La Quinta High School Denise Halstead, Principal Ron Zajec, Assistant Principal Loan Sriruksa, Assistant Principal Beth Fisher, Assistant Principal Gabriela Mafi, Superintendent 2 May 2015 Dear Tenth Grade Honors Students and Parents: Welcome to the English 2 Honors program at La Quinta High School. English 2 Honors is a rigorous, standards-based course that will revolve around reading, writing, grammar, listening, and speaking. Although these seem on the surface to be simple skills, this class will utilize these elements of English to reach deeper and more complex levels of analysis and understanding. Undoubtedly, this will be a challenging year, but it will be an exciting and rewarding year as well. To begin the year and to foster the analytical techniques necessary for success during the regular school year, students will read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee as a summer reading assignment. The book will be available in the La Quinta High School bookstore until the end of the school year. Students should bring the book with them on the first day of school. In English 2 Honors, students will continue to annotate their texts, and this is a crucial element of the summer reading assignment. If a student would like to highlight or write in his or her book, the novel may be purchased at bookstores or online. Attached is the assignment that will be discussed and utilized upon returning to school in September. Additional activities relating to the study of the novel will be completed during the first month of school as well. Hopefully, the summer reading experience will help prepare the student for the challenges in the upcoming school year. Students should enjoy reading the novel, but also think critically about its content and style. Reading should be pleasurable, but we must dig deeply into the novel to truly appreciate its value. We hope that in addition to being rigorous, this class is fun, so please return in the fall rejuvenated and excited about English! If you have any questions about the assignment or the program, please feel free to email Ms.Cardullo at jcardullo@ggusd.us, Ms.LaPera at alapera@ggusd.us, or Ms. Mirsch at jmirsch@ggusd.us. Sincerely, Jeanine Cardullo English 2 Honors Teachers Amanda LaPera Jill Mirsch 10372 McFadden, Westminster California 92683 Telephone 714-663-6315 Fax 714-775-7307 www.laquintahs.org GARDEN GROVE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT