Summer Reading

I just learned about something great that the West Morris High School District is planning. It's called "ONE BOOK, ONE DISTRICT" and the goal is to have the whole community read the same book. Here's a little excerpt from the website:

THE WMRHSD LAUNCHES “ONE BOOK, ONE DISTRICT - WEST MORRIS”
Everyone in the community is invited to join students in reading the same book at the same time.
CHESTER, NJ -- The West Morris Regional High School District (WMRHSD) is launching an educational, community-wide reading initiative designed to encourage its students to become life-long readers. The initiative, “One Book, One District - West Morris,” is based on a popular program initiated in 1998 by the Seattle Public Library to encourage an appreciation of literature through reading and discussion on a community-wide basis.
One Book, One District - West Morris builds on a successful initiative spearheaded last year by the district’s media specialists in which all grades in all course levels were to read and discuss Elie Wiesel’s evocative holocaust memoir, Night. For the 2008-2009 school year, the WMRHSD has selected Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam, Jr. Also known as October Sky, the award-winning bestseller is the true, coming-of-age account of a group of boys who live in a poor West Virginia coal mining town and are determined to go to college despite their limited prospects. They are inspired to break away from the confines of their environments after watching Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, orbit past Coalwood in October 1957 (hence, the alternate title). They design and build increasingly sophisticated rockets from scrap metal and go on to fulfill their personal dreams, including those of the author, who eventually worked as a NASA engineer.
Highlights of the One Book, One District - West Morris program for the 2008-2009 school year include:
- All WMRSHD students, faculty members and administrators will read Rocket Boys.
- The book is included as required summer reading for all high school students enrolled at West Morris Central and at West Morris Mendham High Schools. Rocket Boys will play a key role in the roll-out of the WMRHSD’s program, The Freshman Learning Experience.
- All WMRHSD high school teachers will develop at least one lesson plan that centers on a theme(s) and subject(s) central to the book. For example, a science teacher might teach a class on rocketry or metallurgy, a math teacher on graphing the positions of satellites and a music teacher, West Virginia mountain music. Teachers can also partner with teachers in other curricula to develop an activity that involves multiple academic disciplines. For example, an art and computer-assisted design teacher could get involved in the design aspects of a science fair.
- Lesson plans will be supplemented with homework assignments, class projects, guest speakers and possibly, field trips. Roy Lee Cooke, one of the original Rocket Boys, has already agreed to speak to WMRHSD teachers as part of a special professional development session. If anyone in the community knows of someone who can speak to students / faculty about early aviation history with a focus on NASA or knows of someone who worked for the Agency in the 1960’s and might be willing to share their experiences, contact Barbara McClurken at the WMRHSD Board of Education office (908-879-6404 x1283).
- All parents and guardians are invited to read the book and join their children, neighbors and friends in discussing the book’s universal themes of hope, fortitude and triumph over adversity and loss. The WMRHSD has plans to involve extended communities in various One Book, One District - West Morris activities as part of fulfilling its Long Range Plan 2007-2012 goal to partner more regularly with the communities it serves.

Here's the link if you want to learn more:

http://www.wmmhs.org/General/OneReadPressRelease.htm

You just might want to join in and ad "Rocket Boys" to your summer reading list.