Summer English Assignment

Summer Assignments for 8th Grade Humanities English and US History

Eighth Grade Humanities English

Summer Study

Introduction: This activity is designed to accomplish three goals:

1. To expose students to poetry written during key moments in Americas development

1. To connect to the New York unit of study

1. To immerse students in the use of figurative language and poetic devices

Task One, Poetry from four points in American History

First, choose one poem from each section of American history, a total of 4 poems (list attached). You will need to Save a Copy of each work, into a Google doc, renaming it with your last name, first initial and historical period. At the top of the document, you will include a heading in right justification which includes: Name, Class, Instructors Name, Date. While reading, make annotations using highlighting, underline and comment using features of Googledocs.

Record the following information as part of your annotation: important words, phrases, and clauses; figurative language (metaphors, similes, anaphora, symbolism, personification etc.); poetic and story structures (juxtaposition, rhyme, etc.); literary elements (theme, main idea, character (narrative voice, point of view, etc.); and finally and most important, any questions you have while reading.

Second, students must complete a learning log on this poem. A learning log records your personal evaluation of the literary work that strictly adheres to the requirements of the question and the response. The learning log is a continuation of the same Googledoc that holds the poem and your annotation.

Learning logs must satisfy the following criteria to be declared successful:

1. Title: Learning Log Author Title of Poem

1. Paragraphs must be five sentences, and not more than one page in length

1. Paragraph one should address the following:

2. Focus on one literary device evident in the poem.

2. Write a paragraph that substantiates the existence of that literary device in this poem using evidence from the text to support your claim.

1. Paragraph two should address the following:

3. Develop a logical conclusion evaluating why the author uses this technique in his/her work. Please consider the authors audience and purpose.

1. All paragraphs must be written in third person, in present tense, and in active voice and should be five sentences.

Use the following checklist to assess your work:

1. My learning log has an appropriate heading, title, and length.

1. My learning log has a paragraph one that addresses the use of a literary device in the poem.

1. My learning log has a paragraph two that addresses the use of the device and its effects on the audience and purpose.

Task Two, Reading The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter

Introduction: This activity is designed to accomplish three goals:

1. To assist students in synthesizing information for an argument to be written in the first quarter.

2. To expose students to aspects of colonial American life from the perspective of people other than the settlers.

3. To expose students to the implications of culture clashes that resulted from the settlement of the New World.

Annotate it on a google doc focusing on the authors point of view

Read the preface/introduction to the novel. The goal of the author is to maintain a fair balance in the way he portrays the Native Americans and the early settlers. We will spend part of the first quarter examining whether or not the author achieved his goal. So as you read, open up a Googledoc and create your annotations exploring how the author develops his characters through:

Dialogue and inner thoughts

Setting

Customs and traditions

Lifestyle

Personal perspectives

Plot elements rising action, climax, etc.

This list contains just examples of what to look for as you read and is not meant for you to include an example of each one (however, you may if you choose to do so). Each annotation should note the chapter, page number and a brief description of the scene. Then you will write down a quick reflection of the scene, focusing on how the author develops his story. Each annotation should be at least 5 sentences and you should have at least 8 annotations on the entire novel. You will save all the annotations on to a single Googledoc to submit/share with me on Gmail. Please share the file when you have complete the book and the annotations.

If you have any questions while completing your summer reading, please feel free to email:

marenas13@easternms.org or Michael_J_Arenas@mcpsmd.org

I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing summer and look forward to meeting you soon.

Poetry from the Colonial Era

Bradford, William From my years young in days of youth http://www.pilgriminstitute.org/pilgrim15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=121:bradford&catid=31:thanksgiving-resources&Itemid=150

Bradstreet, Anne The Flesh and the Spirit http://www.annebradstreet.com/the_flesh_and_the_spirit.htm

Bradstreet, Ann Prologue http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/prologue

Brewster, Martha Wadsworth An Acrostic for my Only Son and An Acrostic for my Only Daughter http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/ideas/text4/brewsterpoems.pdf

Taylor, Edward Huswifery http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/edward-taylor/

Poetry from the Revolutionary Era

Frenau, Philip On the Death of Benjamin Franklin http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-the-death-of-dr-benjamin-franklin/

Frenau, Philip The Republican Genius of Europe http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-republican-genius-of-europe/

Wheatley, Phyllis On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitfield http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/wheatley.html#10

Wheatley, Phyllis To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/wheatley.html#25

Poetry from the Romantic & Transcendental Era

Bryant, William Cullen Sonnet to an American painter http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/Bryant/sonnettocole.html

Dickinson, Emily One of the ones that Midas touched http://www.bartleby.com/113/2013.html

Emerson, Ralph Waldo Humblebee http://www.emersoncentral.com/poems/humblebee.htm

Thoreau, Henry David Rumors from an Aeolian Harp

http://www.bartleby.com/339/27.html

Whitman, Walt Crossing Brooklyn Ferry http://www.whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/1867/poems/76

Poetry from the Civil War Era

Hopkins, John Hurrah for the South http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=amss&fileName=cw2/cw200860/amsspage.db&recNum=0&itemLink=r?ammem/amss:@field(DOCID%2B@lit(cw200860))

Howe, Julia Ward Battle Hymn of the Republic http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?ammem/coll=moa&root=/moa/atla/atla0009/&tif=00151.TIF&view=50&frames=1

Mason, Caroline A. The Will For the Deed http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?ammem/coll=moa&root=/moa/livn/livn0071/&tif=00248.TIF&view=50&frames=1

Randall, James R. Maryland http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=amss&fileName=as1/as108500/amsspage.db&recNum=0&itemLink=r?ammem/amss:@field(DOCID%2B@lit(as108500))

**IF THE LINK IS DEAD, PLEASE GOOGLE THE POEM FROM ANOTHER SITE/SOURCE**

Summer Study for United States History (1607 1877)

Happy summer! This is your United States History teacher, Mrs. Martin. I am looking forward to studying the history of our country with you next year. Here is your summer assignment. The due date for the assignment is the first day of school and the deadline is the third day of school.

Introduction: This activity is designed to accomplish three goals:

1. To introduce students to historical concepts related to immigration and the development of America

2. To connect to the New York unit of study as well as the first US History unit of study

3. To teach students how to glean historical content and context from primary sources, such as poetry

Task One:

One of the first things we will do before our New York City trip is study the push and pull factors that led European immigrants to come to America. You will be writing a well-developed paragraph (NOT a BCR) in response to the prompt below.

Use Googledocs, naming your document with your last name, first initial and push/pull. At the top of the document, you will include a heading in right justification which includes: Name, Class*, Instructors Name, and Date. While reading, make annotations using highlighting, underline and comment using features of Googledocs.

In the 1600s and 1700s, what are some reasons that might push someone to immigrate from Europe to America? In the 1600s and 1700s, what are some reasons that might pull someone to immigrate to North America from Europe?