5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
Required reading for fifth graders:
Wonder, by RJ Palacio
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, by Jack Gantos
Surviving Hitler, by Andrea Warren
Students should follow these instructions:
1. Read the three mandatory books for your grade level. Students will discuss these books in class during
the first two weeks of school and will be tested on each book.
2. For each of the fiction novels (Wonder and Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key), students will complete
double entry journals. Templates and instructions are included in this document.
3. For the nonfiction selection (Surviving Hitler), students will complete a study guide of chapter
questions. Study guide questions are included in this document.
4. These assignments will count as the first three homework grades of the semester. Students should
bring their completed assignments and their personal, paper copies of each book to their first FULL day
of English class.
5. Assignments can be typed in this document or printed and written by hand.
6. Dates of assessments on the summer books will be announced when we begin the school year.
Summer Reading Double-Entry Journal
A double-entry journal is a two-column journal in which a passage from the book is written in the left side
(textual evidence) and a response to the passage is written in the right column (commentary). Responses
might include asking questions of the text, forming personal opinions about the text, interpreting the text, or
reflecting on the process of making meaning of the text.
As you read, you will be taking notes in a double-entry journal to record your thoughts and questions in
response to your reading. You should choose a passage (a sentence, two sentences, a paragraph) from each of
the sections shown on the template. You may respond in these ways:

Write about an experience in your own life that relates to what is happening in the novel.
 Write your opinions about what is happening in the novel.
 Write your questions about what is happening in the novel.
If you are having trouble thinking of what to write, use these response starters:

I really like (or dislike) this part because…
 I wonder why…
 I predict that…
 I think the character should…
 This reminds me of the time when I…
 This reminds me of a book I read (movie I
watched, and so on)…
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
Student’s
Student’s Name:
Name:
Chapter
#
Chapter
Chapter
#
#
Part Five:
Justin
Part Two:
Via
SAMPLE
Part Six:
August
Part
Three:
Summer
Part
Part
One:
Seven:
August
Miranda
Passage from Text
Passage from Text
Passage from Text
“Just over a year ago, my
father plucked me up like a
weed and took me and all our
belongings (no, that is not true
– he did not bring the chestnut
tree, the willow, the maple, the
hayloft, or the swimming hole,
which all belonged to me) and
we drove three hundred miles
straight north and stopped in
front of a house in Euclid,
Ohio.”
Wonder
Wonder
Wonder
Page #
Page #
Page #
SAMPLE
Personal Response/Commentary
(3-5 sentences)
Personal Response/Commentary
Personal
Response/Commentary
(3-5
sentences)
(3-5 sentences)
This passage reminds me of when I had to
move away from my old house in the city. I
was really angry that we couldn’t bring the
playground with us. It sounds like she really
likes trees and being outdoors, and that she
will have to give up those things in her new
home. Why is she moving and where is her
mother?
Part
Three:
Summer
Part
Seven:
Part One:
Miranda
August
Part Four:
Jack8:
Part
August
Part
One:
August
Part Four:
Part
Jack8:
August
Part Two:
Via
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
Student’s
Name:
Student’s Name:
Name:
Student’s
Chapter
Chapter
#
#
Chapter
#
5
11 a
Make
Shifting
Wish
Gears
SAMPLE
6
Who?
12
Pittsburgh
Joey
Joey Pigza
Pigza Swallowed
Swallowed the
the Key
Key
Personal Response/Commentary
Passage
Passagefrom
from Text
Text
Passage
from
Text
“Just over a year ago, my father
plucked me up like a weed and
took me and all our belongings
(no, that is not true – he did
not bring the chestnut tree, the
willow, the maple, the hayloft,
or the swimming hole, which
all belonged to me) and we
drove three hundred miles
straight north and stopped in
front of a house in Euclid,
Ohio.”
Page
Page#
#
Page
#
Personal
Response/Commentary
Personal
Response/Commentary
(3-5
sentences)
(3-5
(3-5 sentences)
sentences)
SAMPLE
This passage reminds me of when I had to
move away from my old house in the city. I
was really angry that we couldn’t bring the
playground with us. It sounds like she really
likes trees and being outdoors, and that she
will have to give up those things in her new
home. Why is she moving and where is her
mother?
1
Off 7the
Walland
Gifted
Talented
13
Moon Man
2
Family
8
Tree
Suspended
14
The3Patch
9
Handful
Bad Seed
15
410 Me
Picture
The
GoHere
Fish
Crossing
Study Guide - Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
This is Janek "Jack" Mandelbaum's true story of his teenage years during World War II while
he was a Jewish prisoner in various concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Since it is a true story not a novel - it is classified as non-fiction. It is important to begin by reading the introduction to
learn why Andrea Warren, its author, felt compelled to tell Jack's story.
