Week 4 Schedule - westada.org

7th Grade Reading & Writing

Remote Learning Schedule – Phase II/Week 4

May 4 - 8

Students – Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have questions or need anything. We’re here to help, and we’d love to hear from you. Have a great week. Keep reading!

Date Tasks Learning Intentions

Monday 5/4 • Check the answer key for last week’s word

parts quiz – How did you do?

• Read “Rain” poem and complete the Rhyme Scheme in Poetry worksheet

• SSR/Independent Reading

• Use context clues, Greek

or Latin roots, and

reference material to

define unknown words

• Read and understand a

variety of grade-level text

Tuesday 5/5 • Read and analyze “The Cremation of Sam

McGee” by completing the worksheet

• You can listen to Johnny Cash reciting it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJNZwuamwj0

• Poetry has rhythm; see if you can capture it by

reading the poem orally – try memorizing a

stanza or two & reciting it


• Summarize/paraphrase

text without personal

opinions or judgements.

Wednesday

5/6 • Use the copy editor’s symbols to correct

“Grounding” • Check the answer key to see if you found all 6

errors

• Complete the Rhyme in “The Cremation of Sam McGee” practice


• Employ standard English

capitalization, spelling,

punctuation, usage, and

grammar.

Thursday 5/7 • Review the 100% Me Poem example and

complete the brainstorm sheet – What makes

you you?


• Organize writing to fit

many diverse tasks,

audiences & purposes.

Friday 5/8 • Complete your final draft 100% Me poem and

pie chart

• Did you meet your weekly reading goal?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJNZwuamwj0

List 5 QUIZ—ANSWER KEY

word part meaning example

demo PEOPLE demographics

astr STAR astronomy

octa EIGHT octagon

thermo HEAT thermostat

meter MEASURE thermometer

chron TIME synchronize

geo EARTH geography

Directions: Choose the correct word for the sentences from the words below.

democracy chronic asteroid octogenarian geophysics thermotropic hydrometer

1. His CHRONIC tardiness caused him to miss advisory most of the time.

2. The HYDROMETER measured the flow of the trout stream.

3. The THERMOTROPIC plants were killed by the cold front.

4. If the ASTEROID struck earth, it would be a disaster.

5. The theory of DEMOCRACY was proven by the people of the United States.

6. Is GEOPHYSICS your favorite earth study?

7. The OCTOGENARIAN had eighty candles on her cake.

Rhyme Scheme in Poetry

Not all poetry rhymes. However, if a poem rhymes, the rhyme follows a pattern determined by the poet. This pattern is designated by the letters of the alphabet. Read the poem below.

Roses are red “Red” is a new sound, so it gets a new letter: a

Violets are blue. “Blue” is another new sound, so it gets another new letter: b

Sugar is sweet “Sweet” is another new sound, so it gets another new letter: c

And so are you. “You” rhymes with blue, so it uses that letter again: b

So, the rhyme scheme of this poem is a b c b.

Directions: Read the following poem by Shel Silverstein. Look at the underlined words at the end of each line. Determine if it’s a new or repeated sound. Write the rhyme scheme on the lines to the right.

Rain

I opened my eyes

And looked up at the rain,

And it dripped in my head

And flowed into my brain,

And all that I hear as I lie in my bed

Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head. I step very softly, I walk very slow, I can’t do a handstand— I might overflow, So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said— I’m just not the same since there’s rain in my head.

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

Answer: a b c b c c d e f e c c If there were another stanza, you could predict the pattern. What would it be?

Reading Strategy: Paraphrasing “The Cremation of Sam McGee”

It has been said that you can’t really know how well you understand something until you have to explain it to someone else.

This rule certainly applies to poetry. After you read a poem, can you tell a friend what it means in your own words? You can

find out by paraphrasing each line or stanza; that is restating it in your own words. As you paraphrase, be sure not to change

the meaning of the passage; only express it in a different way. Please look up any unfamiliar words to help you better

understand the meaning of the poem. To hear the poem read aloud, go to YouTube and search, “The Cremation of Sam

McGee read by Johnny Cash.”

Stanza Paraphrase

There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold;

The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee.

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows. Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows. He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell; Though he'd often say in his homely way that "he'd sooner live in hell."

