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All students will read the selected grade level book as well as the assigned number of books from the AP reading list or teacher recommendation list according to their grade and course (Regular English, Honors, Pre-AP, or AP). Students will then complete activities in a writer’s notebook to engage with the texts that they read. Parents and students, please choose a title that is appropriate for your grade level and family. Additionally, if there is a book that you want to read instead of something on the AP List, please send an email to your English teacher or anyone in the English Department. If you have questions about the content of any of the novels, please contact Mr. Eickstead so that he can connect you with the appropriate teacher. CONTACT INFO: Mr. Eickstead (AP Literature) - [email protected] Mr. Entzenberger (AP Language, English 2, English 1 Honors) - [email protected] Mr. Fernandez (English 4, English 3, English 2 Honors, English 1) - [email protected] REQUIRED READING PER GRADE LEVEL Freshmen Love Does by Bob Goff “Love Does shares powerful stories coupled with eye-opening truths and empowers anyone who longs for a better world and a richer faith.” Sophomores Napoleon's Buttons - How 17 Molecules Changed History by Penny Le Couteur Napoleon's Buttons is the fascinating account of 17 groups of molecules that have greatly influenced the course of history. For this book students must read the introduction and then choose five chapters to complete reading. Juniors Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly “…a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.” Seniors Night Driving by Chad Bird “Forced to fight the demons of his past in the cab of the semi-truck he drove at night through the Texas oil fields, Chad Bird slowly began to limp toward grace and healing.” ADDITIONAL REQUIRED READING PER COURSE FRESHMEN English 1 One book English 1 Honors One book SOPHOMORES English 2 One book English 2 Pre-AP One book JUNIORS English 3 One book AP Language Two books (one of them can be a selection from the AP US History list) SENIORS English 4 Two books Senior AP English Three books Students in Regular courses (English 1-4) should complete 10 pages of read and response writing in their writer’s notebook for each book they read. Students in English 1 Honors, English 2 Pre-AP, AP Language, or AP Literature should complete 15 pages of read and response writing in their writer’s notebook for each book they read. REMEMBER: You must read the grade level book and the extra number of books indicated in the table above depending on your class, and then write in your notebook for each book you read. This means your notebook could be anywhere from 20-60 pages long, according to your course and grade level. Please reach out to your English teacher if you are confused about how many pages you need to write! ________________________________________________________________________________ ABOUT THE WRITER’S NOTEBOOK The list below can be used as a jumping off point for students to get started, but they may also generate their own creative response ideas. Any item on the list may be used more than once, but no more than three times, please. We’d love to see the diversity of each student’s writing talent. Please feel free to combine prompts and add illustrations, word clouds or other creative genius to any page. Using artistic abilities is great, but please use drawings to enhance your writing, not replace it. These are some solo page suggestions; keep reading below for projects that can cover multiple pages in the notebook. Examples of quality writer's notebook pages are at the bottom of this post in the slideshow. 1. Share quotations from the novel that you feel are thought provoking or evocative. 2. Share creative musings based on a passage from the novel that spoke to you. 3. Write a response emulating a particular passage of literary genius you discovered in the novel. 4. Write a poetic response to a section of the novel. 5. Craft an emotional timeline for a character in the novel. 6. Draw a plot map for a series of events in the novel. 7. Draw illustrations of a character or scene. 8. Create thought clouds to give insight to a character’s feelings. 9. Draw a cartoon representation of a passage. 10. Make political, historical, or literary connections between the novel and other sources. 11. Create a children’s story out of the story you read – include age-appropriate drawings, language, and plot summaries. 12. Write another scene that could have happened in the book you read, but didn’t. Try to emulate the style of the author. 13. If you did not care for the way your book ended, rewrite the ending and explain why you want to change it. 14. Create an immersive map of the world in which your story takes place, including important locations and details 15. Create a test for the book including multiple choice, true/false, and short or long response questions. Do not simply plagiarize a test you find online – these should be questions that you generate yourself. 16. Create a comic book based on the novel you read, using colorful images along with thought bubbles and dialogue to retell the story 17. Choose one main character from the novel you read and create a diary from his/her point of view that reveals all the major events in his/her life as well as this character's feelings about these events including his/her hopes, dreams, problems, concerns and frustrations. 18. Create a scrapbook for one of the main characters that reflects the many events that occur to him or her in the novel you read. You can include photographs, letters, post cards, telegrams, a family tree, newspaper article clippings, memorable items, or anything else you can think of that you might find in a scrapbook. STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS The following are books that our staff will be reading this summer and/or recommend for students. Any of these books may be read as one of your required texts for summer reading. Mr. Entzenberger Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole Mr. Eickstead The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo, The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese Mr. Fernandez “The Man Who Lived Underground” by Richard Wright, Coriolanus by William Shakespeare Mrs. Rikard The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot AP US HISTORY REQUIRED READING - Only for those taking AP US History
