Spending time with books over the summer is important for all students. Summer reading can provide students an opportunity to practice skills that might otherwise be lost over the summer, foster inquiry and scholarship (which leads to life-long learning) as well as help develop a love for reading and talking about text. ALL students are encouraged to spend a minimum of 20 minutes a day reading throughout the summer.
Students entering an Honors or AP English course, Grades 7-12, are required to read a common title over the course of the summer. Grade level appropriate titles are carefully selected by teachers to serve as foundational texts to begin the school year. Titles are chosen for their literary merit as well as their structure and themes in relationship to skills of analysis and synthesis and AP exam expectations. Each title is commonly read in secondary language arts courses across the nation.
Many selections are multi-award winners and connected to grade level units in myPerspectives, the State Board of Education approved and CISD adopted textbook for secondary English language arts.
Students entering Grade 6 Honors English Language Arts in the fall are encouraged to experience a wide variety of texts over the summer and to keep a list of the books that they read to share with their teacher and classmates when the new school year begins. Families are encouraged to spend time reading with their students over the summer.
Students entering Grades 7—8 Honors English Language Arts in the fall are encouraged to experience a wide variety of texts over the summer, including the required selection for their grade level.
Students entering Honors English I (Grade 9), Honors English II (Grade 10), AP Language and Composition (Grade 11), or AP Literature and Composition (Grade 12) are required to read the text selection designated for their course.
During the first nine weeks of school, students will be held accountable for their summer reading through graded and ungraded classroom tasks and homework. A specific assignment is NOT due on the first day of class. Students are simply asked to spend the summer READING and to be prepared to begin working with their text selection, alongside their teacher and classmates, when the new school year begins.
