Happy New Year

Hopefully, you had a wonderful Christmas and have given some thought to your packet which is due January 5, 2010. I have included sparknotes for "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" just in case you want to get a jumpstart. We will need to finish "Song of the Trees" when we get back to school. Have a great rest of the vacation!

Today, You Did A Great Job

We finished our games for a review of " A Christmas Carol" today. Each student got a chance to participate in four of the five games. We learned about Mildred Taylor, the author of "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" and began reading "Song of the Trees" today during class. After discussion about the Great Depression and financial hardship during this historical period in the 1930's, we came to realize how much worse your situation was if you were an African American.

We will continue learning and reading after the vacation.

The only homework over the Christmas break is to read and answer seven multiple choice questions and an open response for the MCAS excerpt "A Walk to the Jetty" by Jamaica Kincaid. Please make sure you and your parents carefully read the letter before you complete the assignment on the answer sheets provided. Please do not write on the actual packet (the excerpt and the questions). Bonus points will be awarded for a parental signature and a job well done! Remember the FCA's are pretty consistent throughout the year. Use a good topic sentence, supporting details from the excerpt, a strong conclusion and proofreading for appropriate conventions.

Make Your Game Challenging

Today we finished the open response questions for "A Christmas Carol." We will continue to work on posing challenging questions for the competition next Tuesday, December 22nd before the "GeoBee." Maybe you can stump your classmates!

Tonight we will find out three interesting facts about The Great Depression before reading "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred Taylor.

Thanks For Being A Good Audience

Today we saw a wonderful presentation of "A Christmas Carol" at the Stoneham Theater in Stoneham, MA. The seventh grade students were a wonderful audience. We even had a chance to ask questions of the cast after the play was over. Well done, kids!

Field Trip Tomorrow

Just a reminder that the field trip to "A Christmas Carol" is tomorrow, December 15, 2009. Please remember to bring a bag lunch (no glass bottles) and eat a good breakfast. We will promptly leave TMS at 8:00AM. Please be on time for school. You represent the school tomorrow so it goes without saying that you must demonstrate good behavior. No hats allowed in the theater,and please NO GUM!

BULLETIN BOARD LOOKS BEAUTIFUL. THANK YOU!

Final On Monday, December 14.2009

Just a reminder that the final will be on Monday, December 14, 2009. Study all your work, questions, and tests and quizzes for " Christmas Carol."

Please remember to color and decorate your literary devices tonight for the bulletin board. Cut out the figures of speech as neatly as possible. Please, check spelling and punctuation!!!!

WELL DONE TEAM 7-2

We finished "A Christmas Carol" today and I believe it was a record! Hopefully, by using two different versions of the book, everyone understood the theme of this wonderful story. We will be tying up some loose ends in groups tomorrow and finding as much figurative language as possible throughout each stave. You all did a commendable job on quarter notes and answering questions. I am soooooo proud of you.

Homework tonight is only one page of quarter notes for Stave Five. Try to find at least one example of a simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, idiom, and a hyperbole in any stave from the book.

Period Six will get caught up tomorrow. We have about four more pages to read and discuss.

Nine Pages To Go

We have just about finished "A Christmas Carol." Tonight we have the last part of the book to read (both versions used in class). Scrooge was certainly ready to change before the last spirit appeared to him. He behaves like a completely different character when he awakes on Christmas morning. But how and why? Keep reading tonight if we did not finish in class. Questions 7-9 need to be completely answered for Stave Four and you must finish the second page of Stave Four quarter notes.

Test on Staves 1-3 on Monday, December 7th, Great Illustrated Classics up to The Spirit Yet To Come

We will have a test on the first three staves of "A Christmas Carol"" on Monday. Be sure to look over all the questions we have answered for homework for all three staves. You will be asked to put twelve events from the three staves in the correct chronological order. Also, make sure you have learned and can remember the eight places Scrooge visited with The Ghost of Christmas Present.
1. page 62 or page 106 The Spirit takes Scrooge through the streets of London. Describe the scene.
2. page 63 or page 108 The Spirit takes Scrooge to the markets and then watches as the people gaily go to church and chapel. What are they doing?
3. page 67 or page 114 The Spirit takes Scrooge to the Cratchit's house and watches the family celebrate Christmas.
4. page 76-77 page 128 The Spirit takes Scrooge throughout the streets on Christmas Day as Scrooge witnesses families celebrating.
5. page 78 page 130 The Spirit takes Scrooge over a moor to a miner's home where generations celebrate in their best clothes.
6. page 79 page 132 The Spirit takes Scrooge to a lighthouse where two older gentlemen sing songs over a can of grog.
7. page 80 page 132=134 The Spirit takes Scrooge over the sea to a ship where all the crew hums and sings and tells stories of bygone days and Christmases that have passed.
8. page 81 page 134 The Spirit takes Scrooge to Fred's house where he sees his nephew and his wife play games and talk about Mr. Scrooge.


Know the significance of WANT and IGNORANCE

Finish the Questions for Stave Three and Second Half of Quarter Notes

Today, we reviewed and discussed Stave Three or pages 101-128 in The Great Illustrated Classics version of "A Christmas Carol."
Tonight for homework, we will answer the second half of the questions for Stave Three and pages 129-148 in The Great Illustrated Classics version. Quarter notes are also due for the second part of these pages.

Quiz on Staves 1-3 on Monday, December 7, 2009. Make sure you can sequence the events from the beginning to the point where the Spirit of Christmas Present leaves Scrooge.

First Half of Stave Three For Homework

Today we took a vocabulary test on the twenty two words from the first two staves of "A Christmas Carol." We also had some character quotations to identify for Stave One. We have been reading both versions of the novel for clarity and purpose. Tonight for homework, we will begin reading the first half of Stave Three. From pages 57-74 in Stave Three you will find the answers to the questions for homework. In the Great Illustrated Classics version, these same questions can be answered from pages 101-128.

Finish up the Nouns Sheets if you have not already done so.