Good morning children.
I hope you all spent some time outside yesterday; it was a beautiful day.

We've done some research about virtual classrooms and video conferencing and feel there is no truly safe platform where our class could meet.  So, I'm going to doing something else--watch for it tomorrow.

8ELA
-Please be sure to get in your 40 minutes to one hour of reading today.
-"The Power of Light" marks will be out later today.
-We're working on a piece of literature today written by a Canadian woman from Saskatchewan.  Read the lesson below as I've included some information that will put her words into context.  Then do the questions.  I'll be calling for homework tomorrow.
 

“This Was My Brother”

Mona Gould

Our next piece of literature is a free verse poem.  It is from the view of a Canadian girl on her brother, a soldier who participated in the Allied raid on the French coastal town of Dieppe on August 19, 1942 (WWII).  The Allies were Britain, the USA, and other countries who were fighting against Nazi Germany.  The mission was carried out almost entirely by Canadians, who had been waiting in England for the chance to fight; they were over-trained and bored as they had been waiting since 1939.  Somehow the Germans had learned about the planned attack, and as a result the Allies were pinned down on the pebbly beaches and slaughtered by the well-fortified German guns on top of the cliffs.  Of the force of 5000 men, 3000 were killed or wounded.  Most of the rest were taken prisoner.  This defeat had more casualties for its size than any other single operation during WWII.  Many Canadians were resentful about the chaos of the operation, calling it an unnecessary disaster.  Some people think that the unsuccessful raid taught the Allies many useful lessons from which they later benefitted in the successful landings in Normandy (June 1944/D-Day) that led to Hitler’s defeat.

Read the poem silently.  Maybe find someone at home to read it out loud so you can listen.

Do the following questions.

1.  Review the title, line 1, and line 10.  Why do you think the poet uses the word “This”?  What might the poet be doing that she’s using this word?  /1

2.  Why do you think Mona Gould used the punctuation of three dots (ellipsis) where she did (lines 6, 7, and 11)?  What might the poet be doing in these moments?  /1

3.  Identify a simile.  Cite text and explain why it is useful to this piece of literature.  /2

4.  Identify personification.  Cite text and explain why it is useful to this piece of literature.  /2

5.  What does the phrase, “stepping into the breach”, mean?  In what two ways did the brother step into the breach?  /2

6.  How do you think the sister feels about her brother going to war and dying for his country?  Explain your thoughts.  /3

8SS
-Roman Trade marks will be out later today.
-Please compare your work to the answers below.

Answers

1.  The Romans received the following trade goods:

North-bricks

South-wine, glass, liquamen, dates, papyrus

West-wine, steel

East-cloth, dyes, apricots, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, gold, glass, pottery, silk

2.  (answers will vary)

3.  Since Romans wanted a luxurious lifestyle, they wanted more and more stuff.  To buy these things, they kept raising the taxes of the provinces; this made those people poorer.  The gap between rich and poor was growing and people were starting to rebel.

4.  Some of the large-scale industries that grew because of trade were pottery and bronze works, metal works, jewellery, woolen works, and building trades.  These are important because it created new jobs for Romans, it produced new products for Romans to consume, and it created new products for trade.

5.  Pax Romana is the peace of Rome, when Rome had no real conflicts between 27 BCE and 180 CE.

6.  (answers will vary)  Positive characteristics of Pax Romana are conquered people were granted the same rights as Romans, they benefitted from Roman public works projects/infrastructure (roads, bridges, aqueducts, etc.), farming methods improved so more food was being produced, trade and commerce increased, and conquered people had control over their local governments.

7SS
-Amnesty International marks will be out later today.
-It was pointed out to me that I had two sets of questions; while similar, there was some differences between the two.  I'm posting the answers for the set I assigned on the Thursday.

Answers

1.  (answers will vary but should include three of the following)  AI has the goal of freeing all prisoners of conscience, ensuring prompt/fair trials, abolishing all forms of harsh treatment of prisoners, ending government-supported killing, assisting people forced to leave their country because they disagree with the government, and cooperating with other organizations with the same goals.

2.  AI was created by Peter Benenson in 1961 because he read an article about two Portuguese students imprisoned for drinking a toast “to freedom”.

3.  The AI logo is made up of a lit candle surrounded by barbed wire; the candle symbolizes peace and the wire symbolizes oppression.

4.  (answers will vary but should include at least one of the following)  After reviewing the Amnesty International Canada website, I learned that AI affects change by conducting research on human rights issues, it also raises public awareness of human rights, problems around the world, it also hosts letter writing campaigns and gatherings.

5.  (answers will vary)

6.  (answers will vary)