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English I Honors Summer Reading

English I Honors Summer Reading Assignment

Summer Reading Directions!

This summer you will read Deadline  by Chris Cutcher. As honors students, we expect this work will be completed entirely by reading the book and creating notes on your own.  

To demonstrate your knowledge, we require you to take notes, annotate, ask questions in the margins of your text, define vocabulary, show your understanding of the text, and react to the text through notes as you read. You will turn these notes in with your test. 

When you have your Honors English Class, you will complete a test within the first two weeks of that semester to demonstrate your knowledge of the book’s plot, characters, setting, etc. 

Then, you will work on a SEMESTER-LONG project based on the book from your grade level. Your teacher will give you the assignment and the exact due dates for your semester project sometime within the first two weeks of your class. 

Specific Directions 

  1. Obtain a copy of Deadline  by Chris Cutcher. Checking out a book from the library is fine, but we encourage you to purchase the book as you will use it all semester and it makes taking notes easier. 

  2. In a composition or one-subject spiral notebook, the first couple of pages are dedicated to defining the definitions of literary terminology you will be asked about on your test: setting, plot, characterization (direct, indirect), conflict, theme, point of view, and symbolism.

  3. You should divide each of the rest of the pages into three sections in your notebook. A new page should be used for each chapter of the novel. 

  • Section 1: Vocabulary. Write down unfamiliar words you had to look up or were able to define using context clues. The word, page number, and definition should be included. 
  • Section 2: Chapter Information. Include information about new characters, setting changes, character development from chapter to chapter, conflicts introduced, how the conflicts affected the characters, and any additional information that contributes to your understanding of that chapter. 
  • Section 3: Talk to the text. This section should be filled with questions you have from the chapter, important observations, predictions, conversations you want to have with the characters, and important quotes related to the chapter that help your understanding of the novel as a whole. You are encouraged to write in your novel as well as these notes, but this is a skill you will develop in the 9th grade. 
  • These notes should NOT be a chapter summary. We are not asking you to write a summary. These notes are required to show your own individualized reading process in a very specific way.