Summer Assignments

All students must complete their summer assignments, which are due on the first day of classes in the fall. For additional reading suggestions, see our recommended reading list.

Lower School

The summer assignment is designed to cultivate a love of reading among our Lower School students and to prepare them for the fall academic culture at Sparhawk.  Lower School students must read all of the books listed for their respective grade before the first day of school, unless a book is listed as optional reading.

Much of the first few days of classes will be devoted to group discussions, presentations, and games based on the summer reading books. No book reports or essays need to be written before school begins. It is very fruitful for parents to read the books with their sons (aloud together or separately).

If your son is looking for more good titles to read beyond the summer assignment, here are links to lists of recommended reading for Grade 3, Grade 4, and Grade 5.  If a poem has been assigned to be memorized in addition to the reading, boys should memorize this before the first day of school.  After memorizing it, it would be good for him to practice presenting it to his family!

Grade 3:

1. Read American Tall Tales by Adrien Stoutenburg

2. Read any one selection from the Classic Starts series of books (and have a prepared oral presentation summarizing the story)

3. Memorize Poem: The Eagle by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Grade 4:

1. Read By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman

2. Read Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

3. Memorize Poem: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Grade 5: 

1. Read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien 

2. Read The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

3. Optional, but encouraged: Read Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

4. Memorize Poem: Sea-Fever by John Masefield

Middle School

All Middle School students will be expected to read at least two books and complete a writing assignment. In addition to demonstrated knowledge of the story, students will be graded on proper spelling, punctuation, logic, and style according to their respective grade levels.

If your son is looking for more good titles to read beyond their summer assignments, here are links to lists of recommended reading for Grade 6, Grade 7, and Grade 8.  If a text has been assigned to be memorized in addition to the reading, boys should memorize this before the first day of school.  

Grade 6:

1. Read Little Britches by Ralph Moody
2. Read Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Carey
3. Memorize: “Preamble” of the Declaration of Independence
4. Writing Assignment: You need only write about ONE of the books.

Choose one main character from that book and describe a moment when he had to make a hard choice between right and wrong.

In your response, be sure to answer:

• What did he choose to do?
• Why do you think he made that choice?
• What does it show about his character?

Then, connect it to your own life:

• Have you ever faced a similar kind of choice?
• How did you respond?
• What did you learn from it?

Your essay should be:

• At least one full handwritten page
• Include:
• A clear summary of the character’s situation in the book
• The moral choice he made and what it revealed about his character
• A real-life example from your own experience
• A final reflection on how you want to grow in character this year

Additional Notes:

While your essay is about one book, remember that you are responsible for reading both books. During the first weeks of school, you can expect some quizzes, discussions, or short assignments on all the books you read, in addition to reciting  the “Preamble” of the Declaration of Independence — so be prepared.

 This assignment is meant to help you grow in wisdom and virtue as a young man. Do your best to read carefully, think deeply, and write honestly. Your effort this summer will help lay the foundation for the upcoming school year here at Sparhawk.

 

Grade 7:

1. Memorize the Gettysburg Address
2. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
3. Read one book from the following list:

• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
• The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
• The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow by Allen French

After reading The Hound of the Baskervilles and one of the other books, your son should write a thoughtful response for each book. This response can be written or typed, it should be at least three paragraphs but no longer than one page, and it should answer the following prompts:

• Did you enjoy the book? Why or why not?
• What did you think of the characters? What did you like or dislike about the character(s)?
• Reflect upon the major themes (main ideas) of the story. In your opinion, what do you think the book was all about?

In addition to the two written/typed responses, to help your son exercise his imagination, we ask that he make one drawing per book.  The drawings can be anything related to the story, e.g. a character, a map, or a scene.  If your son prefers to work his imagination in another way, perhaps through painting or crafting something, we are also open to such alternatives. 

Grade 8:

1. Read Olivia Coolidge’s The Trojan War (Please borrow or buy ISBN 978061815428-9 only).
2. Print out and complete the Prologue Reading Guide as you read the opening prologue of Coolidge (can be completed with pencil, or typed into the Word doc).
3. Write a 1-2 paragraph response to each of the four questions identifying and analyzing the most heroic character in Coolidge’s account of the Trojan war and its beginnings. This FINAL RESPONSES PDF must be printed out and brought to Sparhawk on the first day of class, or emailed to me before this date.  
4. Memorize W.H. Auden’s The Shield of Achilles.

Olivia Coolidge’s The Trojan War is the best, most comprehensive introduction to the Homeric Greek world, and the warriors and gods that inhabited that world at the time of the fall of Troy. 

In order to help you engage with the text carefully and closely, we have assigned a brief reading guide for the first three sections of the prologue (see link: Prologue Reading Guide) which must be completed and brought to class on the first day of school. It may be printed and written on in pencil, or, if a printer is unavailable, answers may be typed and the document emailed to me. The purpose of this little reading guide is just to get you started on the text; it is my hope that, after this introductory exercise, the momentum of the story will take over, and the student can relish in the overarching action and broader themes of The Trojan War. 

In addition to completing the reading guide for this book, I am asking each rising eighth grader to carefully think about the following prompt:

• Who do you think is the most heroic character? Why? Define what it means to be a hero in your own words, and explain why you think this particular character is most heroic. You can do this with an account of his virtues/personality, a description of the ways he acted in and/or influenced the war, and so on.

You will NOT have to write an essay answering this question. Instead, all you are required to do is complete the instructions in the FINAL RESPONSES PDF. 

Upper School

Grade 9: 

1. Read The Trojan War by Olivia Coolidge (ISBN 978062815428-9 only). Students who have already read this book in its entirety should concentrate on the following sections: “A Table of the Chief Characters” (pp. vii-viii), “Prologue: The Golden Apple” (pp. 3-11), “The Fall of Troy: The Women” (pp. 201-208), and “The Return of the Heroes” (pp. 211-253). NOTE: Pages 254-260 provide a helpful reference for characters and places mentioned in the book.
2. Read Virgil’s Aeneid Retold For Young Adults by Frank Hering. NOTE: Pages 113-131 provide a helpful reference for characters and places mentioned in the book.
3. Memorize the first 11 lines of the Aeneid in English, available here.
4. Read Ivanhoe by Walter Scott.
5. Complete the study guide which accompanies these assignments, available here. 

Grade 10: 

1. Read The Chosen by Chaim Potok
2. Read 2 chapters from The Roots of American Order – (ISBN 978-1882926992):  Read Chapter 1: “Order, The First Need of All” (pgs 3-10) and Chapter 6: “The Light Of The Middle Ages”  (p. 177-218)
3. Memorize “The Second Coming” by W.B. Yeats

In Russell Kirk’s view, “order” is the first need of all because it provides the structure necessary for individuals, families, and societies to flourish. In Chaim Potok’s The Chosen, both Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders struggle to understand their identities, relationships, and responsibilities within their families and religious communities.

Handwrite a five-paragraph essay explaining how the story of Reuven and Danny demonstrates Kirk’s belief that “order” is the first need of all. In your essay, analyze how things such as family expectations, religious traditions, personal discipline, friendship, and mentorship help guide the boys through conflict and uncertainty. Use specific examples from the novel to show how this “order” provides stability, direction, and growth in their lives. Be sure to include a clear thesis statement, an underlined definition of “order”, supporting evidence from the text of the novel, and a conclusion that explains the broader significance of Kirk’s idea, as seen in Chapter 6 of his text The Roots of American Order.  Due on the first day of class.