Example: Sam McGee was from Tennessee, and why he left his home to roam around the Yukon area of Alaska, no one really knows? He hates the cold, but the prospect of striking it rich by finding gold seems to hold him there. He even says, he’d rather live anywhere but this awful, frigid, and maddening place.

On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail. Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail. If our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see; It wasn't much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.

And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow, And the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe, He turned to me, and "Cap," says he, "I'll cash in this trip, I guess; And if I do, I'm asking that you won't refuse my last request."

Example: He says to his business partner one night when the chores were done and the night sky was blazing, that he knows he’ll probably die out here, and if he does, he wants his partner to grant his last wishes.

Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no; then he says with a sort of moan: It's the cursèd cold, and it's got right hold till I'm chilled clean through to the bone.

Yet 'tain't being dead—it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains; So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate my last remains."

A pal's last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail; And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale. He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee; And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.

There wasn't a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven, With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid, because of a promise given;

It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: "You may tax your brawn and brains, But you promised true, and it's up to you to cremate those last remains."

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code. In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load. In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring, Howled out their woes to the homeless snows— O God! how I loathed the thing.

And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow; And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low; The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in; And I'd often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May."

And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum; Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire; Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher; The flames just soared, and the furnace roared—such a blaze you seldom see; And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.

Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so; And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.

It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don't know why; And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.

I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear; But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;

I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take a peep inside. I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked"; ... then the door I opened wide.

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar; And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: "Please close that door. It's fine in here, but I greatly fear you'll let in the cold and storm— Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm."

There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee.

Rhyme in “The Cremation of Sam McGee”

There are a number of different kinds of rhyme in poetry. Two of the most common kinds of are: internal rhyme: a rhyme of two words in a single line of poetry end rhyme: a rhyme of words at the ends of lines of poetry Example 1: 1 Oh, I'm Dirty Dan, the world's dirtiest man, [internal rhyme]

2 I never have taken a shower. [end rhyme]

3 I can't see my shirt--it's so covered with dirt, [internal rhyme]

4 And my ears have enough to grow flowers. [end rhyme]

(from “The Dirtiest Man in the World” by Shel Silverstein)

Line Internal Rhymes End Word Rhyme Scheme

1 Dan man man a (new sound)

2 (none) (none) shower b (new sound)

3 shirt dirt dirt c (new sound)

4 (none) (none) flowers b (rhymes with Line 2)

Note: Each new sound gets a new letter. Rhyme scheme only looks at end rhyme for its pattern. Example 2: 1 For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams [internal rhyme]

2 Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; [end rhyme]

3 And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes [internal rhyme]

4 Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; [end rhyme]

(from “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allen Poe)


1 beams dreams dreams a

2 (none) (none) Lee b

3 rise eyes eyes c

4 (none) (none) Lee b

Get it? Turn to the next page to give it a try.

Directions: Follow the steps below to determine the rhyme scheme for the first three stanzas of “The Cremation of Sam McGee.” Remember that the pattern only looks at the end rhyme. 1. Fill in any words that rhyme within a line, and write the two rhyming words in the “Internal Rhymes” column. 2. Write the last word in each line in the “End Word” column. 3. Finally, use the letters of the alphabet to figure out the rhyme scheme.

Stanza 1


1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Stanza 2

9

10

11

12

Stanza 3

13

14

15

16

Once you know the pattern, you can predict the pattern for the rest of the poem. You will notice that the very last stanza of the poem is identical to the first stanza. Why does this matter? The rhyme scheme shows the reader the skill of the poet in weaving together words to create a work of art.

Answer Key:

Stanza 1


1 done sun sun a

2 (none) gold b

3 trails tales tales c

4 (none) cold d

5 lights sights sights e

6 (none) see f

7 marge LeBarge LeBarge g

8 (none) McGee f

Stanza 2

9 McGee Tennessee blows h

10 home roam knows h

11 cold gold spell i

12 say way hell I

Stanza 3

13 Day way trail j

14 cold fold nail j

15 close froze see k

16 fun one McGee k

Name: _____________

Period: ___

100% Me Poem!

Documents

Week 4 Schedule - westada.org