To Kill a Mockingbird Online

If you forgot your To Kill a Mockingbird book at school, here is a link to the full text online for free!


http://www.edmondschools.net/portals/3/docs/sue%20newman/tkam%20text/to_kill_a_mockingbird_text.pdf

Letters to Eleanor Roosevelt

Letters to Eleanor Roosevelt

"I have moments of real terror when I think we might be losing this generation. We have got to bring these young people into the active life of the community and make them feel that they are necessary."
--New York Times, 5/34

During the Great Depression, as you have learned, numerous people were without work, money, food and other resources; most felt they had no where to turn, so they wrote to one who seemed like their friend, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who had been working diligently with her husband to set up programs to help the American people.  She received thousands of letters from children asking for her help. 

 

1.      List five problems that children face in American society today.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 

2.      Go to the following website: http://newdeal.feri.org/eleanor/er3a.htm

 

3.      Read five letters to Mrs. Roosevelt and summarize the problems each young writer mentioned.  Also include what the writer wanted from Mrs. Roosevelt.  Include the author’s name as well.

Letter 1:

 

Letter 2:

 

Letter 3:

 

Letter 4:

 

Letter 5:

 

4.      What was Mrs. Roosevelt’s response to each letter?

 

 

 

5.      Compare the entries and discuss the similarities and differences between the problems faced by 1930s and today's youth.   Do you think that young people of today face greater challenges than young people of the 1930s?  Why or why not? Do you think today's young people have a better chance of receiving help for their problems that their 30s counterparts?  Explain your response.

Exploring Your Neighborhood through the Narrative Essay

Exploring Your Neighborhood through the Narrative Essay

 

Narrative Writing is simply telling a story—a very detailed, descriptive story.  For this narrative essay, you are going to focus on stories from your childhood.  You will write a narrative essay where you relate to your reader three stories from your childhood and also provide some reflection—how have these childhood experiences shaped who you are today?  First you need to determine what you could write about—what events have occurred in your life that would make a good story to tell others? 

 

Prewriting

·         For this assignment, first you are going to do an activity that will help you generate stories from your own life to tell others.  You are going to draw a map of your neighborhood when you were about 5 or 6 years old.  The map may be just of your home and yard, it may include the houses close by, or it may be the entire town where you lived.  The point of this is for you to remember where your life was centered at this age.  Consider where you spent the most time—outside in the backyard, down by the creek, at the playground, at gramma's house, at the neighbor’s house???  Think back and try to recall where most of your play hours were spent. 

·         Draw and COLOR your map. 

 

·         After your map is complete, take a close look at it.  You need to decide on what stories you have to tell about your childhood.  You are to locate 12 places on the map where things happened to you (where your stories took place)—these are called your Personal Specifics.  These Specifics are 12 memories, incidents, people or experiences that occurred to you in your childhood.  Number 1-12 on the map and then fill out the Personal Specifics Worksheet.  This will give you 12 childhood stories to choose from when you begin writing your 1^st draft of the narrative essay.

 

1^st Draft

·         Now you have completed your Prewriting.  Select 3 of your best stories from the Personal Specifics Worksheet—three that you can turn into full-fledged, well-developed detailed, descriptive stories that will interest and intrigue other readers!  In writing your essay, you should follow the Outline in this packet—it will tell you how to organize your 1^st draft.

 

Add Sentence Patterns to draft and high light.

·         Print out 2 copies of your completed 1^st draft.

·         Turn in one copy to Mrs. Hapgood for editing. 

·         Use the other copy for Peer Editing—using the 2 Peer Editing Sheets in this packet.

 

2^nd Draft

·         Make corrections to your essay based on the suggestions given to you by both peer editors and Mrs. Hapgood. 

·         Print out another copy and have Mrs. Hapgood read through it again for further suggestions.  You also could have more peer editing done as well.

 

 

 

Final Draft

·         Make your final corrections.

·         Print out your final draft.

·         Complete the Check Off List.

·         Assemble your packet and turn it in.

  

Scent Essay--or the one with the cotton balls

 You have written a few narrative essays in this class based on a variety of ideas and memories.  This assignment is also a narrative essay, but with a twist! 

Scent is a powerful memory trigger—you know the scent of crayons—does it bring back memories of kindergarten?  The innocence of childhood?  The fun times you had as a kid?  Don’t you want it all back again?  Why do you think Yankee Candles are so successful?  They tap into a prime area of our brains—memory!  For this narrative we are going to use the sense of smell as a basis for your essay.

 Pick just one scent—what does it remind you of?  What images come to mind when you smell it?  Do some pre-writing here.  Smell the scent and drift back into time—where are you?  Who else is there?  What do you see?  Use your other senses—what do you hear, taste, touch, see?  Be very descriptive—take your reader along with you. 

