. Middle School students entering grades 5 through 8 have a required book plus a student choice book. Upper School students should complete the course specific reading assigned to their grade and class.
Lower School students are encouraged to read every day in whatever form works best for the family, whether that is independent reading, reading aloud, being read to, or listening to audiobooks. Students entering grades 1 through 3 should practice addition and subtraction facts from 1 to 20, and students entering 4th grade should practice multiplication and division sets for 1 through 12. Students are welcome to bring any reading lists, trackers, photos, or art to share during the first week of school.
Students entering 5th grade read The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz. Students entering 6th grade read Maroo of the Winter Caves by Ann Turnbull. Students entering 7th grade read The Storm Runner by J.C. Cervantes. Students entering 8th grade read The Secret in the Tower by Andrew Beattie. Each student also selects one additional school appropriate book of their own choice.
The poster or infographic visual timeline project for the required book should be turned in on the first day of class.
Students create a poster or infographic that shows the main events of the required book in chronological order. Each visual element should include a caption written in complete sentences using proper grammar. Images may be hand drawn, clipped from a magazine, or cut out, as long as they are relevant to the event being described.
Yes. Students may choose a classic from the suggested list or any other school appropriate book that interests them. The content should be school appropriate because it will be used for the oral presentation and for Come to School Dressed as a Character from Summer Reading Day.
This event takes place later in the first interim. Each student dresses as a favorite character from their chosen book and visits preschool, lower school, or upper school groups to tell the audience about the character they have chosen to portray.
Students going into 9th and 10th grade English read Demian by Hermann Hesse. Students in Ancient Civilization read What Makes Civilization, Second Edition, by David Wengrow. Students in 11th and 12th grade English read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Students in Government read The Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakaria.
