Bijit AC

Digital Stories

There will be three grades for the digital story project.

Prewriting - needs to include theme (2 to 3 sentences summarizing the story), characterization (an explanation of how the main character(s)' personality contributes to the plot of the story), plot (an explanation of the main events in the story), conflict (an explanation of the main conflict in the story).

Storyboard - an outline of the pictures and text that will be used in the digital story. I will give the students a large white sheet of construction paper for this activity. They will need to have an idea of the pictures to download for the project.

Moviemaker - Students will be graded on how well they told the story, the timing of the slides, and the music used.

The project is due May 9th.

Technology Requirement

The state has a new technology requirement for middle school students. Your child will take a test in 8th grade on their knowledge of basic computer applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, and Moviemaker. We worked on Moviemaker earlier in the year for metaphor movies, but the students worked in teams. I'd like to make sure each student has a good grasp of the program. On Monday, they chose a short story to illustrate in Moviemaker. During CRCT, they'll do prewriting and a storyboard before we go into the computer lab on May 5th. We have the lab the first full week of May, but Field Day is Thursday, May 8th. Your child will need a flash drive in order to carry pictures and music from home to work on here at school. School computers no longer take diskettes. If your child doesn't have a flash drive, I highly recommend one. Students will need a way to work on digital media throughout middle and high school and on into college. A few of my students just bought a 2 gigabyte flash drive from Walmart for $15 which is a good deal. You can also find them in any local drugstore and Target.

Mystery Clues

Clues

Mr. Roylott - has a reputation for violence, has exotic pets (leopard, baboon), a doctor in India, married into money, keeps $ as long as Helen and/or Julia live with him, doesn't allow visitors to his home, leaves with gypies for days, came out of his own bedroom when Julia died, one marriage would have bankrupted him.

Helen - getting married in 2 weeks, afraid of Julia's room, hears a whistle while in Julia's room (Holmes asked if it was metallic, she said she thought so), locked windows/doors every night because of the animals, bailed Roylott out when he attacked the blacksmith.

Julia - died at 30 just 2 weeks before her marriage, complained of whistling waking her up at 3 am before she died, her last words were, "It was a speckled band." Coroner did not find marks of violence or poison, new rope with no bell, vent went another room, leopard pawprint outside of bedroom.

Gypsies - known for stealing, band of gypsies wore "speckled" handkerchief around their necks.

More clues from Roylott's bedroom - saucer of milk but no cat, leash but no dog (leash had noose tied on one end), Julia's bed bolted to the floor.

Task: using the clues above, predict who or what committed the crime.  Refer to the clues when stating your conclusion. This is informal. I just need one paragraph - 5 lines or so.

CRCT Countdown

One day per week we will go over a practice test for the CRCT. I'll have the students take the test (or part of the test) then we'll go over the answers in as we discuss them in class. Below are the practice tests we've gone over so far. The answer key is included at the end of the document. As the CRCT nears, you might want to go over these questions with your child.

CRCT Cheat Sheet: Download crct_cheat_sheet.doc

The first Language Arts practice test Download test1.doc

The Reading practice test Download test5.doc

Language Arts second practice test Download test2.doc

Language Arts third practice test Download test3.doc

Language Arts fourth practice test class Download test4.doc

Response to Literature

The response to literature is an analysis of a story from the Junior Great Books series, Superstitions by Mary La Chappelle. Students are to analyze the story by finding passages in the text that show characterization, setting, mood, conflict, and theme. While there are no right or wrong answers, they must be able to back up their ideas with references to the text.

Structure

First paragraph - Introduction: setting and mood. Answer these questions - What passages in the text help you visualize the setting? What passages set the mood for the text?

Second paragraph - Characterization: Frances, Jimmy, their mother> How do their personalities contribute to the plot of the story?

Third paragraph - Conflict: What is the conflict in the story, and how is it resolved? What is the double meaning of the last sentence of the story?

Fourth paragraph - Theme: What is the theme of the story? Give examples from the text.

Fifth paragraph - Opinion: What did you like about the story?

Subordinating Conjunction song

Expository Essay - Problem/Solution

Due Monday, March 3rd.

DOWNLOADS FOR ESSAY

Handout of structure: Download writing_format.doc

Topics: Download topics_for_problem.doc 

Gates Foundation report on High School Dropouts: Download TheSilentEpidemic3-06FINAL.pdf

MetLife Report on High School Dropouts: Download highcost1.pdf

Overpopulation Links: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kas/kas_01overpopulation.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/eye/overpopulation/overpopulation.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/3560433.stm

Download un_population_bomb.doc

Obesity Links:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/obesity/DS00314/DSECTION=2

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/index.htm

http://www.healthiergeneration.org/default.aspx

Transitions for Compare/Contrast

Transitions for Compare/Contrast Essay

Transitions for Similarity
similarly
likewise
equally
in the same way
in addition
also
too

Transitions for Contrast
but
however
on the contrary
on the other hand
while
whereas
in contrast

Compare/Contrast Structure

Topic: Compare and contrast Aztec and Mayan cultures

First paragraph - hook and thesis statement (hook and thesis should be more than one sentence)

Second paragraph - Major cities in Aztec/Mayan culture

Third paragraph - Societal similarities and differences

Fourth paragraph - Religious similarities and differences

Fifth paragraph - Concluding

Mayan Notes

Pok-a-Tok is a game similar to soccer that Mayans played to the death.

The Maya deserted their cities because they didn't have enough resources to sustain themselves as a civilization.

A Catholic priest burned the Mayan history and religious text to force them into Christianity.

The Mayans knowledge of astronomy was so accurate that they could predict eclipses and other astronomical events within 33 seconds.

Mayans predicted the end of "this world" to be December 23, 2012.

They believed that the soul resides in the blood, therefore, if you give some of your blood in sacrifice to a god that is the highest honor.