Summer Homework

8^th Grade Summer Homework

The MISSION of Cascade Heights Public Charter School is to inspire the social, emotional, academic, physical, personal, and ethical growth of children and partner with parents who share the same mission to prepare them to be members of a global society.

Students should choose one item to complete each day of the summer vacation. Items range in difficulty and time commitment, but are all designed to maintain skills gained during the school year. Please feel free to email with ideas for alternative activities! There are many more activities listed than the 60 days of vacation, which allows for plenty of flexibility.  Students are welcome to come up with similar ideas that are a better fit, as long as they are in the spirit of this assignment. As students complete an activity, parents must initial and date that box. These pages will be due on the first day of school.

Social/Emotional	Academic	Physical	Personal
Write a letter to someone and mail it.	Go to the library.  Check out and read a nonfiction book.	Ride your bike.	Pick one habit to change and do it for 21 days.
Help your family plan and pack for a picnic.  Help with menu planning, grocery shopping, and food preparation.	Memorize a poem and recite it to your family.	Go skating.	Prepare your homework space.
Read a picture book out loud to someone younger than you.	Visit a museum.	Go swimming.	Clean your room.
Make a point to say hello to strangers for an entire day and observe what happens.	Play a word game like Scrabble or Boggle.	Jump rope for 15 minutes.	Write down one thing you love about yourself every day for a week.
Play a game with a younger person (Candyland, Go Fish, etc.).	Play a money game like Monopoly.	Go for a hike of at least 3 miles.	Create a collage of all your favorite things. Bring it to class on the first day.
Ask a grandparent or other elder to tell about what life was like when they were kids.	Read about some time in history you are interested in.	Pick fresh fruit for at least half an hour.	Spend at least 30 minutes alone, either inside or outside, reflecting on what you want to change in the world.
Help plan and execute a progressive dinner with classmates.	Read a fiction book.	Grow vegetables.	Try something new.
Make something and give it to someone in need of cheering up.	Practice your multiplication facts for 30 minutes.	Mow the lawn.	Make a plan for your future. What high school do you want to go to? What college? What career path will you follow?
Have a barbecue.  Help serve the food.	Keep a diary. Write at least a full page each day.	Make and eat a salad with at least one vegetable you’ve never tried.	Take the multiple intelligences quiz and find out how you learn best. http://www.literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html
Practice your phone etiquette by calling a grandparent or other relative.	Read a newspaper. Highlight Dressups you find.	Participate in an organized sport.	Create a word cloud about yourself. Fill it with words that describe who you are. Feel free to use http://www.wordle.net/
Go and entire day communicating only in person. (No computers or phones)	Listen to a book on tape (cd/mp3).	Have a water fight.	Find a quote that speaks to you. Discuss with someone you love why it speaks to you.
Commit three random acts of kindness.	Play a math game on the web for 30 minutes.	Build something out of wood without power tools.	Keep a diary. Each night reflect on whether you are reaching your goals.
Ride the bus.	Practice keyboarding for 15 minutes a day for at least 10 days.	Walk around your neighborhood with a friend.	Research your family name.
Ride the MAX.	Write a letter to Mrs. Denman and mail it (to the school).	Climb a mountain (or at least a big hill)	Volunteer in your family’s place of worship.
Go to a park.	Help a younger child run a lemonade stand. Create a profit/loss report.	Row a boat/kayak/canoe.	Find a song that has meaning to you. Discuss it with your family.
Invite friends over for a pick up game.	Plan a trip for your family. Figure out whether it is more cost effective to fly or drive.	Go horseback riding.	Play “Would You Rather” or a similar game.
Host a sleep over.	Cook a meal from a cookbook, doubling all quantities.	Climb Beacon Rock.	Write an acrostic poem using your name.
Create a blog about your summer adventures.	Choose a book from the BBC “Top 100” books list and read it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml.	Spend at least 3 hours in the woods.	Invite someone you’ve had a hard time getting along with over.
Hold mock job interviews with friends and videotape them.	Read a book with more than 100 pages.	Create a new smoothie recipe that uses only fresh ingredients.	Make a list of your goals for the year. Identify what help you will need to successfully complete your goals.
Be self-reliant for an entire day. (Don’t let your parents do anything for you)	Read a magazine from cover to cover while sitting outside under a tree.	Practice throwing a frisbee.	Who’s your hero? Write 2 paragraphs about them. Tell me why they are your hero and why you want to be like them.
Have a conversation with someone over the age of 60.	Watch an entire show on the History channel.	Do 100 pushups every day for two weeks, and be ready to tell me how you felt at the end.	Talk to someone else in this class about becoming a Homework Buddy.  You can call each other when absent, and ask each other for help.
Have a conversation with someone over the age of 70.	Read a biography about someone who was famous in the 20th Century, but is no longer alive.	Learn about one thing doctors say is bad for you.  Stop doing/eating it.	Get a library card from Multnomah County.  Use it.  And the online reserving feature.
Be nicer to your parents.  And your siblings.  Yes, I know it’s hard.  Do it anyway.	Learn about something happening in another part of the world, and then share it with your family.	Stop drinking soda.  And energy drinks.	Turn everything off.  For an entire day.
		Floss your teeth.  Daily.