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Summer Assignments

Think of academic progress exactly like athletic training. If an athlete stops conditioning completely for three months, they will be out of shape and prone to setbacks when training camp opens. The brain is no different.

 

To ensure our middle schoolers are completely conditioned to dominate their upcoming math, reading, and history curriculum, they need daily repetitions. We aren't asking for a marathon—just small, consistent steps:

 

  • 5 minutes:  Rapid math sprints (addition, subtraction, multiplication tables, and division facts).

  • 5 minutes:  TEKS academic vocabulary and sight-word drills.

  • 30 minutes:  Daily reading to build stamina (Middle School tracks their grade-level packets; 9th and 10th graders must select from our required high school reading).

 

Less than an hour of daily effort right now will yield massive results in August. Thank you for being our co-coaches and holding our students accountable. Let’s put the work in now so we can celebrate the victories later.

 

Go Titans!

Click on the appropriate grade for the daily lessons.  They will change weekly.
Answer sheets are included, so be careful not to share them with the student.

MIDDLE SCHOOL DRILL MATRIX (GRADES 6–8)

To scale the curriculum across all of middle school, students will run the same daily 40-minute training layout (5-Min Math Sprint → 5-Min Sight Words → 30-Min Reading & Analysis), adjusted for their specific grade-level TEKS foundations:

6th Grade: The Ratiometric Foundation

  • Math Focus (TEKS 6.4B): Moving past basic operations to master Ratios, Rates, and Percentages using bar models and factor trees.

  • ELAR Focus (TEKS 6.5F): Differentiating between literal plot points and making basic contextual Inferences.

  • Social Studies Focus (TEKS 6.3A World Cultures): Identifying how physical geographic factors determine where human populations settle and how cultures adapt.

7th Grade: Proportional Operations

  • Math Focus (TEKS 7.4A): Calculating constant rates of change and setting up Constant Proportionalityequations (y=kx).

  • ELAR Focus (TEKS 7.9A): Analyzing the organizational structures of informational texts (Compare/Contrast, Chronological order).

  • Social Studies Focus (TEKS 7.2B Texas History): Examining the early geographic and political conflicts surrounding Texas statehood, immigration, and border definitions.

8th Grade: Linear Systems & U.S. History (As detailed in the 30-Question Assessment)

  • Math Focus (TEKS 8.4C / 8.7C): Linear transformations (y=mx+b), laws of exponents, and spatial Pythagorean calculations.

  • ELAR Focus (TEKS 8.5F): Generating written multi-paragraph argumentative defenses backed by explicit text quotes.

  • Social Studies Focus (TEKS 8.2A / 8.15A U.S. History): Early America from the original 13 Colonies through the Revolutionary War and the framing of the Constitution.

Click on the appropriate grade for the daily lessons.  They will change weekly.
Answer sheets are included, so be careful not to share them with the student.

9TH & 10TH GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP READING REGISTRY

High school students must select titles from this list to read for 30 minutes daily. These books are explicitly chosen to build the stamina needed for the complex text structures, rhetoric, and systemic thinking required in English I & II and AP history tracks.

Tier 1: Identity, Grit, and Tactical Adversity

  1. "The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie (9th/10th Grade Pick)

    • Thematic Focus: Follows a young, aspiring cartoonist who makes the high-stakes decision to leave his troubled reservation school to attend an all-white agricultural high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Exceptional for studying internal conflict, structural alienation, and psychological resilience.

  2. "Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream" by H.G. Bissinger (High School Sports-Science Pick)

    • Thematic Focus: The definitive non-fiction masterpiece chronicling the economic, racial, and social pressures weighing on a high school football team in Odessa, Texas. Perfect for tracking real-world community socio-economics, institutional pressure, and objective journalistic reporting.

  3. "Unbroken (Young Adult Adaptation)" by Laura Hillenbrand

    • Thematic Focus: The unbelievable biography of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic track star turned WWII bombardier who survived a plane crash, weeks stranded at sea, and years in a brutal prisoner-of-war camp. Crucial for understanding historical context, processing narrative nonfiction structures, and analyzing ultimate physical and mental grit.

Tier 2: Systemic Controls, Rhetoric, & Analytical Thought

  1. "Animal Farm" by George Orwell (9th Grade Core Target)

    • Thematic Focus: A precise satirical allegory tracking a group of barnyard animals who overthrow their human master, only to see their new society devolve into an equally brutal dictatorship. Essential training for understanding political rhetoric, tracking author subtext, identifying propaganda, and preparing for high school social studies.

  2. "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding (10th Grade Core Target)

    • Thematic Focus: Documents a group of schoolboys stranded on a deserted island who attempt to govern themselves, resulting in a disastrous breakdown into tribalism and violence. This text serves as a brilliant foundational tool for analyzing human nature, comparing institutional systems of government, and mastering complex literary symbolism.

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