Happy Easter everyone!

I hope you had a weekend filled with grace and happiness.

We are nearing the end of the Rome and War and Conflict units in grade 8 SS and ELA.  

The Rome unit will have a project to summarize our learning and 

you'll have the choice to work by yourself or with a partner.  

I'll provide more information on that next week.  

I'm not sure whether to have a Rome test or not, so let's not worry about that now.  

The War and Conflict unit will evolve into our class novel study; 

it's available as a PDF so I'll provide you with the link next week.  

If you're unable to use your device to read for extended periods of time (for example, reading two chapters of our novel), your parents can arrange with me to pick up the hardcopy from school.

8ELA

-Please be sure to do your 40 minutes to an hour of reading today.  If you didn’t send me pages read last week on Thursday, please do it now.

-Last week, we read the poem “This Was My Brother” by Mona Gould and I called for homework.  You’ll find the answers below; please compare yours to what you see here.

Answers

1.  In the free verse poem “This Was My Brother” by Mona Gould, I think the poet uses the word “this” because she’s looking at a photo and showing it to someone.

2.  The ellipsis in the free verse poem “This Was My Brother” by Mona Gould could indicate the poet is dreaming/remembering her brother.

3.  (answers vary) In the free verse poem “This Was My Brother” by Mona Gould, I found the simile on lines 4 and 5:  Who gave his life/Like a gift, Withholding nothing.  This is useful because the poet is comparing her brother sacrificing himself with total unselfishness, to how we give someone a gift; we give and hope the receiver will love it because we put so much thought into the gift. 

OR

lines 8 and 9:  His future, like a book/With half the pages still uncut--.  This is useful because the poet is comparing the brother’s life to a book/story that isn’t ready to publish, it’s still being put together.

4.  In the free verse poem “This Was My Brother” by Mona Gould, I found personification on lines 21 and 22:  And even death must have been/A little ashamed.  This is useful to the poem because the reader can appreciate that death takes on the human quality of being ashamed, of wanting to take the life of the brother; death is ashamed because it can’t be greedy and happy to take this life when the brother was so willing to sacrifice himself.

5.  In the free verse poem “This Was My Brother” by Mona Gould, “stepping into the breach” means that the brother fills the hole (breach means a gap/opening) not filled by someone else.  The brother does this by always helping at home and always willing to help out where needed in the battle.

6.  (answers will vary)

8SS

-Last week we learned about gladiators and chariot races in the lesson on Roman Entertainment.  The following people need to send me their homework today:  8M-Dara, James, Emily, Quentin, Samuel, Marvic, Athena, Aiden and 8B-Israel, Theodore, Gabbi, Sara, Eric, Anna, Morgan, Nevaeh.

-I also assigned a pink question that is due today; everyone needs to send that in.

7SS

-Last week we learned about the Red Cross, an NGO working on improving quality of life during emergencies.  The following people need to send me their homework today:  Victoria, Enzo, Ethan, Kailee, Cyrus, Angelica, Ava, Samara, Tessa