 Now write your narrative essay.  Tell the story/event/image that was triggered by the scent.  Your memory may not be a full-blown story, but you need to develop it into one—a very detailed description of what you recall based on this scent. 

 

Include the following:

 

• 500-800 words
• Title
• Well-developed introduction paragraph with attention grabber, setting and character intros
• Tell the story completely with lots of description and detail
• Dialogue
• Smooth transitions between paragraphs
• Conclusion with reflective
• Use all the sentence patterns
• remove the words: we/us/our/got/you in any form

 

Sentence Patterns

Use at least one of each type of sentence in your final draft of your scent narrative, descriptive essay. 

1.       Open with an adverb.  Noisily, the mosquitoes buzzed around the campers’ heads.

2.       Open with a prepositional phrase.  In a dingy basement, the robber hid out during the day.

3.       Use an appositive.  Claude Monet, a French Impressionist artist, painted many outdoor scenes in his garden, Giverney.

4.       Use at least one simile.  The tornado was like a swirling vacuum, easily sucking up trees and debris like lost Legos and Barbie shoes.

5.       Use at least one metaphor. The game between the two teams turned into a tough battle.

6.       Use one word that is onomatopoeia.  Bang!

7.       Open with a participle.  Gazing at the ballerinas, Degas planned his next painting.

8.       Use parallel structure.  Mom bought chips, soda, and cookies for the picnic.  OR  Hugh caught the baseball, checked second, then threw it home.

9.       Open with an infinitive.  To prevent a mess, the chef covered the counter with waxed paper.

10.   Use a semi-colon.  Zeus blasted a lightning bolt from the sky; a mortal had made him angry.

  

Post 4--Stuart Little Writing

Recently, you had a writing adventure around  the school where you jotted down notes, details and description of your surroundings….from the perspective of 3 ½ inches tall.

Now shape that writing into a descriptive, creative, fictional short story.  It can be in first person or in third person.  Include the details that you gathered on the writing adventure around the school—the colors, textures, sounds, smells that you noticed.   

400 word minimum

Consider:

• ·         How did you (or your character) end up 3 ½ inches tall?  What happened?!
• ·         Take an adventure and explore your surroundings—what do you see/hear/feel/experience?
• ·         What dangerous did you face?
• ·         Did you encounter anyone else?
• ·         Where did you go?
• ·         What was confusing about your surroundings from this perspective?
• ·         What humorous situations did you end up in?
• ·         What was it like trying to navigate the human world in such a small state?
• ·         Conclusion---what happens to you (or your character) at the end of the adventure?  Do you stay 3 ½ inches tall???

When you are done posting, comment constructively on 5 other blogger's Stuart Little writings.

Post 3--Campfire Descriptive Narrative

A major component of English I is writing and the writing process.  An end factor in the writing process is publshing your finished work and seeing what the audience thinks about your work.  This can be nerve wracking....but it is rewarding to see what real readers think! 

Post your final draft of your campfire essay.   You can make revisions if you want before publishing.  You can also include images that inspired your writing as well.

Once you have posted your writing, read and comment on at least 5 other classmate's campfire writing.  Remember to be considerate in your comments--identify elements in the writing that you found intriguing, amusing, funny, touching or so detailed you could see it! 

Post 2--The Book Review I

 Fiction Book Review-- A book review is different from a book report.  A review doesn’t reveal the whole plot—just enough to intrigue the reader. 

 Length--about 500-800 words

Avoid these words in your book review: We, us, our, ourselves, you, your, yourself, yourselves, got, a lot

          Section I--The first sentence of your book review should give the title of the book (italicized), the author's name, and a general statement. 

•  Also include why or how did you select this book?  
•  What were your first thoughts about this text? 
• Also give a brief plot outline that discusses the time frame, the setting, the amount of time that passes from the beginning to the end, the major conflict and characters.

          Section II

• What is the time frame (setting) of the book? How do you know?  How much time elapses (passes) from the beginning to the end?
• What was the setting of the book?  How was the setting important to the story?  Where does the story take place? How do you know?
• Discuss the characters.  Name and describe them. 
• What characters did you enjoy most?  Least?  Why?

Section III

• What went on in the story?  Discuss the plot.
• What is the main conflict in the story? How is it resolved? 
•  What surprised or confused you in this text?  Why?
• If you could change the ending, would you?  Why/why not?  If so, how would you change it?

Section IV—Review the book. 

• What did you think was the best part of the book?  
• Any  things about it you did not like and why? 
• What lessons did you learn from this book? 
• Would you like to read other books by the same author? Why?
• Would you recommend this book to other students? Why?
• What would you tell them to interest them in the book?