WWII Webquest

Use this link to help you answer the questions on the WWII background worksheet.
Click here

Watch these videos to learn more background info on WWII

https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/pearlharbor/

https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/worldwarii/

https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/worldhistory/worldwariicauses/

https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/famoushistoricalfigures/adolfhitler/

https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/worldhistory/holocaust/

Context Clues

Use the brainpop game to practice using context clues to figure out the meaning of words.
Click here

Peer Revision with a checklist

Use this checklist to give your partner some feedback. Make at least 15 comments on their draft, if there are any parts of the checklist that you think they need to address.

   Revision checklist

Use Transitions to make your memoir flow

Goal: I used transitional phrases to alert my reader to the passage of time, to connect parts of
the story, to imply cause and effect, to raise questions.

Use the list below to see where your transitions fall on the Columbia Rubric

Like a 6th grader:    If he hadn’t....he might not have..., because of..., although...
or little did she know that

Like a 7th grader:   and suddenly, if only, meanwhile

Like an 8th grader:   and so, thereabouts, whenever, wherever, in spite of

Like a 9th/10th grader:  as when, just as, whereby, without realizing, ever afterward

What is Exposition?

Watch the clips below 

How can you introduce your memorable moment to your audience? 

Log in to Google Classroom. Write a short exposition to give you readers:

1. any info they need to understand what's happening in the story

 2. context to explain why the moment you chose is so important

Break it down!

Breaking down our writable moments to dig for details... Try to think of each memory as a progression of: emotions, actions, thoughts (reflection), dialogue. Charting these details on simultaneous timelines can help turn a simple description into an opportunity for a meaningful memoir.

Some student samples....

Breaking down our writable moments to dig for details... Try to think of each memory as a progression of: emotions, actions, thoughts (reflection), dialogue. Charting these details on simultaneous timelines can help turn a simple description into an opportunity for a meaningful memoir.

Writing a strong introduction

Authors "craft" tension in their stories

Imagine if you watched scenes from Jaws without the creepy music.... would it still be scary? Would you still feel a lot of tension in the scene? Or, would it just be a beach scene of families playing in the water?

Directors and producers use music, lighting tricks, special effects and lot of other visual tricks to create tension in their movies.

Authors also create a lot of tension in their books using a variety of techniques (craft moves).

In The Missing Girl, Norma Fox Mazer uses lots of craft moves in the first chapter to create a lot of tension for the audience.

 Spolier alert, metaphor, symbolism, intentional vagueness, odd details, word choice...

Read your books, and search for instances where the author is using a craft move to create tension in the scene. Use post its to mark the examples and identify the craft moves on the post its.  
HW: 5 tension post its for tomorrow

Writing about characters

Perspective

As we watch the beginning of Marvel's Captain America- The First Avenger, keep track of all the influences that shape who Steve Rogers is as a character (before he becomes Captain America).

HW: What outside forces are influencing the main character in yourbook? How do these forces impact your character's actions and decision making? 

Yearbooks still available!

There are still  SDMS yearbooks available for purchase. They will be sold first come first serve while supplies last. Students can bring $20 cash or check (payable to WPS Escrow), to room 137 (Mrs. DeGray) starting at 7:30 am tomorrow morning (Friday 6/22).
 All students will receive their yearbooks during their section A class tomorrow! 

Don't miss out on the yearbook this year!

There are still some SDMS yearbooks available for purchase. Please drop off $20 cash or check (payable to WPS Escrow), in an envelope with your child's name and team, to the main office. 

All students will receive their yearbooks on the last day of school. 

Limited quantities of the yearbook remaining!

TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO ORDER YOUR SDMS 2017-2018 Yearbook!!!!

Today (Friday May 18th) is the last day to buy a guaranteed copy of the yearbook. After today, all sales will be time/date stamped, and yearbooks will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Please order as soon as possible to ensure that you receive a yearbook. 

The cost is $20 cash or check (made payable to "WPS Escrow").

Order forms should be dropped off at the main office, filled out with student info (including team color). There are extra order forms available in the office. 

You can also purchase the yearbook online.

Click the link below and follow the step by step instructions. 

http://schoolannual.com/

1. Click on the “buy your student’s yearbook” button
2. Enter the school (Silas Deane Middle School) in the search bar and click the “Shop the Collection” button
3. Click on the 2018 Yearbook link or photo
4. Select the yearbook to make your purchase and check out.

Reminder- all yearbooks must be ordered ahead of time.

There will be no yearbooks for sale on the last day of

school!!!

Order your yearbook today!

TIME TO ORDER YOUR SDMS 2017-2018 Yearbook!!!!

Yearbooks are on sale through Friday, May 18th.
The cost is $20 cash or check (made payable to "WPS Escrow").

Order forms should be dropped off at the main office, filled out with student info (including team color)

You can also purchase the yearbook online.

Click the link below and follow the step by step instructions. 

http://schoolannual.com/

1. Click on the “buy your student’s yearbook” button
2. Enter the school (Silas Deane Middle School) in the search bar and click the “Shop the Collection” button
3. Click on the 2018 Yearbook link or photo
4. Select the yearbook to make your purchase and check out.

Reminder- all yearbooks must be ordered ahead of time.

There will be no yearbooks for sale on the last day of

school!!!

Victims or perpetrators?

Use the links below to gather information and take notes to answer the following questions:

Should child soldiers be prosecuted for their crimes? 

Are they victims? 

Are they perpetrators?

CNN video- Youngest Guantanamo detainee transferred

CBS News Video- Eye To Eye: Ishmael Beah (CBS News)

A child soldier interrogated and tried

Analysis: Should child soldiers be prosecuted for their crimes?

Victims, perpetrators, or heroes?

Armed & Underage

Children in the ranks

March Madness- Round 2

Click on the link below to cast your vote

Click here!

Essay Test

Sometime over your 4-year career as a high school English student, a teacher is going to give you what is called an "essay test." We are going to practice strategies for essay tests using Lord of the Rings as a text.

The Lord of the Rings- The Fellowship of the Ring 

Choose 1 of the following Essay Prompts, and write a 1-1.5 page response.

1. Discuss the evolution of Frodo Baggins as a character. How does he change from the beginning
of the story to the end? What causes these changes? Why is it important to the story?

2. What is the significance of Gollum having been a hobbit-like creature prior to acquiring the ring?
How can greed and envy "transform" someone?

3. How do you explain Sam's determination to stay with Frodo no matter what?

4. Explain the relationship between Aragorn and Boromir. How does it evolve throughout the story?

5. Why is Aragorn a reluctant hero?

6. Discuss the "Everyman" archetype present in the story.

7. What does the ring symbolize?

Requirements:
-Responses should be typed in Google Docs & submitted in Turnitin
-Remember to include an introduction and a reflective conclusion
-Double space your writing
-Use evidence from text to support your answers (you won't have direct quotes, because we are using the film as a text.... but you can still be specific about explaining examples from the movie).
-Don't forget to provide your original analysis (thinking) for each example

DUE: Friday 3/16 (by the end of class)

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

Watch this mini biography on Dr. Seuss first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtYQKiAiM2c
Then, play games on PBS! http://pbskids.org/catinthehat/games/

🎂

Link for student survey

Problem Solving survey