Friday, March 28, 2008

Maniac Magee

Throughout the story of Maniac Magee he is in constant motion running from one place to another. What do you think the THEME of the story of Maniac Magee is?

(Hint: theme is a broad idea in a story, or a message or lesson express by a work)

Monday, March 10, 2008

To my Mother

To My Mother by Edgar Allan Poe
Because I feel that, in the Heavens above,
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of "Mother,"
Therefore by that dear name I long have called you-
You who are more than mother unto me,
And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you
In setting my Virginia's spirit free.
My mother- my own mother, who died early,
Was but the mother of myself; but you
Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,
And thus are dearer than the mother I knew
By that infinity with which my wife
Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.


Explain what the author is doing in this poem. Provide evidence from the poem to support your ideas.

Lost and Found

What advice would you give Darcy to help her get along better with Cooper and Tarah?

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

When You are Old,

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

When You Are Old

WHEN you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face among a crowd of stars.

Based on the poem, explain what the theme is for this poem. Support your answer with important details from the poem.

Ancient Egypt

A day on the job, imagine that you mummify Egyptians, using your 5 senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell), describe the process as you are mummifying a famous Pharaoh.


HINT: Vocabulary (natron, canopic jars, afterlife, oils, bandages)

Explain your answer and provide evidence using the vocabulary from the HINT line. Your answer MUST be in paragraph form (5-7 sentences).

Monday, March 3, 2008

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Describe a scene from Jerry Spinellis's Maniac Magee.. What did you like most and least about Maniac Magee? Was this book similar to another book/movie that you have ever read?

Sunday, March 2, 2008

The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 20

Poetry sometimes relates to life experience.
In this poem by Robert Frost interpret

what the author's Theme is.