The Holocaust is a 20th century tragedy associated with World War II. Even in the New
Orleans Metro area, there are survivors of this time living among us. Jack's story and theirs are
lessons to us all in the extreme dangers of intolerance, prejudice, and an unwillingness to stand
against evil. You may never meet a Holocaust survivor in person, but you can meet one through this
book.
This study guide is designed to help you focus on the main events and ideas in this story. I
recommend that you read each chapter first before answering the questions. If you answer the
questions as you are reading, you will find yourself reading just to answer the questions. When this
happens, the story seems segmented (not connected); you lose the sense of the "whole" story.
Also, don't be so foolish or dishonest as to read Internet sources (Sparknotes, Pink Monkey, etc.) rather
than actually reading the book. Don't take shortcuts! These are not the actions of a Holy Cross Man.
There are many photos in this book, some of Jack's family and some that are of general scenes from
that time. Be sure to read the captions (the words underneath the photos) so that you know what you're
looking at.
Also, read the epigraph (quote on the page after the introduction) by Rev. Niemoller. This is a very
famous quote reflecting the danger of human beings not looking out for each other. Think about it.
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
Chapter 1 - "Rumors of War, 1939"
Take yourself back to 1939; this is a year when your grandparents or older relatives might have been born
or might have been youngsters. You should ask them (if they are able to tell you) what they remember from
that time.
1. Summarize Jack's pre-war life:
his city and country - ____________________________________________
his age - ________________
his religion - ________________________
his mother - ____________________________________________________
his father - _____________________________________________________
his sister - _____________________________________________________
his brother - ___________________________________________________
other family members - _____________________________________________
________________________________________________________
recreation (what did he do for fun) - ____________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. Why do you think that the author includes so many of Jack's memories of his childhood in this first
chapter? _______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
3. What does Jack learn from Mr. Poncz about what is happening in Germany? (If you look at a map of
Europe, you will see that Poland shares a border with Germany.) _______________________
________________________________________________________________
4. What was Jack's father's feeling about the coming war? __________________________
________________________________________________________________
5. Explain Jack's familiarity with Catholicism. __________________________________
________________________________________________________________
6. What was Papa's plan to keep Jack and the family safe? __________________________
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 2 - "Occupation"
Mid-August, 1939
1. Where and how does Jack encounter anti-Semitism (prejudice against Jews)? ____________
_______________________________________________________________
September, 1939 Nazi - German army is in Poland.
2. What were some of the first actions of the Nazis in Grandfather's town? _______________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
End of October, 1939 - The family finds out that Papa is in a concentration camp.
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
November, 1939
3. What actions are taken against the Jews? ____________________________________
________________________________________________________________
4. How was Grandfather and his Jewish friends disappointed by their non-Jewish neighbors?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
5. Why did Jadzia leave the family? _________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
December, 1939 - The family moves in with Mama's brother in another village.
Chapter 3 - "A Growing Fear"
1. What were the difficulties in living with this uncle? _____________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2. Summarize the continuing restrictions against the Jews: _________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
3. Tell about the Catholic railroad official. _____________________________________
________________________________________________________________
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
January, 1940
4. How was Jack able to work and support his mother and brother? ___________________
________________________________________________________________
5. For how long was he able to do this? ______________________________________
6. How did the Catholic electrician help Jack from being forced into slave labor? __________
_______________________________________________________________
June, 1941 - Jack is 14 years old now. Hitler and the Nazis invade Soviet Union (Russia).
7. What action is taken against the Jews in this little village? ______________________
_______________________________________________________________
Chapter 4 - "Despair"
Study the pictures in this chapter.
June 14, 1942 - Jack is 15 years old.
1. Now Jack knows why the Nazis wanted the Jews living in a confined area. What are the Jews
forced to do? _______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
2. Jack uses his letter with the special Nazi stamp. What are the unexpected results of this action?
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
3. What are the reactions of the townspeople (non-Jews) as the 900 Jews are being marched through
the town? __________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Chapter 5 - "The Right to Die"
Jack and the other men are brought to Blechhammer concentration camp across the border in
Germany.
