8th Grade – Summer Reading Project Romiette and Julio, by Sharon

8th Grade – Summer Reading Project
Romiette and Julio, by Sharon Draper
Welcome to the Mifflin Middle School 8th Grade Class!
Enclosed, you will find summer enrichment activities for each core class.
These are mandatory activities and must be completed over the summer
and turned in on your first day of class.
8th Grade Teachers:
Math- Jennifer Hagood
jhagood@columbus.k12.oh.us
English- Laura White
Lwhite1@columbus.k12.oh.us
Social Studies- Laura Shroyer
lshroyer473@columbus.k12.oh.us
Science- Luke Peters
lpeters@columbus.k12.oh.us
Enjoy these activities and your summer break, and we look
forward to seeing you in the Fall!
English Part 1:
After reading the novel, Romiette and Julio, by Sharon Draper, choose any ten of the
fifteen questions below to answer. Please answer on a separate sheet of paper. Write
neatly or type your responses. Many questions have multiple parts and you must
address each part of the question to get full credit. Be sure to be clear which question
you are answering! (50 pts)
1. Romiette and Julio begins with a dream sequence. How is this style effective in
building suspense and introducing the main character?
2. How does this method (the dream sequence) affect the reader's response? What
predictions can the reader make about Romiette?
3. Chapter two is written as a diary. As you first meet Romiette, how is she like
many young people today? How is she different? What seem to be her biggest
insecurities? Her greatest strengths?
4. Describe the relationship between the Romiette and Destiny. Why are they so
close? How are they alike and how are they different?
5. Why do you think the character of Destiny was given that name? What aspects of
her personality and her actions make that name appropriate?
6. What do you know of Thomas Jefferson High School from the descriptions given
in the text? How does it compare to high schools in your community? Why is a
high school a good location to discuss serious teenage issues?
7. What does Julio think of his new school and why? How does it compare to his old
school? What are the positives and negatives of each school?
8. How do you feel about Ben? Would he be a good friend to have? Does his
physical appearance influence your viewpoint? Why or why not?
9. Julio meets Romiette on the Internet. What is dangerous about such a
relationship? How can websites such as Facebook, Snapchat and others like it
cause a danger to teenagers? Why are computers so important in the lives of
young people?
10. Julio had no say in the decision to move from Texas to Ohio. How can a move
like that affect the life of a teenager? How did the move affect some of the
decisions Julio made in the story?
11. Describe the negative instances of ethnic prejudice and unfairness that Julio
faces at his new school? Why do you think people treat each other this way?
12. Describe the relationship between the friends in the book. Is friendship enough
when situations become overwhelming to young people? Explain.
13. What were your predictions about Destiny and the Secret Soulmate package?
What about Romiette and her efforts to find her true love? Do you believe there is
a way to accurately predict the future or change one's destiny? Explain.
14. Discuss the character of Malaka and her relationship with Romiette and the
gang. Does she have any redeeming qualities or is she purely a negative
character? What might have made Malaka the person she is? Why do you think
people become aligned with gangs?
15. What do you think about the ending of the story? What would have been the
effect on the novel if Romiette and Julio had died like Romeo and Juliet did in the
Shakespeare story? Which do you think is more memorable and more powerful
in a novel – tragedy or happiness? Explain.
English Part 2
TEXTING: After analyzing the chat/IM/texting "slang" in Romiette and Julio,
choose a popular (short) children's book or fairy tale and rewrite the story
using chat-speak. Be sure to make a front and back cover, staple or
otherwise bind the booklet, and illustrate the pages in color. Your book
should have at least 10 pages (including the front and back covers). 50
points.
Social Studies
COMPARE & CONTRAST: Shakespeare's original story, Romeo and Juliet,
was set in Verona, Italy. Our story. Romiette & Julio is set in Cincinnati,
Ohio. Research the cities of Verona and Cincinnati, and then use a Venn
Diagram to compare and contrast the cities. Write one paragraph explaining
your Venn Diagram.
DESIGN: Design two separate travel brochures encouraging people to visit
both cities. Be sure to focus on at least10 sights that travelers would want to
see, including a place to stay and a places to eat. Make your brochures neat
and colorful, with correct spelling.
Math
STATISTICS: Using the information provided about the amount of money a
person makes and compare it to the number of problems a person has to
see if “more money” really does equal “more problems. “ After completing
each scatter plot, answer the following question about each.
1. Is there a positive, negative, or no correlation represented in each
graph?
2. Draw a best fit line for each graph.
Name_______________________
Period ____
MATH DATA 2016/2017
A 8 GRADE STUDENT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR SHOULD
SCORE A 226.6 ON THE FALL MAP TEST
Getting on ALEKS two to three hours per week will help you reach that goal this
fall 
TH
Currently my ALEKS pre-test score is ________
Don’t forget: my goal is 2 to 3 hours per week on ALEKS
Date
6-6
6-13
6-20
6-27
7-4
7-11
7-18
7-25
8-1
8-8
8-15
ALEKS SCORE
HOURS THIS WEEK
Please keep accurate records!! This sheet will be your first grade in 8th grade math at Mifflin
Middle School. Write down your time and hours on the dates listed above 
Students are required to complete Aleks Hours during the summer as a part of the Math
Assignment. Students will earn a grade and incentives based on their Time on Topic in Aleks.
300-Finished -A and/or 20 or more hours
200-299-B and/or 11-20 hours
100-199 -C and/or 6-10 hours
50-99 D and/or 1-5 hours
49- Below F and/or 0 hours
Science
Heredity: Love is a theme in this novel. What causes humans to be
attracted to one another? Phenotypes are the physical traits of a person.
Genotypes are the genetic traits of a person. Write the genotypes and
phenotypes of a character of your choice in your novel. Create a Punnett
square (blank square is attached) to determine their offspring’s
characteristics.
Julio and Romiette Genetics Using Punnett
Squares
For basic information on how punnett squares work, visit:
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/jkousen/Biology/psquare.htm
1. Assign two characters form Julio and Romiette three traits.
Keep to the same categories for each character. If you choose
hair color as a trait, then you will be assigning each character a
hair color variety.
2. Create genotypes (alleles) for those traits. Flip a coin. Heads
can be the dominate allele and tails can be the recessive allele.
Use a capital letter for the dominate allele and a lower case
letter for the recessive allele. For example Hazel eyes could be
dominate, so you can assign it the letter E. Blue eyes could be
recessive and you would assign it e.
3. Flip a coin twice to determine each characters’ genotypes.
Example: Ee (two letters). Traits should remain in same
category.
Character 1 Name: ________________________
Trait 1:________________ Genotype:__________ (two
alleles)
Trait 2: ________________ Genotype: _________
Trait 3: ________________ Genotype: _________
Character 2 Name: ________________________
Trait 1:________________ Genotype:__________ (two
alleles)
Trait 2: ________________ Genotype: _________
Trait 3: ________________ Genotype: _________
4. Create Punnett Squares to determine what these characters’
offspring would look like. Write the phenotype: the physical
appearance or outcome of the offspring. (Again, use the
website above as a guide)
Trait 1 = _______________
Phenotype = _______%_______%
Trait 2 = _______________
Phenotype = _______%_______%
Trait 3 = _______________
Phenotype = _______%_______%