Saturday, October 29, 2011

Beginning Second Term


Reminders:
If you've lost  your copy of the class disclosure document, you can find those materials at                      7th Disclosure Dorsey 2011-2012.doc


Second Term Spelling  

     Our spelling for second term will focus and word parts -- prefixes and suffixes -- and commonly used words that include those word parts.  We'll work with one word part at a time, along with spelling the example words on the chart, with a test every week or so. 

Prefixes and Suffixes Chart 2010   -- This is a file to download.

The Word Parts Poem

     If you have a base word and you happen to find
     something in front or something behind --
     a prefix begins: a suffix ends,
     and that is the basic rule, my friends.
 

Book-of-the-Month   See the Book of the Month tab above for more complete and up-to-date information.

A distopia is the opposite of a utopia, which is a perfect society, and most likely could not exist.  Sometimes (or is it always) a distopia is the result of an attempt to create a utopia.   In the attempt to create a perfect society, the members of the society give up (or are forced to give up) things that we value in our imperfect society, such as freedom. 

This time the book-of-the-month will be a "book-of-the-months."  For November and December you will read another novel -- this time it will be a distopian.    Remember that it should be at least 100 pages long, a novel, one you haven't read before, and preferably close to your reading level -- 100 points below to 50 points above.  If you read one book in a distopian series earlier this year, you could read the next for this assignment.

Examples of books you could read include 

Hunger Games or other books in the series

Uglies or other books in the series

Matched or other books in the series

Gathering Blue or The Messenger by Lois Lowry (We will be reading The Giver as a class.)  

Ender's Game or other books in the series

Hidden Talents or True Talents by Lubar 

Truesight  and others in the series

The Last Book in the Universe by Philbrick 

Tunnels or other books in the series

City of Ember or other books in the series

Leviathan  or other books in the series

Incarceron or other books in the series

Maze Runner or other books in the series

Maximum Ride or other books in the series

Among the Hidden or other books in the series

Unwind by Neal Shusterman 

Eva by Peter Dickinson 

The Adoration of Jenna Fox 

House of the Scorpion

The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm

The Tripods Trilogy

Bar Code Tattoo  or other books in the series

A Wrinkle in Time  

The Roar 

The Looking Glass Wars -- (a very different version of Alice in Wonderland) 

Birthmarked recommended by Mrs. Jones in the media center

Blood Red Road  ? (I haven't read this one.)  (It has been recommended for those who loved Hunger Games.)

The House of Power (Atherton Series)  ? (I haven't read this one.)

The Sky Inside   ? (I haven't read this one.)

House of Stairs  ? (I haven't read this one.) 

The Alliance -- by Gerald Lund

Recommended and Ridiculous:  The Phantom Tollbooth 

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Scott Westerfeld (author of The Uglies series) recommends this new book.   Below is his blog post about it.  However, I don't know yet whether it has stuff in it that your mom wouldn't like, so approach with care:

Scored – A New Dystopian Novel

Ridiculously Simplified Synopses (1) from Shelfari:

  • Which comes first? Your future or your friends?

 

This site tells about some distopian novels.

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As you read, watch for how you learn about what the characters are like, what themes are emphasized in the book, and what the setting is (especially what sort of society/government the people live under).   What do they have that is good and that we might want in our society?  What things that we value have they given up?  

 

Second Term Writing:

1. Writing a complete and correct paragraph -- Especially a contrasting paragraph

 

http://www.uen.org/core/core.do?courseNum=4070

 Originally published 10/25/11