The MUS Lower School Blog

Don't forget summer reading!

Time is also growing short for students to finish their MUS summer reading.

From my post on this back in May (courtesy of Jim Russell, English Department Chairman)...

During the summer, each MUS student reads three books designated for his grade. At the start of the school year, the student takes a 16-question multiple-choice test on each summer reading book. Questions focus on plot, characters, and other specific, objective information. The student should avoid summaries or film versions as substitutes for reading the books themselves. He will also be expected to be familiar with these books during the academic year.

For each test failed, the student loses three points from his first-quarter English average. For each test passed, he gains one point and he may drop one test grade. Thus, the student may lose up to six points or gain as many as three.

Students entering the 8th grade are expected to have read all three of the following books:

• Herriot, J., All Creatures Great and Small
• Stevenson, R.L. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Twain, M. (Samuel Clemens). A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Students entering the 7th grade are expected to have read the first of the following books and only two of the next five.

• Conan Doyle, A., The Hound of the Baskervilles
  
• Almond, D., Skellig
• Armstrong, W., Sounder
• Avi, Crispin: The Cross of Lead
• Curtis, C.P., The Watsons Go to Birmingham
• Peck, R.N., A Day No Pigs Would Die

More information for parents of incoming 7th Graders can be found here.

Summer Reading

One of our readers asked about summer reading, and Mr. Jim Russell, Lower School English teacher and Chairman of the MUS English department, pointed me in the right direction.

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A summer reading program benefits the student in experiencing words and ideas; in building vocabulary, reading speed, and comprehension for the coming year's work and for college entrance examinations; and in broadening and deepening his reading before college.

During the summer, each MUS student reads three books designated for his grade. At the start of the school year, the student takes a 16-question multiple-choice test on each summer reading book. Questions focus on plot, characters, and other specific, objective information. The student should avoid summaries or film versions as substitutes for reading the books themselves. He will also be expected to be familiar with these books during the academic year.

For each test failed, the student loses three points from his first-quarter English average. For each test passed, he gains one point and he may drop one test grade. Thus, the student may lose up to six points or gain as many as three.

Copies of the books on the summer reading list may be found at area bookstores (or if you click on the links, it will take you to the books on Amazon.com for your convenience).

ANY COMPLETE EDITION IS SATISFACTORY.

For rising 8th graders (current 7th graders), the summer reading books are:

• Herriot, J. All Creatures Great and Small
• Stevenson, R.L. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Twain, M. (Samuel Clemens). A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

For rising 9th graders (current 8th graders), the books are:

• Bradbury, R. Fahrenheit 451
• Orwell, G. Animal Farm
• Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye

If there are any parents of rising 7th graders reading this, here is the information for your sons.

Sausage proves bane of MUS student

Kevin Szymkowicz represented MUS well in this weekend's regional Spelling Bee qualifying tournament.

Kevin is an excellent student, but a sausage proved his undoing.  No, it wasn't food poisoning.  It was the word "kielbasa" (a variety of Polish sausage featuring plenty of garlic) that stumped Kevin and eliminated him from further competition.  As a former co-owner of a Seattle sausage restaurant, I feel for Kevin, as a number of sausages would have proven to be formidable challenges for young spellers ("Chorizo", "Bockwurst", "Andouille", etc.).

Kevin may have been stumped by "kielbasa", but I'd like to see his competitors try to spell "Szymkowicz".

Innovative and creative teaching

I remember studying poetry back in school, and I always found it distant and not particularly interesting; poetry just seemed out of date and irrelevant.  Even today, that's probably the way some boys see poetry.

But, Whit Tenent decided to do a little creative thinking to try and make poetry more compelling and involving for our Lower School students.  He invited a slam poet, "IQ", to talk to his English classes and discuss poetry with them.  For those of you not familiar with "slam poetry", it's poetry performed in front of a live audience by the writer; it's a very visceral experience unlike reading dusty poems from the early 19th century.  IQ explained his writing process and also performed some of his poetry for the boys.

The boys seemed riveted by IQ's presentation and many of them will probably always see poetry in a different positive light because of their experience.

While we believe that many of the time-tested ways we teach your boys here at MUS, we're always looking for new ways to do things even better.  Thanks, Mr. Tenent!

It's good that Mr. Shelton doesn't shop at Walmart*

While waiting in the "Express Lane" with a dozen impatient holiday shoppers at the Walmart on Winchester, I noticed this sign...

"Please, 20 itmes or less!  Thank you."

While I appreciate the courtesy, the spelling leaves a little to be desired.  Now, if you read about an English teacher involved in a brawl at Walmart, you'll know why.

* Mr. Shelton quite possibly may shop at Walmart.  The headline is intended purely for entertainment purposes.

"Paideia: P-A-I-D-E-I-A, Paideia."

One of the rites of each Lower School year is the annual spelling bee.  I guess this is a big deal in some schools, but at MUS, it feels oddly underappreciated. 

Messrs. Russell, Shelton, and Eikner run the competition with professionalism and style, but, for some reason, this competition doesn't stoke our students' competitive fires.  I don't know why this is the case.  Studying for the spelling bee would help a boy's performance in English class, particularly for those in 7th grade English.  And for our 8th graders, boning up on Latin derivations of English words could help his studies in both Latin and English.  But, we all know that the spelling bee is not about improving grades; it's about shooting for that elusive trip to Washington D.C. and a few fleeting moments of ESPN fame.

Despite all of these incentives, we usually don't have any serious competitors in the school spelling bee.  Mind you, we have plenty of bright guys who spell well, but they haven't put in the hours of specialized study needed to compete at the National level.  The Paideia is the annually published study guide for the Scripps-Howard spelling bee, and this year not even a single student bought one, even though it costs just one dollar.

I guess I'm getting greedy.  After Eric Wilson's triumph at last year's National Shakespeare Competition, I want to see an MUS boy on ESPN spelling "wildebeest" or "onomatopoeia" or something infinitely more challenging and obscure.   Maybe next year...