Mesopotamia Video

List 5 main points from the Mesopotamia Video.

Election

Imagine you are running for president. Why should people vote for you? Write a paragraph about yourself explaining your answer.

Civilization Brainstorm

What are some characteristics of a civilization?

Be sure to explain and provide evidence for your answer. Your response should be at least a paragraph (5-7 sentence).

Throwing a Tree

Throwing a Tree

New Forest

THE two executioners stalk along over the knolls,
Bearing two axes with heavy heads shining and wide,
And a long limp two-handled saw toothed for cutting great boles,
And so they approach the proud tree that bears the death-mark on its
side.

Jackets doffed they swing axes and chop away just above ground,
And the chips fly about and lie white on the moss and fallen
leaves;
Till a broad deep gash in the bark is hewn all the way round,
And one of them tries to hook upwards a rope, which at last he achieves.

The saw then begins, till the top of the tall giant shivers:
The shivers are seen to grow greater each cut than before:
They edge out the saw, tug the rope; but the tree only quivers,
And kneeling and sawing again, they step back to try pulling once
more.

Then, lastly, the living mast sways, further sways: with a shout
Job and Ike rush aside. Reached the end of its long staying powers
The tree crashes downward: it shakes all its neighbours through­
out,
And two hundred years’ steady growth has been ended in less than two
hours.
—Thomas Hardy



In “Throwing a Tree,” the poet uses personification, a literary device that uses human qualities to describe an object. Give at least two examples of personification used in the poem. Explain why each is an example of personification. Support your answer with important details from
the poem.

6th grade

You have been a 6th grader in Academy 2 for almost a full quarter. On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate your experience here so far?

Descriptive Language

Write a story about your pet, real or imaginary. What are some of the interesting things he does? What does he look like?

What if....

If a new student was to enter our classroom, what would you tell them about our rules, laptops, and our community?

Learning with Laptops

How will learning with laptops change the way you learn?

The Crossing

If you could meet Manny, what would you say to him? What type of advice would you give him? Can you relate to what he is going through?

Your thoughts...

What has been your favorite book this year? Why? (provide evidence and examples for your reasonings) Who has been your favorite author? Why? (provide evidence and examples for your reasonings)

The Crossing

Make a prediction on what is going to happen in The Crossing. What do you think will happen to Manny and Sergeant Locke?

Olympics

Academy 2 , 6th graders will participate in our own version of Ancient Greece Olympics. Watch the cartoon "My Big Fat Greek Olympics", what are your thoughts on the games and rules surrounding the Olympic Games. Which games would you like to have tried? What rules do you agree with? Which rules would you change? Explain your thoughts with detail.

Gary Paulsen

How would you describe Gary Paulsen as a writer? Provide evidence for your description. Describe a common theme in Paulsen's writing. Provide evidence for your reasoning, use at least 2 books to support your answer.

Alexander the Great

Who was Alexander the Great? What were some of his accomplishments? If you were alive during the time that he was conquering countries, and he conquered yours, how would you have responded to him?

Ancient Greece

Explain what have you learned so far about Ancient Greece? What would you like to learn more about?

The MET trip

What was the most memorable moment from our trip to NYC? What is something new that you learned yesterday?

If you were President

If you were President of the United States, what would you do? What programs would you create and who would you help?

Kush Empire

Why do you think it is important to learn about the Kush Empire? Provide details and examples from last nights reading.

Lost and Found

Lost and Found by Anne Schraff

Although Jamee clearly has a lot of problems, she doesn’t seem able to express them in words. Pretending you are Jamee, write a goodbye note that she could have left behind when she ran away. In it, try to explain why you are leaving and what you hope to accomplish by doing so.

Blueford Series

If the authors of the Blueford Series called you to write their fourteenth book, what would you storyline be?

Provide as much detail to your storyline as you can.

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)

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?

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).

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?

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.

A Dream Deferred

by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode

Describe your interpretation of this poem.
What do you think the author is trying to say?
Provide examples from the poem to help you express your ideas.

Heroes

Heroes have special qualities that people admire. Heroes give us examples of the courage and strength it takes to face difficult situations and challenges in life.

Think of someone who is your personal hero. In a well-developed composition, describe this person and explain two qualities you most admire about him or her.

5 Wits Field Trip

Describe what you liked and what you didn't like about the Tomb Field trip? Explain something that you learned about Egyptians from the trip?

Cairo and us...

Provide evidence from the text to compare and/or contrast Cairo to where you live?

