POLLARD MIDDLE SCHOOL
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Spring 2015
Dear Students and Parents/Guardians:
We are writing to provide you with information regarding summer reading for Pollard students.
Summer reading is important for middle school students. It helps foster a lifelong love of reading and
helps students maintain the gains in reading comprehension made during the school year. For this
reason, we require all rising 7 and 8 graders to read a minimum of two books over the summer.
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Pollard is launching a One School, One Book initiative this year. Everyone in the Pollard community
(students, teachers and staff) will read Schooled by Gordon Korman over the summer. Copies should
be distributed to all students and adults before the end of the school year. Reading a book together
builds and expands a sense of community among students, teachers, and staff, and we encourage you
also to read along and engage in thoughtful discussions.
Rising 7 graders and rising 8 graders must also read one additional book of their choice. The
attached list has some suggested titles that might be of interest to our students. The 2015 list includes
brand new titles, as well as current Pollard favorites. Students should choose a new book to read rather
than reread titles. We encourage parents to take an active role in helping students make good book
choices. Please take into consideration each child’s reading level, maturity, and interests. As always,
students may check out books from the High Rock and Pollard libraries for summer reading. More
information and a summer borrowing permission slip are available at the library website.
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Students do not need to complete any kind of written assignment about these books during the summer
months. Instead, students will engage in discussions and activities about Schooled in their Advisories
and students should be prepared to discuss or write about their personal book choice during the first
few weeks of school. We also ask that students have a copy of their summer reading books available
to bring to school in September. Additionally, we ask that you fill out the brief parent/guardian
sign-off form (on the back of this letter), which will be collected by English Language Arts teachers in
September.
Copies of this letter, the sign off form, and the full reading list in multiple formats will be posted on
our library website at pollardlibrary.weebly.com. Additional printed copies will also be available in
the main office and at the Needham Public Library.
We hope you enjoy some down time this summer to relax and read more than we typically can during
the busy school year. We look forward to seeing you in the fall!
Sincerely,
English Language Arts Teachers, Grades 7 and 8
Katherine Steiger, Library Teacher
Greg Hurray
ELA Curriculum Coordinator
Tamatha Bibbo
Principal
We dedicate ourselves to cultivating academic excellence, civic responsibility & the personal growth of each member of our community.
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