Dear Middle School P.E.A.K.S.

Parents,

A central goal of middle school English and Language Arts is to establish a

“reading habit” in the busy lives of our students. We are hoping we can work together to
recapture the pleasure and passion so many of our students had for reading as a young
child. It is our goal to work with you to support or rekindle that love of the written word.
The only way to continue or build a love of reading is to READ! In ELA class,
each grade will be asked to read 25, 30, and 35 books, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade
respectively. In order for this goal to be met, the students will be given time in school to
read. In addition, it would be very helpful for you to encourage your child to spend
another 20 to 30 minutes reading each night. Building “reading stamina” is very
important to prepare our students to be successful for high school and beyond. Just as
with sports, we believe the reading muscles need to be strengthened by using them on
a daily basis.
Another prerequisite to this goal being met, is for the students to be exposed to a
large variety of titles and authors. There are many ways for students to be exposed to a
variety of literature. As an ELA class, we go to the Crestwood library every other week.
If a student has their ID and no overdue books, they are allowed to check out two
books. We also encourage students to check books out of the Kentwood Library. Mr.
Greg Lewis is a great resource for good book recommendations. He may even bring the
Kentwood Bookmobile to Crestwood. If a student has their KDL card, they will be
allowed to check out a book from the Bookmobile. Lastly, many of us have quite
extensive classroom libraries. If you sign this permission slip, your child will be allowed
to check books out of our classroom.
With all of this being said, it is necessary to let you know that we have NOT read
all of the books in our classroom libraries. We attempt to choose books that are
interesting to the students, exposing them to a variety of genres, and challenging them
to improve their skills. In choosing popular titles, we run the risk of choosing books that
address mature issues. For example, The Fault in our Stars by John Green has been
wildly popular. But it is about coming of age, a young woman and young man exploring
different aspects of a romantic relationship, and ultimately the death of one of the
characters. These are all very real topics to our middle school students, but some of
them may not be something you are ready for your child to read. Sometimes these
books use language we would not tolerate in the classroom or in your homes. For
example, The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas is also a very popular story. It is about a
young girl dealing with racial prejudice and the shooting of her friend by a police officer.
While the story is very real and important for us to be discussing, there is cursing in this
story you may or may not want your child to be exposed to.
Due to the fact that it is not possible for us to read and remember the content in
each and every book in our classroom libraries, we would like to get your permission for
us to open our libraries to your child. If you are concerned about the content in a book,
you may want to consider reading it along with your child and discussing it together.
Please feel free to email if you have any further questions.
Keep Reading!

Mrs. Anne Brown Mrs. Melissa Truskowski Ms. Caitlin Graham

----------------------------------------------------------------

_________________________________________ has my permission to check books

out of Mrs. Brown’s, Mrs. Graham, and Mrs. Truskowski’s classroom library.

______________________________________ ___________________
Parent Signature Date

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or a duty. It should be offered as a gift.

—Kate DiCamillo