AP US History 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann For this book answer the attached questions. 1491 by Charles C. Mann 1491 is a groundbreaking study that radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans in 1492, and a necessary book for understanding the long, remarkable story of the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere. I hope you will want to read the whole book, however you are only required to read the Preface, Chapters 1-6, 8, 10, and the Coda. Enjoy and welcome to the adventure that is History. As you read 1491 answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper. Be sure to read over the questions before you begin reading so you know what to look for as you read the book. You are to have this book read and answers completed for the first full week of school. The answers should be typed out in complete sentences. This will count as a grade. Take time to think through the question and express your thoughts completely. These can be answered as a part of your writer's notebook. 1. Charles Mann begins the book with a question about our moral responsibility to the earth’s environment. What does the story of the Beni tell us about what “before human intervention” might mean? 2. What have scientists learned about the early Americas to challenge the traditional belief that Indians came to the Americas across the Bering Strait? 3. There are many scholarly disagreements about the research described in 1491. If our knowledge of the past is based on the findings of scholars, what happens to the past when scholars don’t agree? Are certain scholars introduced here more believable than others? Why or why not? 4. Probably the most devastating impact from the contact between Europeans and Americans came from the spread of biological agents like smallpox. Of Mann’s various descriptions of the effects of foreign diseases on the Americas’ native population, which are the most shocking, and why? 5. When Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto brought pigs along on his expedition in order to feed himself and his men, the pigs carried microbes that apparently wiped out the Indian populations in the southeast part of the current United States. In our present global environment, are we as vulnerable as the Indian tribes discussed by Mann? Are there, as he suggests, moral reverberations to be felt as a result of the European entrance into the Americans five centuries ago? 6. Much of America’s founding mythology is based on the idea of the land as an untouched wilderness, yet most scholars now agree that this pristine myth was a convenient story that the early settlers told themselves. What kind of actions did the myth support, and how did it serve the purposes of the settlers? 7. Because of the lack of documentary and statistical evidence for the mass death caused by disease in the New World, experts have argued about the size of the pre-Columbian population. Some have projected larger Indian populations while others have projected significantly smaller pre-Columbian populations. Which side does it seem Charles Mann leans toward? Which side do you find more believable? 8. Mann writes, “Native Americans were living in balance with Nature – but they had their thumbs on the scale…” Why did the Indians burn acres of land? Does Mann suggest that there are the ecological lessons for our time in the Native Americans’ active manipulation of their environment? 9. Why does Mann end 1491 with a coda on the Haudenosaunee “Great Law of Peace,” and what resonance does it have for the book as a whole? 10. Finish by writing a reflective essay on this book. You need to cover the following topics in the essay: what were several facts and/or historical interpretations of early Native American history that you never known before; how does Mann’s interpretation of pre-Columbian (Columbus’ 1492 discovery of America) history alter your perception or understanding of post-Columbian history; and do you feel that his analysis and interpretation of the facts was appropriate? Be sure to support your answers to each question.
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After a long day of travel on Tuesday, our mission club team arrived in Puerto Rico and was greeted with a breakfast of French toast and sausage and a devotional time before setting out to work. "Wednesday, Thursday, and half of Friday, we had two crews painting just about every exterior or interior surface that needed their first paint after construction or repainting structures that had not been refreshed since the facility opened 2.5 years ago. Mr. Sanders lead a crew helping clear a large section to prepare it for the future baseball and soccer fields. Then Friday afternoon, the entire team joined them, clearing the field before we headed up the hillside to blaze a trail along the property line. They need it cleared before surveyors will come in, remark the line, and then fence in that section of the property." We also had a group that spent an entire morning removing the rocks, raking and blowing out the debris, and then replacing the stones to landscape around the building. After several days of hard work, a night swim in a bioluminescent bay was a treat for the team. Algae feast on nutrients from mangroves in protected bays that have elevated saline content and warmer water. When disturbed by swimming, they luminescence. LHS is so very blessed by God to have been entrusted with these students and this staff who grow in faith and service to each other and communities far and wide via so, so many varied lived experiences. We look forward to their continued work and hearing their stories upon their return. The invitation to demonstrate our robots at the SAMA Trade Show was a great opportunity for our students to engage with the manufacturing community and meet many new faces, see many new products and services, and experience in person presentations from top industry leaders. This dual purpose event gave our students the chance to demo their robots to trade show attendees and exhibitors. But they also had to bring 10 copies of a resume or CV and were asked to talk with vendors and in some cases CEOs about summer internships. What a great opportunity for our students to show off their skills and connect with leading in STEM! Congratulations to LHS rising sophomore Alexis H. on her selection to be a part of the Voelcker Biomedical Research Academy. Students selected to The Voelcker Biomedical Research Academy receive training in biomedical research for a 3-year period. According to their website, "In year 1, the Academy consists of an engaging, hands-on, 7 -week summer research program, in addition to participation in a number of special enrichment and research-oriented activities throughout the academic year. In years 2 and 3, students participate in a faculty-mentored research experience. Students are supported through stipends during the summers of the program and parental involvement is also required. The metric for success of the Academy is the development of a pool of highly competitive students in San Antonio and surrounding areas who successfully pursue future careers in biomedical research in our community." We are excited about this opportunity for Lexi and all the doors this opportunity opens for her. Congratulations and God's blessings on your work! You can read more about the program here - https://voelckeracademy.uthscsa.edu/about/  |
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