Witness to Freedom

Think about your reading from Witness to Freedom...What is Justice and what does it look like?

Responding to Articles

WORLD NEWS
Ancient Tomb Discovered in Egypt
Archaeologists make one of the biggest discoveries since 1922, when King Tut’s tomb was uncovered

Archaeologists say they've made a huge discovery in Egypt – by accident! A U.S.-based team has uncovered an ancient tomb containing five sarcophagi with mummies. The tomb was found in the Valley of the Kings outside Luxor, Egypt. This is the first tomb uncovered in the area since King Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered in 1922.

A team of archaeologists from the University of Memphis was actually working on the nearby site of a 19th Dynasty pharaoh when it made the discovery. Archaeologists found the remains of the huts of men who had worked on the tomb and a shaft leading to the tomb.

"It was a wonderful thing," said Edwin Brock, of the team that discovered the tomb. "It was just so amazing to find an intact tomb here after all the work that's been done before. This was totally unexpected."

Inside the Ancient Tomb
The tomb was found at the bottom of a 33-foot deep pit. A narrow shaft leads down another 16 feet to the tomb door, which is made of stone blocks. The tomb is thought to be about 3,000 years old. Archaeologists say it dates to the 18th Dynasty. They say it is the most important discovery of its kind in more than eighty years!

Inside the tomb are five sarcophagi with mummies. One sarcophagus has fallen and another is partly open, showing the brown cloth that covers the mummy inside. The sarcophagi have colorful funeral masks.

Researchers say the tomb is relatively bare and undecorated. The tomb’s appearance has led researchers to believe that it does not belong to a pharaoh. They say it was probably built for people connected to the royal family.

"It’s somebody who had the favor of the king because not everybody could come and make their tomb in the Valley of the Kings," said Otto Schaden, who led the U.S. team.

What's Next?
After archaeologists finish clearing debris from the shaft, they can search the tomb for hieroglyphs that identify those buried inside. The goal is to remove the sarcophagi before the weather gets too hot to work in the desert, Schaden said. High temperatures usually begin in May and mark the end of the digging season for archaeologists.

By Jill Egan

A view inside the newly-discovered tomb.

Archaeologists are still discovering new things in the tomb, like the artifacts pictured here.

After reading the article, "pull-out" 1 fact, create 2 questions you have about the topic and write a personal response (5-7 sentences) about the topic/article (After reading the article, how do you feel about this topic?).

Flip-Flop Girl

Would you recommend Katherine Patterson to readers your age?

Why?

What will other young-adult readers enjoy about Katherine Patterson's writing?
Make sure you provide evidence!

Throwing a Tree

Throwing a Tree

New Forest

THE two executioners stalk along over the knolls,
Bearing two axes with heavy heads shining and wide,
And a long limp two-handled saw toothed for cutting great boles,
And so they approach the proud tree that bears the death-mark on its
side.

Jackets doffed they swing axes and chop away just above ground,
And the chips fly about and lie white on the moss and fallen
leaves;
Till a broad deep gash in the bark is hewn all the way round,
And one of them tries to hook upwards a rope, which at last he achieves.

The saw then begins, till the top of the tall giant shivers:
The shivers are seen to grow greater each cut than before:
They edge out the saw, tug the rope; but the tree only quivers,
And kneeling and sawing again, they step back to try pulling once
more.

Then, lastly, the living mast sways, further sways: with a shout
Job and Ike rush aside. Reached the end of its long staying powers
The tree crashes downward: it shakes all its neighbours through­
out,
And two hundred years’ steady growth has been ended in less than two
hours.
—Thomas Hardy

In “Throwing a Tree,” the poet uses personification, a literary device that uses human qualities to describe an object. Give at least two examples of personification used in the poem. Explain why each is an example of personification. Support your answer with important details from
the poem.

Lyddie

CONFLICT-- Conflict is essential to the plot. Without conflict there is no plot. A conflict is a struggle between opposing forces.

In detail describe the conflict that the character Lyddie faces in the the book, provide evidence.

Flip-Flop Girl

Explain and provide evidence for each stage of plot for Katherine Paterson's Flip-Flop Girl.
If you have not read the last chapter make a prediction on the resolution..
Hint:
(exposition/introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution/denoument)

Flip-Flop Girl

What do you think the theme is of Flip-Flop Girl?
Provide evidence and examples to explain your reasoning.

Perfect Day

In a 5 paragraph essay, describe your "perfect day".
Be sure to explain with details your day..