| News and Information ~ Lisa
Ryan, Language Arts and Reading Instructional Chair ~ ryanl@trumbullps.org
~ 452-4466 
Hillcrest
Word of the Day ~ Sustained
Silent Reading
Hillcrest
Poetry Program ~ Reading
the Classics ~ Parent
Resources
What's
the Word? The Hillcrest
Word of the Day, that is! Each morning at Hillcrest,
a daily word is shared with all students and staff as part of the morning announcements.
The word, its definition, use in a sentence, and spelling are shared over the
intercom and then posted on the electronic announcement board in the cafeteria. The
Hillcrest Word of the Day
is a great opportunity to BUILD YOUR VOCABULARY and to have fun getting
to know and apply different words. Challenge
yourself to use and talk about new words. You can do this in many ways:
Share
the word with a friend! With a brother or sister!
With Mom or Dad!
Create
a "Word of the Day" Journal.
Simply write the word in a notebook.
Tell what it means by giving the definition, creating an original drawing,
or writing about an example from real life
or a story that shows what
the word means.
BE CREATIVE.
Sustained
Silent Reading
Students routinely complete silent reading tasks
across the content areas. One assured daily silent reading experience is the sustained
silent reading (SSR) period during our long period 5. Sustained Silent Reading
is a time when everyone, including the teacher, reads silently for a given period
of time. Students and teachers read a material of their own choice for a period
of fifteen minutes.
We value this daily block of time since we believe
that it contributes to reading success.
At Hillcrest, we have a special
Monday SSR enrichment period. It is called, "Where in the World
Is Hillcrest Middle School?"
All students and staff members
of Hillcrest Middle School read the same newspaper article each Monday during
the period 5 SSR time. The articles vary in topic so that, hopefully, by the end
of the year, we have connected to several areas of interest of our students and
staff. With the school plan of reading across the curriculum, this SSR experience
is a natural extension of our program and commitment to reading.
Goals
of this SSR reading initiative:
To broaden our students' view and perspective of the world.
To promote a sense of community as all students and staff share a common experience.
To build background knowledge and vocabulary.
To promote the natural conversation of current events/reading experiences.
To encourage daily practice of reading the newspaper.
| Topics
of Reading: | | theater
| medicine | sports | art | environment | | music
| science | health | nutrition
| mathematics | | world
events | technology | hobbies |
literature | invention | | local
and national events |
PASS
THE POETRY, PLEASE: Hillcrest Middle School Poetry Enrichment Program
How
does poetry add meaning and appreciation to our everyday lives?
Program
Goals:
To
provide multicultural experiences with classic and contemporary poetry.
To promote oral communication skills as students discuss poems in a natural, conversational
setting.
To expand
experiences with the language of poetry and poetic forms.
To promote active reading strategies.
To increase appreciation and confidence in the student's approach to poetry.
Guidelines: | Students
of all grades will read a common poem each week. | | Students
and teachers will informally respond to and discuss the poem. | | After
hearing the poem read aloud, students may go back, reread, write thoughts, questions,
etc. or draw "poetic doodles" in response to the individual poems. | | Discussion
may be in any form: large class, partner share, small group. | | Students
will keep poems in their binders and build a collection as they read through the
year. |
What
are we reading? Why not try a classic! CLASSICS help us to succeed! Learn
from the Masters!
Reading the classics opens the door to…
Bigger
Vocabulary
Improved
Writing Ability
Improved
Speaking Ability
Fresh
Ideas
Historical Perspective
Educational
Entertainment
Timeless
Ideas
SOME
FAVORITE CLASSICS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS
| 20,000
Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne | A
Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith | Across
Five Aprils
by Irene Hunt |
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | Amos
Fortune, Free Man | Call
It Courage
by Armstrong Sperry | The
Call of the Wild
by Jack London | The
Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexander Duma
| Dragonwings
by Laurence Yep | Fahrenheit
451
by Ray Bradbury | Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley | Goodbye,
Mr. Chips
by James Hilton | The
Hobbit
by J.R.R. Tolkien | Incident
at Hawk's Hill
by Allan W. Eckert | Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott
| Island
of the Blue Dolphin
by Scott O'Dell
| Jacob
Have I Loved
by Katherine Paterson | Johnny
Tremain
by Esther Forbes | Kim
by Rudyard Kipling | The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow
by Irving Washington
| The
Little Prince
by Antoine de Saint-Exupery | Little
Women
by Louisa May Alcott | M.C.
Higgins the Great
by Virginia Hamilton | My
Brother Sam Is Dead
by James and Christopher Collier | My
Friend Flicka
by Mary O'Hara | National
Velvet
by Enid Bagnold | The
Pigman
by Paul Zindel | Rifles
for Watie
by Harold Keith | Robinson
Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe | Roll
of Thunder, Hear My Cry
by Mildred D. Taylor | Shane
by Jack Schaefer | Story
of My Life
by Helen Keller | The
Yearling
by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
|
PARENT
RESOURCES:
RIF - READING IS FUNDAMENTAL
- http://www.rif.org/ SCHOLASTIC
PARENT PAGE - http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/parentsHome.jsp
The Six Traits of Summer Reading - http://www.trumbullps.org/hms/hpdf/sixtraits.pdf Tips
for Parents from the National Council of Teachers of English: Helping Your Teenager
to Write Better - http://www.trumbullps.org/hms/hpdf/writingtipsforparents.pdf
| 