1. According to Jack, why did the Nazis replace their names with a number? _____________
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 6 - "Learning the Rules"
1. Why does Jack keep stumbling? _________________________________________
2. In what ways did Aaron help Jack? ________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
3. How did Jack decide he would survive? ____________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Chapter 7 - "The Game"
1. What was one of Jack's main problems? ___________________________________
2. Describe the kapos (jobs, previous life, attitudes, etc.)? _________________________
_______________________________________________________________
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
3. Why did Jack choose not to hate the guards and officers? ________________________
_______________________________________________________________
4. What did the various colored triangles worn by the prisoners mean?
green = __________________________ red = __________________________
black = __________________________ pink = _________________________
purple = _________________________ yellow = ________________________
5. What information does Jack get from Moshe? ________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
February, 1943
6. The new camp Jack is moved to is very much like the previous one except for a place to wash.
What is the result of Jack's not being able to clean himself regularly? _________________
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 8 - "Hour by Hour"
1. During this time in the camps, what did Jack fantasize would happen after the war? ______
________________________________________________________________
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
Spring, 1943 Jack watched the seasons to mark the passing of time.
2. True or False: The guards kept the prisoners informed about the course of the war. _______
3. For what reason was Jack moved several times to other camps? ____________________
________________________________________________________________
4. Among the different camp locations, what were some similarities about them all? ________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
5. List some of the jobs that Jack had to do at Gross-Rosen. _________________________
________________________________________________________________
6. Tell at least two reasons why the Jews felt hopeless about escape attempts. _____________
________________________________________________________________
7. Jack speaks several times in the book about "beating Hitler at his game." At the end of this
chapter, Jack says what would be the proof of his beating Hitler. What is it? ___________
_______________________________________________________________
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
Chapter 9 - "Death's Door"
Although Jack is at risk of dying the whole time he is in the camps, one time he is particularly
close to death.
1. Describe his sickness. _______________________________________________
2. Several people helped him survive. Tell who they were and how they helped. __________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Chapter 10 - "Moniek"
Fall, 1943
1. What two things did Jack and Moniek have in common? _________________________
2. How was Moniek different than every other prisoner he had encountered? ____________
________________________________________________________________
May, 1944
Hitler orders the Jews of Hungary into the camps. Rumors say that the American
troops are winning the war in Europe.
3. Jack says one never saw grass in the concentration camps. Why? ___________________
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 11 - "The Miracle"
1. What was this "miracle" that happened to Moniek and Jack? __________________________
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
2. What kinds of food went into the prisoners' soup? _____________________________
________________________________________________________________
3. How do Jack and Salek, another prisoner, help each other out? _____________________
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 12 - "Liberation"
March, 1945
Jack's camp had to evacuate to another camp - Doernhau.
1. Explain what happened to Moniek in this camp full of Hungarian Jews. _______________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
2. What kept the guards from mingling with the prisoners? _________________________
3. After about five or six weeks in this camp, what surprise does Jack get when he wakes up one
morning? __________________________________________________________
Chapter 13 - "The Search"
1. Jack and Moniek leave the camp on their own. Who is in the next camp down the road?
_________________________________________________________
2. Which country's army was approaching the town which was closest to the camps?
___________________________________________
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
3. What were the German citizens doing? _____________________________________
4. What were Moniek's and Jack's two main objectives? __________________________
__________________________________________________
5. Why did they choose to go to the American sector of Germany? _____________________
6. At what point did Jack and Moniek go their separate ways? ________________________
_____________________________________________
7. Jack connects with his second cousin, Arek Mandelbaum. He finds out what happened to several
family members:
father: ___________________________________________________________
mother & Jacob: ____________________________________________________
Aunt Hinda: _______________________________________________________
Grandfather: _______________________________________________________
sister: ____________________________________________________________
Uncle Sigmund: _____________________________________________________
8. What happened to Jack's home in Gdynia? __________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.
5th Grade English Language Arts
Summer Reading Assignments 2015
Chapter 14 - "Creating a New Life"
1. Which president petitioned Congress to admit concentration camp survivors into the United States?
____________________________________________________________________
June, 1946 Jack travels to USA on troop ship. He settles in Kansas City.
2. When did Jack become an American citizen? ___________________
3. Describe Jack's adult life in America (job, family, etc.). _______________________
_______________________________________________________________
4. Does Jack ever travel to Poland again? ____________________________________
5. What is the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education? ___________________________
_______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
6. What is Jack's explanation as to why the Jews did not (or seemed to not) defend themselves?
_______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
There is a section in the back of the book giving a further explanation of concentration camps.
Read it. Also, a list of books, films, and websites on this topic is provided.
This is an open Word document. You may type your answers directly into this document or you
may print this document and write your answers by hand. Bring a printed copy of your work to
our first class meeting. Please do not wait until you get to class to print your work.