GATEWAY @ BIS

This winter, BPS will have a two-week vacation at the end of December into January. During this time, all students in Tier 3 GATEWAY classes at BIS are required to read one of four books listed below.

A few months ago, students read through summaries of many books and chose these as their top 4 most-interesting books. It is incredibly important for students to read outside of school time to increase their vocabulary, improve critical-thinking skills, develop contexts for learning, and to deepen empathy and imagination. Reading is also a proven stress-reducer! Books are available at any Cape Cod/CLAMS library, at the BIS library, and are available via SORA.

Grade 6 book choices:

• Attack of the Black Rectangles by A.S. King
• Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead
• Neurocomic by Hana Ros and Matteo Farinella
• The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat

Grade 7 book choices:

• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
• Maus by Art Spiegelman
• Otherworld by Jason Siegel
• She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

They do not need to complete a project or write a report. When we return to school in January, our Tier 3 GATEWAY classes will combine to discuss their books and create projects together.

Can my child read more than one of the books? YES, of course!

Does my child have to read one of these books? YES. We want to have common books to discuss and explore. Reading is an independent activity, but we learn so much from each other when we share our ideas and questions about a shared reading experience.

Can my child listen to the book instead of reading it? YES! Listening to audiobooks is reading, too!

Cape Cod Libraries (CLAMS)

- Find your local public library at this link.

- Need a library card? It is FREE! Ask your local library for an application, and bring with you a piece of mail or a photo ID to show your address.

BIS Library

All titles are available in the library at Barnstable Intermediate School. First come, first served!

SORA

- Sora is a free reading app on Clever. Your child has access to Clever on their Chromebook.

- The following titles are available on Sora:

• Attack of the Black Rectangles (eBook and eAudiobook)
• Liar & Spy (eBook and eAudiobook)
• The Last Mapmaker (eBook and eAudiobook)
• We Were Liars (eBook and eAudiobook)
• Otherworld (eBook and eAudiobook)
• She is a Haunting (eBook and eAudiobook)

- These titles are NOT available on the Sora app:

• Neurocomic
• Maus

Sora Family Handout - English

Sora Family Handout - Spanish

Sora Family Handout - Portuguese

Sora provides the quickest and easiest way to get started with digital titles from our school. Students can simply log in using school credentials and instantly access hundreds of ebooks and audiobooks on most devices.